Quote History Quoted:V-Strom 1000 too much for a beginner?
Might go look this weekend.
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It's a tall, heavy bike...a lot of motorcycle if you're truly inexperienced. Not to say you
can't learn on one, but the goal of a new rider should be getting proficient and safe and quickly and painlessly as possible. I'd for damned sure never tell a new rider to go for a 550lb, high COG bike for his first scoot.
Buy a few year old dual sport like a DRZ400, ride the piss out of it, make all your mistakes on a light, agile, cheap to buy/insure bike that's meant to fall over. It'll be fun as hell, you'll learn faster and with more confidence, and those skills will translate upwards much much faster than waddling around on a Vstrom fearing an expensive drop.
You'll probably even find (like I did) that having a DL1k and a lighter dual sport is the perfect combination and you'll never want to get rid of the smaller bike. And, if you do? It'll be worth close to what you bought it for. You will have gained a lot of experience nearly for free.