Friends don't let friends ride Kawasakis, especially Ninjas.
My pet theory is that each motorcycle has a use or personality, and after riding it for a while your behaviour ends up matching the personality of the bike.
BMW tourers make you want to ride the curves from coast to coast, but do so safely. They don't mind a bit of speed, but are also content to cruise at legal limits.
Harleys want you to cruise the straight desolate highways, without a helmet (dumb, but if you are going to ride without a helmet, the a straight desolate highway is the place to do it). They also like being polished and sitting in front of cafes.
A trail bike wants you to turn left up that hill, and go explore, while a top end enduro bike wants you to do that a bit too quickly. A KTM adventure (I have one) wants you to load it up and blast across a desert, and does so remarkably well.
Sports bikes, and the Ninja is the worst no matter what the size, want you to crouch down and go as fast as possible. They eat away at your soul, and you just have to go faster and faster. There's a bad ending waiting for you, especially for early career riders.
So buy a bike that matches your use case.
The upright road/trail bike with a top box is an excellent all-round choice for commuting, adventure and a bit of safe speed. (Triumph Tiger, BMW F800GS/F65GS, BMWR1200GS, Yamaha XT etc). A sport bike is great if you are able to use it on a track, or for the occasional blast in the desolate hills. A laid back cruiser needs wide open spaces and lots of cafes - they are not about safe speed or twisties.
But the ultimate use for a bike is travel, and the further the better. Get something you are comfortable on for hours, and which has the ability to go on anywhere.
I'd recommend a Ducati Monster 620 Dark, circa 2004 - 2006. It offers an incredibly wide torque curve so traffic isn't a chore, very low center of gravity saddle, relatively upright riding position, naked bike for more interest at lower speeds, and a very easy but engaging ride. All this in a package that won't "eat your soul", but instead offers classic beautiful Italian machine lines. Price is right too.
That said, I now ride an MV Agusta F4 Brutale, which seems to offer sport bike performance without the soul eating. There's never, ever, an urge to ride wheelies downtown to show off your uber Ninja neon green decals.
A Ninja 650r is not a Ninja like a ZX-R. It has the Ninja name in the US, but it is not a supersport bike; it's a sport tourer. It's a parallel twin, and is actually less aggressive to ride than the Suzuki SV650 - it doesn't even have clip-on handlebars. It has an upright seating position, not crouched over. At 70bhp it's got lower power than most of the detuned 600cc inline-4 standards.
Personally, I don't like dual-purpose bikes. I think they're too tall, and I never have need nor desire to go off-road in the least; for me, sport-touring is optimal. I think dual-purpose bikes are a bit like urban 4x4s: most never go off-road, and when they do, they're not actually very good at it. But of course this is a personal preference.
Great - the Ninja 650r sounds like a good commuter bike then, and 60-70HP is a good range for a road bike. (I'm based in NZ - not the US market)
Dual purpose bikes are indeed harder to approach - the 1200GS Adventure I own is a huge tall and bulky machine. It took me a long time to get into them, and I started out with the smaller 650 GS series. They are however remarkably easy to ride, and to do so in almost any condition. They make great commuter bikes as you are much higher and generally have great luggage capacity and robustness for the occasional spill.
However you are essentially right - they are not as good as a pure-purpose bike for a particular application. You can dial in your degree of off and on roadability. KTM does the best hard core adventure series, while take your pick for the soft roaders of dubious merit.
If you do get into it then BMW run excellent (though rare) off road courses. We all had our bikes, mine a 1200GS, fully airborne on several occasion on my course. And there's a really scary photo from that same course on my eponymous blog header.
My pet theory is that each motorcycle has a use or personality, and after riding it for a while your behaviour ends up matching the personality of the bike.
BMW tourers make you want to ride the curves from coast to coast, but do so safely. They don't mind a bit of speed, but are also content to cruise at legal limits.
Harleys want you to cruise the straight desolate highways, without a helmet (dumb, but if you are going to ride without a helmet, the a straight desolate highway is the place to do it). They also like being polished and sitting in front of cafes.
A trail bike wants you to turn left up that hill, and go explore, while a top end enduro bike wants you to do that a bit too quickly. A KTM adventure (I have one) wants you to load it up and blast across a desert, and does so remarkably well.
Sports bikes, and the Ninja is the worst no matter what the size, want you to crouch down and go as fast as possible. They eat away at your soul, and you just have to go faster and faster. There's a bad ending waiting for you, especially for early career riders.
So buy a bike that matches your use case.
The upright road/trail bike with a top box is an excellent all-round choice for commuting, adventure and a bit of safe speed. (Triumph Tiger, BMW F800GS/F65GS, BMWR1200GS, Yamaha XT etc). A sport bike is great if you are able to use it on a track, or for the occasional blast in the desolate hills. A laid back cruiser needs wide open spaces and lots of cafes - they are not about safe speed or twisties.
But the ultimate use for a bike is travel, and the further the better. Get something you are comfortable on for hours, and which has the ability to go on anywhere.