bit of a write up here, because i love bikes.
I advocate for bigger bikes always because the brakes, shocks, clutch, etc various components that strongly affect the experience, are much better. You absolutely can have too much horsepower, but you cannot have too much brakes.
You need to understand that nobody, NOBODY uses a modern motorbike to its limits, not a 250, not a 400, and certainly not anything 600 or over. They are too fast and you'll kill yourself before you can redline it.
So, you will always be under-using your bike, and that's ok. Bigger, high-end bikes are supposedly more expensive in maintenance, but they are also designed to take much bigger stress, and modern bikes can do a hundred thousand miles and still feel new. Your daily home - office - home drive isn't going to put a dent into a clutch designed to take a bad change at 250kmph.
In short, bigger, more expensive bikes are built better in a way which is very noticeable even when using them for a milk run.
I would strongly encourage you to jump whatever hoops necessary to drive a few big bikes of different brands and styles before you make a purchase. I personally find that the "feeling" of the bike is the most important thing, but there are also some important QoL things that are not immediately obvious, about a bike. My Superblackbird had, for example, a huge fairing, that made the bike very comfortable at speeds where the wind would knock your head off on another bike.
I dont really want to talk brands or performance because other aspects of the bike will always trump both of these. In my younger days, before the Fireblade and every bike after that, bikes were still slow and underpowered (..well .. relatively speaking), but today they come with so much power, you actually have to watch out for a bike having *too much* power, as they become really difficult to handle in first gear.
So .. you need to drive a few. Need to get that feeling of what the bike handles like, what's it like to do day-to-day with the beast, and find one that really suits you, because once you buy one, it will stay for 20 years.
DigDog, thanks for taking the time to write that up, much appreciated. And to be clear I don't disagree with anything you are saying. In fact, isn't what you are saying supporting my probably choice just to get a big bike from the start?
When it first hit me I wanted a bike, I looked at 250s but almost immediately determined they were not big enough.
Looked for a bit at the 350s, mainly a Ninja 400, and while that is cheap at like $5,199, I think those things struggle to break into the 13s. WTF? Toyota Camry's can hang with those. I can't have anything that slow, plus they seem pretty small bikes. I am 6'2", need something that is not diminutive.
So then I started looking at the 650 class. Ninja 650s, Yamaha R7s. Those cost like $7 to $8k ish more/less. Typically twin cylinder bikes with lots of torque but not too too much horsepower.
But wait, then there was the CBR650 in that class for a tad under $10 grand. LIke 93 freaking horsepower. And a real 4 cylinder engine that sounds SO much better (in addition to blowing the doors off the other 650s).
But heck, if I am going to spend $10k for a CRR650, why not just spend a little more for a 600cc class bike that is SO much faster still? Like a Ninja ZX-6R - its only $10,499, just a few hundred dollars more than the cost of the CBR, and has like 127 freaking horsepower!
But then if I'm going to spend $10,499 on a bike, why not just spend a couple grand more and get a Ninja 1000SX for $12,899? That has 138 freaking horsepower! And probably tamer horsepower too since its a more detuned engine, like a much bigger version of the Ninja 650 I think.
So given that pricing and logic, and given EXACTLY what you are saying about the bigger bikes being better built, isn't the most logical chose a Ninja 1000SX or something else in that class?
I know if I get a 400 or 650 or 600 or whatever I WILL want to upgrade soon. But if I get that 1000 I might NEVER want to upgrade. And if I do ever feel the need to upgrade after a few weeks, I'll probably get that upgrade itch only once in my life, and upgrade to an H2R or something like that. Since that is basically as high as you go there is no further upgrading. Not a 400 to a 650 to a 600 to a sport 1000 to a H2R, just straight to a 1000, maybe no upgrade ever, if there is an upgrade there will be only one. I think we are saying the same thing in effect.
And I hear you on driving them, not opposed to that. Will motorcycle dealerships let you drive them?
A few other random questions for you or anyone else reading this, I have these questions after having watched SO many more youtube videos on the different bikes now:
1. What is a "squid"? All the videos talk about squids LOL.
2. Does Suzuki ever update their models? Seems every video I've seen where a Suzuki is being tested against any other bike they always point out that the Suzuki is a carryover model from like 2003 LOL. And they always lose the comparisons horribly surprise surprise haha.
3. Back in the day I seem to remember everyone making jokes about Katanas, like they were trash bikes. I'm sure of it. Why? They seem a very upper-tier bike (although maybe not updated very frequently consistent with Suzuki being Suzuki LOL).
4. I see a lot of people talking about insurance for bikes and how it can be expensive. I would have guessed it should be cheap - bikes are much cheaper, so even if you destroy yours its not much $ for a new one, if you wreck into another vehicle it will do less damage, if you get in a wreck you are more likely to die instantly rather than have expensive hospital bills, etc. etc. So that surprised me. Can insurance for a bike cost more than car insurance? How much can it differ among bikes?
5. I will need to do a motorcycle driving course and test to get my license I think. Do they have a state-supplied motorcycle for you to do that? Or if not how are you supposed to bring your motorcycle there to do that if you don't have a license to drive it? Seems a bit like a catch 22 LOL.
Thanks so much DigDog and all others who have made serious contributions to help me decide!!!