Hello everybody, I'm Rey from Houston, TX and I'm glad I found a pretty decent forum to learn in and hang around. As far as rides go I'm looking into getting a Monster 696, of course. I'm a newb to the sport.

Welcome Rey, I'm sure you'll learn a lot here.

Don't forget to check in with your local group, THCM.

Have you taken the MSF course yet?

My personal suggestion would be to start with something a little smaller and more used, which will give you a chance to drop the bike a few times without heartbreak, save on your insurance, build your confidence, and then once you have a little bit of experience under your belt, sell that (usually for about what you paid for it) and then get your 696.  

Opinions here will vary, of course.

Hey thanks for the welcome. I'll be taking the MSF here shortly, really looking forward to it too. Thanks for the advice, but I think I'm going to take my chances. I've read and heard a lot of different opinions from both sides and, like with many decisions to be made in life, I'll just have to be my own judge. I love hearing all different opinions though.

I plan on dropping my MSF bike as much as possible