Newbie help for 250 !

[zeocen]

Hey, well I'm in the market for a learners sport/tour bike.. however I'm a) a newbie and b) not having much luck.

I'm pretty fussy, and It's boiled down to the ZZR or ZXR250, or maybe a CBR250 .. this is purely cosmetic, all I know of bikes is the difference between two stroke and four stroke (I'm really a newbie, go easy!).

I'm 6'1 90kg (more lean than fat, if that helps any).. my old man has a ZZR1100 and has given me the run down on what he can but he's admitted that after buying his 1100 he didn't care for other bikes much and kinda lost touch of the mechanical world :P But he advised me to sit on a 250 for a LONG time before making a decision because of my height.

Now I'm dead keen to get a bike and if a 250 is the only way to start then so be it, BUT. I've heard you can get exceptions from the 250 rule with a dr. cert saying your height will be unsafe for 250 and can go up to 400's ?

That's what I've heard anyway, I'm not too interested in speed(though I know i'll get the bug sooner or later), I just want a bike that I like and is comfortable to ride.

Anyway a biker friend pointed me towards this website and I thought I'd try my luck with my questions here.

Thanks in advance! :P

[ZorsT]

All I know of those bikes is the following:

ZXR is slightly bigger than CBR

ZXR and CBR are the fastest of the 4-stroke 250's (and are overpriced as a result)

ZZR is less fast, and I'm not sure about its size.

[35tickets]

Hey Zeocen,

Looks like theres a few people out there with the height prob when it comes to riding a 250 (a. 6'1" yes you're tall and b. i don't have that prob being the short arse i am!!) but i guess have a look at which bike you would like to ride the most. Like your old man, i also have the ZZR1100 absolutely love it, and have just bought a ZZR250 for my GF so call me biased but i'm pretty happy with the reliabilty of the engine (its a 91 with 17000 km) colour looks good (purple) and its pretty economical.
All the bikes you have mentioned are pretty good for a learners, with the ZXR and CBR probably more of a racier look than the tourer type ZZR. Comfort wise i personally would prob go for the ZZR with its touring seat rather that the sport bike lookalikes with the thinner seats.
Had a friend who also was tall and the best bike she could find to suit her height was a Honda Xelvis (Zelvis? not sure) Yeah.....not the brightest looking thing about but it did the job.
Good luck in your decision and all the best

[Buster]

My 05 suzuki gsx250 is perfect for me. Im 6ft, 95kgs. Toured the south island on it last month (3900kms). CBRs and the like are too racey for me but i still wanted the sports bike look. It goes fairly well too. Pretty good value for money.

Mines for sale too ;)

[gamgee]

kawasaki gpx250 and zzr250 have the same engine, the gpx is just a lot cheaper for some reason, personally from your list i'd go the zzr250, nice reliable engine, powerfull enough, wouldn't touch the honda :tugger: and the zxr is just overpriced because it's a 4 cyl, but who wants to thrash it on a 250 anyway :weird: they have a tendency to die if you do that. and you'll find the 250's you've listed more than a handful while your learning, don't get cocky and think you'll be learning on a 400. learning on a sportsbike your more than likely gonna bin it, so make sure you've got enough for gear, but thats the risk you take, personally i would have bought an old shitter gn250 or something to learn the basics on, then bought the nice shiny kwaka

[zeocen]

Thanks for the great replies guys!

Buster: Have you got a pic of the 250 you have for sale? ;)

gamgee: Yeah, I've gotten the hard word from my old man and he's taken me on the back of his 1100, it'll be a while before I get my confidence up enough to try do anything with it.. it'll be strictly for learning.

35Tickets: I'm probably bias because I've already seen a ZZR1100 in action, but I too like the ZZR best, I've just never had a chance to go scope out a smaller, 250 to compare sizes.. but I find the design of the ZZR is awesome, haven't seen many for sale though :(

Thanks for the replies again guys, looks like a very nice community here!

[35tickets]

Hey Zeocen,

No problems mate welcome to motorcyling! I'm rather new here too, been riding for 20+ years had my ZZR for the last 5 nearly 6 years now. My first bike was the KR 1-S 2 stroke kawasaki. I bought that cause at the time it was the fastest thing i could get ha ha and then a year later i got a ZXR 750 H1 such an awesome bike.

Keep a look out on Motorcycletrader.co.nz thats where i found ZZR for gf and then spoke to my local bike shop and they actually found one from their importer and got it sent up to me and arranged everything. Im real pleased with it.
Happy hunting!!

[zeocen]

Thanks for the info dude, I have had a browse on motorcycletrader.co.nz and found that the bikes are mostly from dealers. I don't really have the money to buy from a dealer sadly.

