I just wanna point out that the CBR500s powerband looks incredibly boring. You mentioned the Ninja 650 felt like riding an appliance, well I'd wager the 500 will feel like riding a less powerful appliance. It's all smooth and what not, which is probably nice just plain old commuting and stuff, but you don't get that 7,000 or so rpm kick that throws you back like a 250/300 or ninja 500 (please remind me how ugly my bike is again
) or 600+ SS bike. I was considering the CBR500 as an "upgrade" to my good ol ninja but I'd be giving up precious horsepower for.. not much if anything at all. It just seems like the Ninja 300 would be a more fun bike to ride over all, and be a nice bump in power and refinement to the 250. I also +1 the SV650 though, I've never ridden one but its definitely on my list of bikes to consider getting