The bigger the bike you get the slower you will learn to become a competent rider. To develop riding skills you will learn faster, and better on a smaller lighter bike. This idea is strongly supported by science, and how the human animal learns.
My experience, working for 5 years as an on-track instructor for one of the largest track-day providers in California, suggests that the opposite is true. I think that you, and everyone else who trots out this ridiculous adage, are confusing
racing with
street riding. If you want to be fast on the
racetrack, then it can help to start on a smaller-displacement bike. Just keep in mind that when racers say "small displacement" they usually mean 125cc GP bikes which have modern frames, slick tires, great suspension and great brakes. Every n00b I've seen riding a Ninja 250 at a trackday has ended up struggling to make progress. And who can blame them? The bike has a crappy frame, crappy tires, crappy brakes, and a crappy engine. I've been riding for 20 years and wouldn't want to trust that bike, so I can't imagine how a newbie would ever get comfortable...
I've ridden the Ninja 250 on road and track and I've also ridden the Honda Rebel 250 on the street. If you're certain you will
never need to ride on the freeway, then they're mediocre choices for a beginner bike. If you'll ever ride on the freeway (and, let's face it, most of us don't have the patience to ride everywhere on city streets) then these bikes are awful. On the Bay Area's fast moving freeways, these bikes just don't have enough top-end acceleration. Just look at the 1/4-mile times for these bikes: the Rebel does the quarter in 17.86 seconds with a trap speed of 68mph and the Ninja takes 15.58 seconds with a trap speed of 82mph. This is the sort of performance than makes every freeway on-ramp into a sphincter-tightening experience! Which is why buying something like a Ninja 650, SV650 or FZ-07 makes much more sense: these bikes have enough horsepower to take you anywhere in the Bay Area, yet not so much power that they're likely to overwhelm a new rider. They'll also offer better tire options, improved suspension, and better brakes which all serve to improve rider confidence.
BTW, I'd love to hear a list of riding skills that are easier to learn on a Ninja 250 than they are on a Ninja 650...
New riders should not venture on to the freeway until they have the prerequisite skill set--no matter how long it takes for them to develop them. The reason being is that most mistakes on the freeway lead to catastrophic results. It's really difficult to learn from your mistakes when you are dead.
You realize that freeways are far safer than city streets, right? Everyone is going the same direction, you almost never have to deal with driveways or cross traffic, everyone is going about the same speed, etc. In my experience, you're
far more likely to have problems on city streets. Given the number of people I see running red lights or turning left directly into the path of motorcyclists, I'd much rather ride on the freeway than most city streets. Of course deserted mountain roads are my favorite place to ride... but getting to most of them involves freeway riding.
In most countries where a larger percentage of the population rides than ours people start out on 50cc bikes.
And are those people riding their 50cc scooters on a fast-moving freeways filled with aggressive assholes who routinely drive at 20+mph faster that the posted speed limit? Or are they riding in crowded urban environments where everyone else is also on a 50cc scooter?
I am like THIIIIS close to buying one. Warning: daily drives a Miata...so...if you "need" a Hemi Challenger to get through your life, my opinion may not be yours.
