new is deff not the way to go, its almost gurantee'd you will drop your learning bike do you want to drop something brand new?? oh, and 120+hp is a pretty bad idea as a learner SV's are nice, and i loved my katana 600, its a bit of a big though at 450ish lbs. a ninja 500 would be a bike you could learn on, learn to lean, if you drop it no biggie because they can be had for fairly cheap. As far as the experience on a bike vs a dirtbike, its a world of difference when you have cars around you lol.