Help (Kali)

[Kali]

Hey there everyone, yea ive been member for a lil while but havnt really said anything so i still class myself as a newbie :(
anyway so ive sold one of my horses and am seriously considering purchasing a bike and was wondering if people could help me with some ideas on what a good starting bike would be as i dont know much at all :weep:
I do know i am a fan of suzuki's :2thumbsup but am open to any ideas
Cheers.

[kiwifruit]

welcome to the site :)
have you riden bikes before?
How much have you to spend?
What sort of riding do you wish to do?

[Kali]

well ive only been on the back of a bike twice but just loved it so much, i don't know how to ride just yet. Prob looking at spending around 2-3 grand at this stage and would mostly ride around town but would love to go on longer road rides when i get better.

[crashe]

Buy a Suzuki GN250 then....
learn on that and when you want to go to another bike, you will be able to sell it back on and not loose too much money off it.

They are a great wee learner bike and great for around town riding.
Call into Colemans as they have heaps there.

I would also suggest that you go around a few bike shops and sit on different types of bikes to get the feel of what is suitable for you re height wise and comfort.

I would say get a Virago but that is above your price range... :(

[Kali]

Thanx for that, um whereabouts is colemans? Also what about a Suzuki FXR 150??

[kickingzebra]

FXR 150s are great wee bikes, and personally I would take one of them over a GN any day. In saying that, GNs have a huge abundance of parts etc available, and are cheap to crash. The FXR will outperform the GN, and feel more like a real motorbike, so if you are into sports bikes as opposed to "cruisers" an FXR 150 as a first bike would be hard to beat. Dead simple, easy and cheap to maintain, and they handle and stop well.

Talk to the guys at Holeshot Suzuki on the north shore, but in your price range, trademe is probably a better bet than bike shops.

[Wasp]

what kickingzebra said :yes:

If I was tossing up between an fxr and a gn i'd take the fxr everytime

[kiwifruit]

I strongly advise an off road to start with, if you have anywhere to ride one?
Much better way to gain skills and learn what its all about.

[crashe]

Thanx for that, um whereabouts is colemans? Also what about a Suzuki FXR 150??

Colemans Suzuki
Cnr K'Rd and Gundry St
Auckland
Ph: 303 1786

www.colemans-suzuki.co.nz


Sorry, I dont know a thing about the Suzuki FXR 150......

[Rashika]

GN250's are good if you are an absolute beginner, no fairings to break for when you drop it, and very forgiving for when you forget to use the clutch...and will get you up to 120kms, altho not that quickly ;)
FXR150's are good if you have a wee bit of experience and want something sportier, but they have full fairings which will break and cost you money to fix, might get you up to 130ish

Most people will trade up within a year or so to bigger bikes, so think of this as a bike to learn on not one you will probably kept forever.
Go and try a few on for size :cool:

If I was tossing up between GN and FXR, I really dunno what i would pick now... probably still the GN, tho the FXr is a good bike

[skidz]

If you go for a GN just be very careful in the wet, as thier tyres are only nylon and don't hold on too good. Two of my work-mates have wiped out in the past 8 months in the rain.

[Maha]

If you go for a GN just be very careful in the wet, as thier tyres are only nylon and don't hold on too good. Two of my work-mates have wiped out in the past 8 months in the rain.

I second that Skidz.....tho' i never binned mine when i had it, but you are right, first thing anyone should do when the buy a GN is put real rubber on both ends.

[magicfairy]

If you are into horses that would suggest you have access to paddocks, use dirt roads etc. A dual purpose bike of some sort would let you experiment both on and off the road.
Just a thought.

[Rashika]

If you go for a GN just be very careful in the wet, as thier tyres are only nylon and don't hold on too good. Two of my work-mates have wiped out in the past 8 months in the rain.

?? only if its new I guess, but never had issues on my GN no more that any other bike. Mind you it would not have had factory tyres on it when i owned it...many, many moons ago.

