First bike, help/opinions welcome

[Lezbert]

Take a class first, at least you will have a better idea what kind of bike you like. Because now, you don't.

This. A thousand times this! You have to try on bikes, just like you try on clothes. There are a ton of fashions I love, but after trying them on, I learned I cannot wear them. Better to try on a bike and find out it's actually not the one for when you're not paying for that bike.

[Repeater]

I haven't taken a course yet, but I am going to. Should I get the bike first, or take the class first? Cause I would rather not fail the course and have to pay to take it again

Hindsight is 20/20 with this one. I did it in the wrong order, but came out okay, by sheer luck. I signed up for my class, bought my first bike (2001 Ninja 250), then actually took the class a couple weeks aftewards. I took the class on a cruiser-ish Suzuki GZ250, which I loathed. I'm quite glad I'd gone with the EX250 as a first bike, instead, simply due to the seating position. So, while I got a certain level of vindication for my choice, it'd have been wiser to have competed the class first to help flesh out what I really wanted in a first bike.

It's the same reason I recommend a new or more recent (3-5 years old) bike over a 20-year-old bike as a first bike. A new rider doesn't have any reference point for what a well-maintained, perfectly-functioning motorcycle should feel, look, and sound like, and may very well ride around on a motorcycle with genuine issues, and not even know it.

Good luck, from another midwesterner!

[Shadow Shack]

MSF ranges never had the bike I always wanted when I started.

What they did have never would have changed my mind either.