Ideas on the best learner bike [Archive]

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El Speedy

12th April 2010, 13:10

Hi guys, I'm looking at getting a bike to learn on but I'm a noob with no idea where to start...

Can I get your thoughts on a:

GN250 (any year)
CBR250r (88 or 89)
VT250 Spada (88)
CB250 Nighthawk (98)

Can I have some sort of idea on running costs, fuel efficiency, ease of getting parts, mechanics etc.

I'm only a wee learner so an idea on which ever is best as far as handling and weight etc would be great.

Also, a couple of bikes I've got my eye on reckon they need the chain replaced before the next warrant. Any idea on how much that tends to cost?

Looking forward to some replies so I can blow my heard earned cash!!

Bren

12th April 2010, 13:30

Here are my thoughts....
GN 250 Robust user friendly but you will soon outgrow
CBR250R getting a tad old...probably thrashed somewhat, but new they were not a bad bike..
VT250 again getting a tad old
CB250 nice and simple bike....would be my pick of the four

It all depends what sort of money you want to throw about as to the bike you will get...I hate to say it but bang for buck the hyosung bikes would be the best

I just replaced a chain on my bike....a budget one cost me $130

Subike

12th April 2010, 13:38

dont go past the 225 yammy scorpio 3k - 4k. and only a couple of years old
cheap compared to others in its class low maintenace
lots of fun.can keep up on the open road
Lots of reviews on it in this forum if you look,
Lots of owners of bigger bigs like them
Leaves a GN250 in the dust

neels

12th April 2010, 13:39

If you can, ride them all and decide for yourself which one you're more comfortable on.

Buying newer is a good option if you don't want too much maintenance to do, but buying older will save you money up front and there are more likely to be cheap parts available.

Bikes with lots of plastic will cost you money or are likely to be written of by insurance companies if you drop them.

DMNTD

12th April 2010, 13:52

How tall are you?
How heavy (roughly) are you?
What will you use the bike for primarily?
How you ridden any bikes (dirt included) before?

Once you answer those few things then you can get an educated answer ;)

jim.cox

12th April 2010, 14:13

old trail bikes can be bought cheaply
good riding position
and they can handle the rough treatment a learners bike gets
plus they may lead you to places a GN wont go....

CookMySock

12th April 2010, 15:18

That is the age-old learner question, but its much more about the person, and much less about the bike.

Either you want a new bike or you want an older bike. Older bikes only have 2nd hand parts available for them, and good engines and tidy fairings are getting hard to find.

Newer bikes have new parts cheaply available, particularly the Hyosungs, which makes them cheap to crash and easy to repair.

After the logic is out of the way, the rest is personal preference, which seems to overrule other seemingly irrelevant things such has brand name, how long it lasts, how much fuel is uses, and all that other crap.

Steve

Antonio

12th April 2010, 15:23

I believe, the honda CB250 hornet is the best learners bike,
so balanced,
wide tyre,

and it is more upride than the rest. I had several bikes in 250 range, I believe Hornet was the best, it was so light as well.

El Speedy

12th April 2010, 15:27

Cheers for the replies guys,

I'm 175cm, 70 kilos, mainly want a bike to commute on but do want to get out and go for a few long rides, and no, never riden anything except for my 50cc scooter.

It's not the first time someone's mentioned hyosungs to me... but stuck in the back of my mind is some advice a guy recently gave me.. "friends don't let friends buy hyosungs". Any substance to this?

CookMySock

12th April 2010, 15:30

"friends don't let friends buy hyosungs". Any substance to this?Yes, it's a widely used derogatory remark used to embarrass people who even talk about the bikes, let alone buy one.

As above, if such things are relevant to you then by all means do not test ride a hyosung.

Steve

Jonno.

12th April 2010, 16:42

El Speedy

12th April 2010, 17:23

Haha interesting. Excuse my ignorance but why do hyosungs have such a bad rap? And mechanically how do they fare? Do they last or is it a constant battle?

BiK3RChiK

12th April 2010, 17:36

Dude.... Heaps of peeps on here have learnt to ride on a Hyosung (including me). I had a brand spanking new GT250R. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't learn on one of those. My 50kg 15 year old daughter has a Hyosung GT 250 Comet. If I had my time learning all over again, I'd pick up a second hand one (the GT250 Comet) and learn on that.

People just love to bash the new kid on the block. I'd take little notice of the knockers, and go and give one a test ride if I was you. The only thing to watch probably, is the older model ones, which did have some teething problems, but have mostly been sorted over time. Say from 2007/8 on you should be sweet. Make sure the services have been done and check whether the cam chain tensioners have been serviced or replaced, as they were an issue.

BTW, I now have a GT650 Comet and I'm not selling it any time soon... It's an awesome bike to ride and I get home with the hugest grin....

DJSin

12th April 2010, 18:04

mikemike104

12th April 2010, 19:04

I'm a new too, and my 89 Ninja owes me $4200 after I bought it then had to fork out $1500 worth of repairs, but now its brand new (new parts everywhere plus recent reciepts from prev owner), goes well and seems fairly forgiving thus far.

