whats a standout 250cc roadbike to get for a first bike?

As Petrol is becoming a real problem for me in the supra, i've decided i
want to get a roadbike. 250cc by law is my only option.

Are there any standouts that are highly reccomended? I have a postie
bike that seems unkillable, and so honda have left a good impression for
reliablity on me. Do the honda cbr250's seem like a good buy? ideally
i'd go for a second hand one and prefer not to spend more then $3-5k.

 

How come 250 by law is the only option? What state are you in?

 

I'm in Tas, Learner bike License restricts me to 250cc engine capacity,
I thought it was the same all around australia, interesting.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:38:56 +1000

Well.. what are your requirements?

What's the car's petrol consumption? You would presumably want a bike
that does better than that.

What is your riding mix? If petrol consumption is your big thing, then
a small 4 stroke scooter's the obvious choice, but that won't be much
use if you do heaps of time over 80kmh or up lots of hills.

What's your pose value requirements? THere are 250s that some people
won't be seen dead on - they need a certain image or feel to make the
bike fun. Some won't want a scooter, some won't want a cruiser, some
won't want a sportbike.

The answers to those will make a big difference to what's suitable.

Zebee

 

Nah, different everywhere.

You drive a Supra..................guess you are looking for a sporty bike
then.

The best bike is the one that makes you smile when you walk in the garage,
otherwise you won't ride it that much and therefore you won't learn much.

 

Well.. what are your requirements?

At the moment it's costing me about $10 each way to work (20-30km)
It's great on the highway, and great on 98octane which isn't sold in tas.

But upgrading to any 250cc roadbike thats running on song is going to
reduce my fuel bill by a large magnitude.

No i wouldn't be cuaght in public on a scooter either. I'd prefer a
sports bike (if you can call 250cc a sports bike?)

I'm pretty tall, also constantly get sore neck/shoulders lower back due
to sitting in front of a computer all day. (curse my job!)
But on the other hand i don't seem o have any problems riding a postie
bike around the property, and that's relativly upright. No doubt if i
was to go for a sports bike i would be in a much more foward position to
reduce wind resistance. And i don't mind that.

 

Well i do have a bias towards japanese engineering. And there sports
bikes sure are impressive.

That's quite a good point you bring up.
I suppose my number 1 thing was reliabilty, but there all pretty well
reliable? in which case i would be better of going with what looks best
in my view? cos there was a honda cbr250rr on ebay that really looked
good! $3500 starting price.

 

Yeah, mostly they are reliable

CBR's can be a bit of a minefield due to official vs grey imports. The grey
imports may have been sitting around for a while before they get shipped
anywhere, which may not be teriffic for them..

Check the compliance plates of ones you look at - that will let you know if
they are Honda MPE or Grey Import.

 

Avoiding wind resistance is only going to be an issue if you're going for a high speed run.

The wind can be helpful at times, assisting in holding your body up at freeway speeds and keeping weight off your wrists.

 

Do you really want to save money on fuel or are you just using that as an
excuse to buy a motorbike? 'Standout 250cc road bikes' and 'money saving' are
mutually exclusive. A CBR250 might make you look good when you're riding but
a CB250 will cut your fuel costs. There are lots of 150-180cc scooters which
would do the job quite adequately too. If you only commute on < 80kph roads a
100cc scooter will use less petrol than the cost of comparable bus fares.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

I reckon that a near new Kawasaki ZZR250 might be what you are looking for.
You can buy one around the $4-5 k mark with around 15-30,000kms if you look
carefully enough.They have a willing little motor that'll redline at 14,000
revs (don't be frightened of this ) and even though it's a sports bike with
a good little fairing , it's still a reasonable upright sitting position and
not right down like a lot of sports bikes.
I beleive they'll do up to 180kph which is bloody quick for a 250, so it'll
keep up with and ahead of most traffic. A Kawasaki GPX is a similar option
but not as feisty.
Hope this helps.
In NSW where i am, you can ride up to 660cc on your learners providing it
doesn't go over the ratio of 150kw per tonne which includes a few larger
cruisers like the Yamaha Virago style. can't remember the new model name
VXY's or something like that.

DJ

 

Current price of ULP in Tas $1.25/litre.
$10 = 8 litres.
25km = 32 l/100km

A formula 1 car or V8 Supercar uses about 70 l/100km.

You don't need a bike. You need to repair the leak in your fuel tank.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

Oddly, Reading a review of the Hyosang Comet 650 in Two Wheels today, it
stated that it was learler legal for states that have a LAM scheme, like
NSW, ACT and Tassie. I thought "that's odd", and did a little googling.

http://www.roadrider.com.au/bikes/hyosung_comet_gt650
and
http://autoguide.com.au/news.asp?ed_id=2511&class=Motorcycles

had the same info in relation to the comet. I suspect that the Hyosang
press release got it wrong, and the Journalists (Bowlder and the Bear)
did what journalists do best.

Moike

 

Hmm i dunno where you got $1.25/Litre from, ah no wait i probably do,
Our premium here is 95octane at best, that's more then a $1.30 where i am.

No fuel leaks, altho i did recently change the fuel filter. It's the
stop and go driving, up hill driving and warming up/cooling down that
makes it go thru so much petrol. That and it's a heavyish car with a
thirsty engine and high ratio diff. I'm about to install a smaller
capacity yet more powerful 1jz-gte engine which may help with fuel costs.

 

Do you really want to save money on fuel or are you just using that as an

Yes i want to save money on fuel, and a roadbike would be all i need to
get to and from work with a laptop strapped to my back.

Fuel costs are the main reason. I figure the amount i'd save over a year
would pay for the bike itself. Isn't a CB250 a dirtbike??

 

DJ thankyou!! that's the sorta stuff i wanted to hear!

How do Kawasaki compare to honda with reliability? I ask this becuase we
had a kawasaki generator and while it was good and served it's purpose,
it broke down quite often, The honda generator we replaced it with whent
for many many years without a hitch.

 

That was pretty interesting, I still don't trust the koreans or the
chinese with quality. They are getting so much better every year, and
some say they as good as any other country now. But they still can't
build a car that is reliable. Ssangyong musso for example. The mercedes
driveline is actually all made in korea and the engines seem to only be
good for 100,000ks, or just enough for the warranty to finish. On our
second engine so far.

Well spotted with the press release!

 

When did you move to Tassie Hatz?

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

14000RPM? I thought he said he wanted to reduce fuel costs... change up a
gear as soon as it gets near 5000PRM.

180 downhill with a tailwind in somebody's dream I think.

Same donk, not so porky, but not so feisty.. how does that work?

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

lol! i suppose me and Hatz share alot of the same views, except one
glaring difference that whent unoticed i think honda are great, Hatz
thinks HAHAHonda are crap.