Nothing to contribute association-wise, but as an aside, I'll nominate the GS500E twin as the world's best first bike for a new rider. (OK, slightly off-topic, but there it was, and I had to drop that in.)
Allstate 250GS (made by Puch, sold by Sears) with a 250cc 2-stroke “Twingle” engine. Also called a “split-single”, it’s two pistons in two shared cylinders, making it effectively a single cylinder.
