There are plenty of smaller bikes out there that are good learner bikes and yet are adequate for more than just rookies. Someone mentioned the Buell Blast, which is both a neat bike and is short enough for the vertically challenged folks (including my wife, who says it's the only sportbike she'd ever ride).
Others:
Savage LS 650 (what my wife rides)
Rebel 450
Bandit 400
GS 500
Ninja 500
Vulcan 500
VLX 600
None of the above bikes are huge, but they're all more than just 6-month wonders. I can personally vouch for the VLX 600 (used one as a courier motorcycle in DC for a summer) and the Savage 650 (which while being somewhat aenimc on the top end is still a hoot to ride).
For Triumph to put a lot of effort into building a smaller bike... not really worth their time. They'd be better off focusing their money on marketing trying to dig into HD's share.
--Jaeger