[kickingzebra]

FXR150's are good if you have a wee bit of experience and want something sportier, but they have full fairings which will break and cost you money to fix, might get you up to 130ish


I had my speedo reading 155... Feels real good till you realise 130 odd is closer to the truth.
they have stubby 1/2 fairings, which are fairly hard to damage, and actually really cheap to replace. The money is in the stickers.
RH fairing to replace on my old one (7 years gone, might be a bit more expensive now) $47.00 the sticker however was $128.00
You can of course get other stickers printed up, so as far as crashing them goes, they crash well, and are relatively cheap to fix. You'll probably get slightly better gas economy too, if I recall rightly.

[Rashika]

I had my speedo reading 155... Feels real good till you realise 130 odd is closer to the truth.
they have stubby 1/2 fairings, which are fairly hard to damage, and actually really cheap to replace. The money is in the stickers.
RH fairing to replace on my old one (7 years gone, might be a bit more expensive now) $47.00 the sticker however was $128.00
You can of course get other stickers printed up, so as far as crashing them goes, they crash well, and are relatively cheap to fix. You'll probably get slightly better gas economy too, if I recall rightly.

120 odd kms is closer to the truth .... all the fxrs raced in buckets have been clocked at no faster than 130 (and i do mean clocked as in radar or time trialed), most of the speedos over read by 10-20 kms.
thats alright tho, get an fxr, crash it and I will buy it off you cheap for a bucket :whistle: :cool:

[kickingzebra]

Mine was a definite 130 kph, mind you I probably weighed 15 kg less in those days ;)

[Oakie]

I had my speedo reading 155... Feels real good till you realise 130 odd is closer to the truth.
they have stubby 1/2 fairings, which are fairly hard to damage, and actually really cheap to replace. The money is in the stickers.
RH fairing to replace on my old one (7 years gone, might be a bit more expensive now) $47.00 the sticker however was $128.00
You can of course get other stickers printed up, so as far as crashing them goes, they crash well, and are relatively cheap to fix. You'll probably get slightly better gas economy too, if I recall rightly.

Ah yes. It's all coming back to me now like a nightmare. My pristine FXR parked outside a nice country eatery. Guy comes in and says "Do you own the bike outside?" "yes" say I. "Oh, I just backed into it and knocked it over" he says. He reversed into the park my bike was in, not having seen it sitting there. (yep he drove a big 4WD). Hit it in the back wheel which made it roll forward off the sidestand was all. Cost his insurance company $1200! So yes, FXRs can be expensive to fix following a small incident. Good wee bikes though but if you do get one, replacing the factory tyres with something else makes a hell of a difference (and is actually cheaper than the factory rubber too.) Good luck with whatever you get.

[MattRSK]

Just get a CBR you'll thank me for it later!

[stify]

anyway so ive sold one of my horses and am seriously considering purchasing a bike and was wondering if people could help me with some ideas on what a good starting bike would be as i dont know much at all .

girlygirl(my better half) rode horse's for a while, and when she started riding bikes, she found the sports style bikes a lot more natural for her anyway, try some first, then decide, and imho sports bikes are more fun

[MattRSK]

girlygirl(my better half) rode horse's for a while, and when she started riding bikes, she found the sports style bikes a lot more natural for her anyway, try some first, then decide, and imho sports bikes are more fun

Take advice from this person as they ride the best bike in the entire world!

[Drum]

Good luck for your search Kali.

Why not consider the Kawasaki EL250. 30 horses as compared to the 20 horses of the GN. You wont get bored so fast......

[Oakie]

Good luck for your search Kali.

Why not consider the Kawasaki EL250. 30 horses as compared to the 20 horses of the GN. You wont get bored so fast......

Yeah, I looked at one for a while and it's probably a good option for a learner. They're just a bit harder to find and probably closer to $4k to buy.

[Jantar]

The type of horse you ride, and the type of riding you do will give an indication of the type of bike to get.

If you ride a thoroughbred, then consider the fxr150.

If you ride a standardbred, then consider the GN250.

For a quarter horse or an arab then get a DR250.

