Sorry all, but I am going totally against the grain here.
Only in American would someone go out and buy a 800+ cc bike as a "first" bike.
I tell my MSF students and will continue to tell them until im blue in the face. Your first bike should be a small capacity light machine. A machine that is not intimidating in anyway. Cheap, as in under $1000 - $1500 so you can drop the thing and not worry about it. Buy a small cheap bike, learn how to ride, learn how to ride in traffic and then, when you have a year of riding experience under your belt, THEN go and get the bike that you want.
Sorry all, but any moron can ride a big bike at 80mph in a straight line. The real learning comes in when you are riding around at 30 and 40mph in heavy traffic and having to manouver around, and that is when newbies are better off on smaller bikes. Smaller bikes as in 250cc - 400cc bikes, 500cc as an absolute max.
I see it all the time around here. New riders doing great on the bypasses and interstate and then they get in to traffic and they are all over the place. They havent figured out how to slow down using the grears, havent figured out how to keep the engine in the sweet spot so they always have power when they need it. Small bikes teach you this.
If he's really your friend then tell him to get a little bike and learn to ride.
Of course, i realize that i am totally in the minority here.