I reakon its freckin awesome !

CookMySock

12th April 2010, 19:21

my 89 Ninja owes me $4200 after I bought it then had to fork out $1500 worth of repairsThat is the other side of the equation from having a newer bike - unless you can repair it yourself its gunna cost.

I reakon its freckin awesome !Another common theme! We all love our bikes.

:niceone:

Steve

JMemonic

12th April 2010, 20:24

The best bike hell that's an open ended question as has been said, the simple answer is the one that fits both physically and financially.

In my wife's case the only bike that fit physically was the Drasgstar 250, while a cruiser is possibly not the ideal learners bike it was the best bike for her, as Subike said the Scorpio as a good wee all rounder and should be considered. The other consideration and it comes after the size and price is purpose, sure you might say learning to ride but I have seen bikes unsuitable for purpose as learners bike, no point buying a street legal race bike if all you are going to do is commute (or tour). Think about what you want out of your bike then ask the questions based on that, it will be your bike for at least 9 months all going well, maybe longer.

quickbuck

12th April 2010, 20:27

Haha interesting. Excuse my ignorance but why do hyosungs have such a bad rap? And mechanically how do they fare? Do they last or is it a constant battle?
Okay, to answer your question:
Hyosungs are from Korea. Most of the popular bikes (all the ones your good self mentioned, and a few others) are from Japan.
Mechanically, they aren't complete rubbish, and the importers promise to stand by them. Standard tyres aren't the best. Then they never really are on new 250's in my opinion.
There are plenty of them around now, including a few in the wreckers at a guess :innocent:

As for specs for performance... Not too far off the new Ninja 250 by all accounts... just by the looks of Taupo on Sunday...

Now, back in the 70's WW2 was still fresh in the mind of my Grandparents, and anything that came out of Japan was considered "Jap Cr@p".....
Now look... That is where the flash (and more importantly, reliable) stuff comes from!!!

HappyGOriding

12th April 2010, 22:05

Hi El Speedy
Have you considered a GSX 250. I've had mine for just on three years and never gotten bored on it. Your a little taller than me so would be a better fit for you as I'm not flat footed at the lights.
FYI mines for sale if your interested http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=282019234

archie-no2

13th April 2010, 13:47

i have had a gn250 and a gsf250 both have been great bikes.
Gn250- it is under powered once you get used to it, make sure you replace the original tyres because the others have no grip, keep it very clean if you get a chinese one due to corision promblems and the chrome on the engine flakes off, check the frame for any rust, and make sure you replace the oil and filter frequently. it is a great fun bike, but it often struggles to stay at 100 with a head wind if you are heavy like me, great for commuting.
Gsf250- heaps of power, also have good tryes on it so that they can match the cornering abilities of the rest of the bike because it seems to corner very well, mine is a 97 and i havent seen any corrison on it, it runs wells and sounds very nice to, the clutch is harder manage at first but you soon get used to it. so far i have nothing but praise for this bike, but having a small screen certainly does help keep the wind off you, this bike is also great for commuting and once you get your full will happily go two up and has a good resale value. The bandit has alot of space, because it is quite a large bike so a tall rider would fit it, it is also very light making it easy to learn on and the parts are relitivly easy to find and are cheap compared to other makes if you do happen to have a spill.

can i just stress to you how important it is to have the right safety gear.
If you come off and are just in shorts and a shirt there wont be all that much of your skin left.
Make sure you have a good helmet, riding gloves, riding jacket/pants and boots.

goodluck finding the right bike

kiwifruit

13th April 2010, 13:50

An old dirt bike in a paddock

quickbuck

13th April 2010, 17:24

An old dirt bike in a paddock

Can't argue with that......
The more I think about it, the WORST place in the world for learners to learn how to ride is the 50K areas.....

Quiet country roads are safer in actual fact....

BUT the BEST place is a nice empty paddock with a bike that you can drop, learn to slide around, and drop some more...
Until you have mastered much more in a short time, than you would with months of "incidents" on the road.....

Autech

13th April 2010, 17:58

No one has mentioned the FXR150? Thats what I learnt on, was a tad too tall to keep it but stuck about 5000ks riding on it and sold it for the same price as I bought it, excellent bike! I'd buy it ahead of a GN thats for sure. Don't listen to people that knock Hyos, 90% of them haven't even ridden one. All the magazines and "Pros" that have ridden them have loved them. As for these "Japanese" bikes, how many of them are actually made in Japan now?

Jonno.

14th April 2010, 14:38

aprilia_RS250

14th April 2010, 16:22

Ha this reminds me of how I learned to control a bike (I'll say control i.e. clutch, brake and turn as I think I'm still learning).
First bike, Aprilia RS250. First Day, Xmas morning. No family present= no duties/hassles. I live in an apartment bang in middle of Auckland CBD! Bike was brought over the previous day by a mate and parked in an underground garage.

