Goalieman, you have no business being on a 600cc sportbike. Sorry. Lack of experience, youthful exuberance and a penchant for thinking you'll be fine is what will get you into trouble when you least expect it.
If you've been racing serious motocross for years and years, then maybe, a 600cc sportbike is doable. It doesn't sound like you have so that's out. ATV experience means nothing. It confers no ability to ride a bike on the street. Pile on top of that the fact you are young and inexperienced driver in traffic. Street survivial skills and the ability to predict what the idiots are going to do is essential to two-wheeled survival.
Even if the manager is a close family friend, he is still profiting from your decision. My advice is to ask him what he thinks of a Ninja 250R as a first bike for you? If you get responses like "It's weak. You don't have enough power to stay out of trouble. It can't keep up with traffic. You'll get bored in a month" etc, stop right there. He isn't acting in your best interests because he is lying through his teeth. I live in the DC area and rode a Ninja 250R on the Beltway for two years. Fine machine. For teenager, it the biggest sportbike I recommend.
A 250R will allow you to develop your skills properly and push the bike and yourself to their limits. You can be a squid or a hooligan on one easily if you want but it won't bite you in the ass for being young and stupid (at least, it won't bite hard). Plus, it is cheap to buy, cheap to insure (especially as a younger rider) and cheap to repair. Put a couple years on one of those and then step up to a 600. You'll be a much better, smoother and more confident rider as a result and show real maturity in the process by working through the learning process on a safe and forgiving machine.
Trust me, anyone your age riding will attract attention even on a 250R. The only people who might care are your friends and if they rag on you for riding a small bike, you need new friends. A 250R, ridden properly, will keep up with anything out there on the street at all legal speeds and even on the track, will pass the bigger stuff in the turns with a sufficiently skilled rider on it.
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