Interested in both bikes as I am an absolute beginner with no experience. I drive a stick in a cage so I know the basic premise of shifting, and clutch control. I would be getting this bike to drive to college when I go. The ride is about 30 miles and involves about 15 miles of highway. I have read the 250 runs at a very high rpm on the highway, but it gets 60 mpg. I could sacrifice the mpg and get the 650 which performs better on the highway, but I'm worried as to whether the 650 would be too powerful for a first bike. Can someone help me out and tell me about the 650's power and the issues listed above?

 

I posted my opinion in the 250 section, welcome to KF again though and good luck!

 

Get the 650 dude! I learned on a 250 and after 1 month I was a little bored with the power of it. I now ride a 650 and its taken about a year to master the power of the bike.

Also the HWY is a huge issue, the 250 will be going ball out for that 15 miles, the 650 cruises real nice at about 110 KM

Hope that helps

 

I had a 250 back in my college days, I was 175-180lbs, it had no problems keeping me at 80mph and high gas mileage. Sure you have to wind the engine up but it's designed to run fast. It's super-easy to learn and to handle being so small and light... but you will probably want more power after a year or so, unless you're a smaller guy or don't like gunning it

 

The 250 is always the wiser choice for a first bike. You'll be a much better rider, a lot faster, if you master a smaller bike first. If I were you I'd buy a used 250 ride it for a year or two and then move up.

Having said that I started on a 650 Ninja and it worked out okay, but it would have been a lot easier on a 250. Since then I've bought a KLX250 as a second bike and my skills on my 650 have improved dramatically. If I could do it all over again I would have bought the 250 first.

 

A 250 is the best bike to learn on. Most people who start on a 650 spend so much time learning how to restrain its power that they never actually learn how to really make it go fast. Off the highway, a 250 is also much more fun because once you've mastered it you can often ride it flat out. You can't do that on a 650.

The only people who get bored with a 250 are those who haven't learned to ride it properly.

12 months and 10,000 miles down the road, if you do a fair bit of highway riding, you might want the bigger bike. That's fine at that time, but not to start with. A mere 15 miles of highway won't worry the 250 though.

Rob