Do not get a 600, for the love of God. You will regret it once you start to get good at riding. Also, make sure you sit on a yamaha before you praise them. R6's are not as bad but the R1's are horrible. The gas tank comes to a point and if you are well endowed (like me) you will speak like a woman. Gixxer's are the most common bike out there, but they are also the most comfortable. I have ridden a lot of bikes, and my favorites would be the CBR and GSX-R. A good way to talk yourself into a 1k bike is that the gsxr actually has a "map" changer type thing and you can actually take it down to a 600 or 750....helps a lot in the rain
