Hey there - hope this reply reaches you in time? This opinion is from my own limited experiences, so I´m sure others might feel differently... a Thundercat would make a pretty good first bike. I started on a Honda CBR250R, went up to a ZXR750, then a GSXR750, then a ´96 Thundercat. The jump from 250 to 750 was pretty noticeable, but then I AM a %!¤ rider :) Going from 750 to the Cat wasn´t a huge downgrade though. It´s a bit more sedate than the bigger bikes obviously, but the comfort was better, the fun and reliability were there, and it´s good a really good turn of speed on it. I don´t like recommending people go straight for a larger sports bike for their first, but if you´re going to then you´re going to, and you could do so much worse than a Cat - it won´t go mental on you like an R1´s supposed to, but it´ll still give you thrills all the way. Only danger is you may never want to trade it in! Good luck anyway!