Mr. Frog I have talked to you before and stuff.. and I have told you this before.. the 1000 cc bikes are far too powerful for someone who is an occasional rider. My point is that all sports bikes (crotch rockets) above teh 600 cc class are equal except by weight and acceleration from 0-60. The top speeds are around 150+ anycase. I doubt you would hit that. If your learning to ride (even so as you claim dirt bike experience that doesnt count very much). Street riding can be different from dirt. While yes its experience its still not what counts. I do not want to see someone die because he or she did not want to listen to other riders. Anyway I know your in Oregon or Washnington. In California you need to have an MSF cert before you can ride if your under 21. I am not sure about Oregon and Washington states. So first look into that. Next look into insurance. Motorcycle riding is supposed to be cheap. If your paying over 2K for insurance on it, then that's not the bike for you. I pay less than 600/yr for 300K liablity. Try beat that (next year it drops to 300 for 300K). Anyway I have to give you a bit of caution.. getting a smaller bike wont hurt, it just would keep you alive longer. Just to say, I ride a GS500, and this morning on the way into work, I felt like the bike was a whole new bike. I mean after the oil change the damn thing screams enough to scare the sh*t out of me and this is a 500cc bike. I love my 500 and I will keep it for ages to come, but if you feel your man enough then go ahead buy the biggest and fastest bike available.. cause dont come back to us crying cause we are going to say "we told you so". TGG