I see a lot of recommendations for the GS500 and Ninja 250 for your first bike, but why not the Ninja 500 is there a reason for this besides the price cut to get a ninja 250?
The Ninja 500 is no longer available new, but neither is the GS500 naked…as for comparing the bikes, the GS500 is more of a standard bike, even with the fairings, than the ninjas…other than that, it will be personal preference..
The Ninja 500 (55-60) has about 10 more horse power than the GS500 (47-50), and the Ninja 250 (37ish) has about 12 less than the GS500. But they are all good beginner bikes.
Ninja 500R is liquid cooled. GS500 is air cooled. Liquid cooling leads to better performance and reliability in varying temperatures. That right there tells me which one is the only one I would be looking at…
Also consider that since this has to do with beginner bikes, the consensus tends to be that the Ninja 250 has plenty of power for a newbie, but there isn’t a 250 version of the GS500.
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