New to the bike thing

[speediva]

By design, the rear brakes are not made to take on the majority of braking needs... they are designed to accompany the front. As a rule, the front is all you truly "need" on the street. I only use my rear in times of near emergency (or if I need to cool it just a bit in a turn and don't want to bring the bike upright to slow myself). Nothing bad is going to happen to you if you use your front brake in a parking lot... I only use my front in those aforementioned situations... and if I find myself entering gravel, I should hope I spotted it in advance so as to not have much speed when entering to need to brake. Even if I did, a touch of finesse on the front still has done me fine in my experience.

Didn't mean to attack anyone, but upon first reading, it appeared the post said to not use front brakes.

[aussieidiot]

i may need to clarify my riding style.

my bike has twin 330mm discs. not radial but large. still considered the best non radials. even now they compare well to GSXR1000's and R1's.
since i can exeed the national speed limit in 1st gear, i usually don't get outta second when on a thrash. i found that i am downshifting and dabbing the back brake for roundabouts and corners. if i need to use the front, i do. but its only for the un expected.

my fronts are too strong for daily street use. if i'm approaching lights, i could wait till the last three to four car lengths and still only use half the fronts.

i'll use the fronts to set the suspension up before a corner at high speed but that means i'm already doing more than the speed limit.

if i do the speed limit (hardly ever) then i find i don't use the front.

[caddydaddy]

I have a Ninja 250 as my first bike and love it! It's a great starter bike, and it's pretty quick for a 250! Have you bought one yet? Try and find one that's just a few years old with decent mileage, that hasn't been dropped or beat up too badly, and it'll be a great bike for you.