If your lookin at a new 250 for 3,000 that must be the Honda Rebel. Great bike to learn on. That bike isn't a screamer but will beat most cars off the line upto about 30 mph will maintain 75 on the highway and net you about 80mpg on top of that.

http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/Detail.aspx?id=200
top speed 115 the only problem with it is if your not at highway speeds it likes to over heat.

or maybe a hyosung 250 the only problem with them is that the parts are very expensive.

I haven't heard anything bad about the Ninja 250. If you buy new your lookin closer to 4k.

Those Ninja 250's aren't worth the new price tag. Pick up a used one that you can beat on. Unless you really like the bike, you probably won't keep it for more than 2 years, then you'll be selling it for $2k.

Your first bike should always be something that you don't mind dropping on the pavement because odds are, you will.

Plus on the smaller bikes you buy it used for 2k ride it a year or two and sell it for 2k. No loss of money other then upkeep.

I had a great time on the 250's during the MSF course.

Roll the throttle all the way open and dump the clutch. You can't do that on every bike. Although that's how I have to ride my dirt bike since the clutch is burnt out.

for everyone that rides or is planning on riding in the future remember to be safe there were 5 wrecks in the past three days with people from a motorcycle forum in houston that i belong to. tonight 3 riders lost there life one of them was a member on the boards it seems that he went wide in a turn and went headon with another bike that was two up the other rider was from Oregon and the girl on the back of his bike was from Norway she was supposed to go back tomorrow she was in town with a church group and had never been on a motorcycle before and decided to give it a try. plus another one of the members was almost ran over by a car 2 days ago while he was waiting for it to pass before he pulled into his driveway the only reason he wasn't hurt was he was able to jump off the bike before it got hit.

Just saw one this morning... Don't know the circumstances, but it didn't look too good for the guy on the ground.

The best thing you can do if you are going to start riding is buy a bike you can control and watch out for everyone else cuz they aren't watching for you!