thinkin bout gettin a motorcycle - beginner

alright, thinkin bout gettin a bike cause of gas prices and all, and also the freedom riding by myself, cause i do a lot of long distance inner city riding

well, i would be new to riding, and know yall are going to say get a beater bike, and i am going to, and will take a few courses and such

well, right now im trying to decide if i should go with a chopper, since i am such a big guy 6'4 300lbs wide body frame with size 18 shoes (so finding the right bike might be a challenge , and ive found a local place that has some harley softails for $2500, or i can get sport bikes in nice conditions for about $3k, i figured if i got the sport bike i would get a 600 or 750, cause even though im a big guy a 1000+ just scares me

as for which bike to get someone told me, yamaha = suspension, suzuki = power, honda = mix , as its one of those as most people are, a good overall bike with some power, and later on down the road i might wanna learn some stunts

but as for choppers, few people made the joke that the HD on a harley is for Hundred Dollars cause no matter what it is, its most likely gonna cost 100 to fix it , and its one of those that harleys and the such are good bikes and all but they have to be adjusted more than a sportbike might have to

anyone have any sites that i can goto to read about the bikes and such, and how to ride the bikes, and technical info, like a conglomerate of info on motorcycles and such

the only thing that is holding me back right now is the inexperience of not knowing how to switch lane and turn corners, as its my fear that i will lay the bike down or if i turn the handlebars to quickly that something worse might happen, or is it basically one of those things that if you can ride a bicycle you have most of the control to drive a bike and such (IE the same principals)

its one of those, i really want to get a bike, but a good friend of mine who was only a day younger than me got killed on a bike due to a drunk driver who did not see him at the intersection and yes life can be short, but i want to be around for a while

the only real riding experience that i have is on racing quads but we all know that quads have 4 wheels and motorcycles have 2, so that can be a big difference when it comes to riding

thanks in advanced