From my experience, I say go for ABS. The 250 is fun to learn on, and fun to ride around town. My 99 Suzuki gz250(maurader) is amazing and I love her, but no ABS. I’ve locked my tires trying to avoid people who drove out in front of me.

My next bike will probably be the Honda CB300R(not a big upgrade, I know but when I sat on it, it just felt sooooo nice!) the salesman at the dealership tried telling me that you dont really need ABS with a bike so small. In my experience, it does. You can’t 100% predict traffic and it’s nice to not have your wheels lock when you have to emergency brake.

So I conclude go with the 250. If it’s not enough, you can always sell it and buy a bigger bike.