Looks like you're on the right track. My advice is get something at least in the 500-600 range. If you drive that much I'm sure you see alot of highway time and anything smaller gets pretty winded on the highway. My SV650 was an excellent bike and plenty of people claim in stock form they're perfect beginner bikes. Mine had GSXR suspension and brakes and a lot of bolt ons and was an excellent track bike as well. You can start with one and keep playing with it and always have a nice bike that can keep up with your progression. The only reason I sold it was to get a 1000 since most of my driving is highway and I wanted something a little faster around town. My first bike was a 650 twin back in college and I've had 4 different bikes. Even the "slow" ones can get you in trouble fast.