I have around $2000 - $2500 for a 250cc, I believe this would buy me an "adequate" bike, the rest I'd much rather spend on some solid protective gear.

So far all the ZZR250's I've seen are more than 2grand :(

Good to know you're happy with the zzr250 though!

[gamgee]

Thanks for the info dude, I have had a browse on motorcycletrader.co.nz and found that the bikes are mostly from dealers. I don't really have the money to buy from a dealer sadly.

I have around $2000 - $2500 for a 250cc, I believe this would buy me an "adequate" bike, the rest I'd much rather spend on some solid protective gear.

So far all the ZZR250's I've seen are more than 2grand :(

Good to know you're happy with the zzr250 though!

if you've only got $2500 you'd be better off with one of these:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Motorbikes/Motorbikes/Sports-tourer/auction-49815428.htm
although maybe not that one as it need wof and re reg, but the gpx (ninja) has the same engine as the zzr, and is just a lot cheaper

[zeocen]

Yeah I've actually been looking at the Ninja's.. though I don't know much about them in terms of reliability etc, is there anything (apart from fairings/shape) noticably different from the ZZR/ZXR?

[Pathos]

Now I'm dead keen to get a bike and if a 250 is the only way to start then so be it, BUT. I've heard you can get exceptions from the 250 rule with a dr. cert saying your height will be unsafe for 250 and can go up to 400's ?

Your heights perfectly safe, I'm 6'3 on a fxr150.

[zeocen]

Now I'm dead keen to get a bike and if a 250 is the only way to start then so be it, BUT. I've heard you can get exceptions from the 250 rule with a dr. cert saying your height will be unsafe for 250 and can go up to 400's ?

Your heights perfectly safe, I'm 6'3 on a fxr150.

You my good man have just made my day.

[Colapop]

6'3" on a 150??!!?? Jesus I'm about that height (slightly taller) and there's no way I could fit on one of those - I had hard enough time doing the basic skills handling on the AX100's that they had. I kept scraping my feet on the ground...

Z, I reckon your best bet is to get some time riding different bikes. If your tall something like the Hyosung GT250 could be the go (try Sklestar, he'll give you the word on them - 20,000k or something in less than a year...)
See if you can hire or borrow from a shop a bike and see what they're like riding for an hour or so. You'll soon know.

[gamgee]

Yeah I've actually been looking at the Ninja's.. though I don't know much about them in terms of reliability etc, is there anything (apart from fairings/shape) noticably different from the ZZR/ZXR?

just the fairing as far as i know, same engine etc. plus i'm pretty sure the gpx is a bit lighter, but not 100% been reliable for me, they are apparently one of the most reliable 250's out there, so long as you keep up with maintanence

[Colapop]

Now I'm dead keen to get a bike and if a 250 is the only way to start then so be it, BUT. I've heard you can get exceptions from the 250 rule with a dr. cert saying your height will be unsafe for 250 and can go up to 400's ?

Your heights perfectly safe, I'm 6'3 on a fxr150.
Youy can get an exemption to ride a larger bike but you must prove why you should have it. There has to be a logical proven reason why you should be granted an exemption. I'm not sure about whether you'd be able to get an exemption on cc rating because the physical size of a lot of the bikes are almost the same. I have scanned the DL4 (Application for an Exemption) and attached it so you can read up for yourself.

[zeocen]

Well a little update, thanks to the wonders of this forum I've managed to find a great bike for learning on (well I think so at least!). Purchased from a member of the site, I won't name names incase he'd prefer to remain private for whatever reason but I couldn't be happier!

It's a Kawasaki '90 GPX Ninja, of course I couldn't take it for a spin so I had my old man go for one and it got his stamp of approval, then I had a bit of a sit on it and found it to actually be pretty comfortable, no problem with size at all I don't think!

Now, onto that Bike cert ;) Thanks for all the help guys, I think I'll be finding myself as a local around these parts :D

[Sketchy_Racer]

Swwwweeeet as man!!!! :2thumbsup

You will never regret getting into biking. Its like a Drug

have fun and keep the Rubber Side Down,

-RG

PS- I assume you are getting the appropriet (sp) road gear, Right?

[zeocen]

Oh definately, there's actually a helmet here which fits me but I'm keen for a completely black coloured helmet ;P Also with regards to tinted visors on the helmets, are they much of a hazard? Should I go with a clear one or is tinted fine?

I've got a padded leather jacket handed down to me purely for learning with(playing in empty carparks, getting my sealegs so to speak), I'll be getting a better one when I hit the roads and hopefully the budget will let me get away with some decent gloves/boots/pants !