Both bikes are good for the beginner, I was in your position at one point and opted for the bandit 400, it´s just much more fun to ride than the gs500e and better looking, also redlines at 14K rpms, it´s hoot, I still have it even though I also ride bigger bikes now. Still the most fun to ride. The only thing to consider is parts if you live in the US, here those bikes were only imported from ´91-´93.