I personally started off on a Honda CBR600 F3. You can find them for around $3-4k and you won't have to do much to em. Honda runs forever. Parts are easy to come by.

As for the riding part. The 600 lasted me a good 2+ years. I took a motor cycle safety course (highly reccomended) In fact, do that first. You use there own bikes, and if you mess up, you aren't responsable.

At first the 600 will feel like the fastest thing on the planet. You'll shift at 2,000 rpm and never take it past 6! Then after a month or so, redline almost every gear before you shift. The key is to ride within your limits. Don't ride around "squids" who want to stunt and do wheelies. Just get out there, somewhere with not so much traffic, and enjoy it for what it is worth. If you have a few friends who ride or want to, its good to have a group. In case someone goes down, gets hit, etc.

I'm still in the "OMG" phase with the R1. LOADS of power at a hair line twist of the wrist. The bike WILL come up in 1st or 2nd at wide open throttle, no effort required. The 600 will at least stay on the ground for the most part, unless you launch at higher RPM's

Just to give you an idea of speed on the 600. I personally ran it down a 1/4 mile track 11.7 @ 119mph. That was launching at 10k rpm, slipping the clutch, and keeping all my weight down on the front end. 6 speeds, topped out 6th gear 2x. Country back roads. Gauge read over 165. Not sure how accurate it is over 100 though

R1 on the other hand hits 100 in top of 2nd gear. You still got 4 to play with. :twisted:

As far as looks go, the F3 / F4i Honda models have a TON of aftermarket body farings, exhaust, lights, etc you can put on.