First obstacle, hill starting a 2 stroker out of a secure garage. Security guy had a field day, although did offer to help me push it up 4 floors given it was a stroke engine and was starting to smoke out his garage :)! Got it out eventually. Luckily roads were near empty. First major street to drive through was Queen St. Lights proved to be very good at practicing operating the clutch and changing between 1st and 2nd. I was clearly a newby over-revving at every green and big L plate luckily no one was present on Queen St apart from some unconscious glue sniffers, the exhaust note resonated so hard and beautifully between the buildings that I think I even teared a little bit.

Then did a few loops around the Viaduct and the marina. My wrists were dying after 50 or so continuous stops and starts to get used to the clutch. Decided to try the harbour bridge. Funny lights turned orange as I was approaching, stopped, chucked it in neutral and sat there quietly massaging my wrists. I thought to my self I haven't even got close to 50km/h for the last 30mins I have been riding, wonder how different motorway riding will be. So I'm sitting there at the lights and remember seeing youtube videos of guys in RS250s really pasting them out and to be honest they didn't seem that fast...

Light turns green, with only ~30min of riding experience something takes over. Right wrist jumps all the way down. The amazing sound of zinga linga ding ding blasts out, the rear tyre grips hard while my back feels the pressure of wanting to flip back. I went from 20km/h to 60km/h instantly, I murmured "fuck me!". Then the left foot chucked it into 2nd and just like finding the g spot it was unstoppable, the powerband surge was just so pure fucking awesome. Quickly looked at the speedo it said something like 130, I thought "fuuuaccck". Slowed to 70ish, looked through the sweeping right turn no cops, absolutely no one on the bridge heading in either direction (I thought shit its like I'm in an advert). Beautiful day, I went fuck it! Full throttle back to second, then 3rd then 4th and a little bit in 5th then had to slow down for the left turn. Yes it was a bit suicidal but to be honest I still get the buzz when I think about that morning.

El Speedy

15th April 2010, 23:14

Spazman727

21st May 2010, 16:47

Thanks for all the help guys, after a bit of thought I went with a 98 CB250 nighthawk... like a gn but better! Suited my budget better too and I figured I'm (hopefully) only going to have it for 9 months until upgrading anyway.

As you were :D

Good call. im about the same size/weight as you and have a 96 Nighthwak. I love it, so much fun and fairly easy to handle. I got it to about 125k and i think it could do a bit more. Handles a pillion ok too for the short and slow time I had her on.

flyingcrocodile46

22nd May 2010, 09:49

Haha interesting. Excuse my ignorance but why do hyosungs have such a bad rap? And mechanically how do they fare? Do they last or is it a constant battle?

Don't feel bad. It is better to remain ignorant about such deviancy.
Hyosung is the poor homo's Honda. Something to pop twixt their arse cheeks when coming down from brain freeze after blowing snow cones in the bait van.

NOWOOL

25th May 2010, 15:10

I'd go for the GN 250; nothings gonna break and if it did the parts are dirt cheap.....Ashame Suzuki doesn't offer it. Would be a killer first bike with shaft drive or belt! As to the comments referring to Honda's as superior to Hyonsungs.......that's because the Honda owners paid through the nose....Hyosungs are great bikes.
But mind you....this is your first bike to get your licence......you won't be happy in the long run with any that you purchase because you'll outgrow it. As time goes by you'll want to ride in all weather and a lightweight bike like a 250 can't take high winds easily.

Remember, no matter what 'status' you have a 250 is always looked down upon when you get your full licence......if you are on a 250 bikers see you as a learner, or a 'wannabee' and the cops see you as easy pickings.

As to the 'homo aspect of 250's i'd steer clear of whatever the 'flyingcroc' recommends, the name implies all sorts of homo activity! LOL

flyingcrocodile46

25th May 2010, 18:07

i'd steer clear of whatever the 'flyingcroc' recommends, the name implies all sorts of homo activity! LOL

:gob: This coming from someone who advertises their Brazilian :yes:

Does KB have a PKB award? :niceone:

McWild

25th May 2010, 18:53

Ha this reminds me of how I learned to control a bike (I'll say control i.e. clutch, brake and turn as I think I'm still learning).

This is awesome. There's nothing like your first time ay, I remember my first ride on my four stroke 50cc scooter, and thinking it was quick and awesome (mind you it was, everything's relative).
And the first time on the RG150, having absolutely everything wrong, first time into the powerband, pipe howling, thinking I was the most badass thing on the road. What an absolutely awesome moment.

cruza

26th May 2010, 20:25

Cheers for the replies guys,

I'm 175cm, 70 kilos, mainly want a bike to commute on but do want to get out and go for a few long rides, and no, never riden anything except for my 50cc scooter.

+1 on yamaha scorpio 225. Awesome bang for ya buck , late model 07 > well priced 2-3k . I'm even thinking of taking one to the brass monkey ...............:shifty:

SMOKEU

26th May 2010, 20:47

Buy a Hayabusa. That way you'll have plenty of grunt to power yourself out of any bad situation that may or may not arise.