I have been riding for about 22 years.
My first bike was a 81' Kawasaki KZ650. It was a great first bike. Not Too fast. After that I had a KZ1000, an Kawasaki LTD750, a Yamaha 1100 Midnight Special, a Yamaha FZR250 in Japan ( now that was a fast bike, not like a 250 here), and I just blew up my 1982 Suzuki GS650.
I think any bike under 650 cc's would be a great first bike. Fast enough to earn your respect. Slow enough to where you have to put in some effort to get in trouble. I paid $700 for my last bike. And I put 65,000 miles on it since I got it. For my next bike, I've decided to class up my act and get me a Ducati ST3 for some long distance riding.
Another reason I would go with a 650 for a first bike is it gives you a little more power to go on longer rides with your buddies. I've done 300 miles rides in a day and faired better than some of my friends with hogs. You have to keep in mind what kind of riding do you want to do. I have had a friend spend $12000 on ZX-10 for his first bike cause he thought it was cool. He can't stay on it for more than an hour before he gets all cramped up.