That way your riding style on both horse and bike will be matched.

Incidentally, Stromfrau and I prefer standardbreds.

[MattRSK]

I heard these are quite good to learn on!

<img src="http://www.motocykle.slask.pl/content/images/moto05/hayabusa.jpg">

[KLOWN]

ah, but have you considered the mighty RG150 ! Anyone who says they are not good is gay! It is a 2 stroke but easy to maintain and more power than an fxr the rg is 35hp and is lighter than an fxr. cheap too (around 1000-2000)

go the mighty rg !

[Crasherfromwayback]

Hey there everyone, yea ive been member for a lil while but havnt really said anything so i still class myself as a newbie :(
anyway so ive sold one of my horses and am seriously considering purchasing a bike and was wondering if people could help me with some ideas on what a good starting bike would be as i dont know much at all :weep:
I do know i am a fan of suzuki's :2thumbsup but am open to any ideas
Cheers.

Buy whatever looks and feels right for you.
You're not going to own it for long anyway....you will go bigger. Trust me.
If you buy a bike that's got plastic on it, and you crack and break it....so what, lose some money. If you're only spending 2-3 k, it'll never be that big of a loss that it's a problem.

Be safe and have fun.

[yob_ymmit]

I would choose the FXR over the GN250. The GN IS very easy to learn on, but the handling is pretty average, once you get up to anything above 50km/hr. Safety=FXR150.

And I would DEFINATELY choose a CBR250 over an FXR150... thats what I learnt on from square one, and I kept it for three years, did 25,000kms on it, and spent almost nothing on it past the initial $3500, about $1000 in tyres, and $500 in drop damage. I will heartily agree that the fairing on CBRs is not very well suited to learning with... by the end of the first year I had decided to remove all bits that didnt have a definate purpose, as it was getting shredded pretty quickly through my poor habits when it came to keeping the bike upright :whistle: Longevity=CBR250 Coolness and attitude=CBR250

The GN does trump when it comes to affordability, although I'm not sure about holding value... their New price is so goddamn low, and they have been around for decades unchanged, so spares are very easy to come by. Affordability=GN250.

[Kali]

The type of horse you ride, and the type of riding you do will give an indication of the type of bike to get.

If you ride a thoroughbred, then consider the fxr150.

I do ride a thoroughbred and i do like the sound of the fxr150 so will have a look at those, but thanx heaps everyone so much i will go and have a sit on the bikes to see which ones i feel most comfortable with, i really appreciate everyones help and will let you know how i get on.. hopefully sooner that later :2thumbsup

[Meekey_Mouse]

Hi... I'm just selling my horse to buy a bike aswell :) Hope you find a good one :D and welcome to the world of bikes ^_^

[Skibo]

I started on a GPX250. Great first bike as they didn't have all that much power so I couldn't kill my self strait away (though I'm still trying ha ha). All of these sugestions are good ones. But I have a friend who started the year out on a GN, killed it and now she's on a RG150 and her learning became much faster.

I think if you have a little experiance and are confident then start on a 250 if you can afford one. I like the CBR's but the GSXR's are cool and a friend of mine just bought a ZXR and it's one sexy bike.

Good riding.

[kickingzebra]

the Kawasaki zzr 250 is a good looker, and they go OK. Can't mock 37 horse from a parallel twin! (GPX 250 and ZZR 250 share motors, amongst other things)

Not a bad wee learners bike either, although full fairings can break easily. Still, the bikes sell relatively cheaply, and I think they are greatly under rated.

FXR 150 is more modern, cheaper on gas, and brakes and handling are better though.

[Pixie]

If you go for a GN just be very careful in the wet, as thier tyres are only nylon and don't hold on too good. Two of my work-mates have wiped out in the past 8 months in the rain.

Nylon Tyres?
Is this bullshit still circulating?

If a tyre has nylon written on it's sidewall,it's refering to it's belt material,and has next to nothing to do with it's grip.
I suppose by the same logic a "steel" tyre like a Metzler Z6 is poor in the wet and rusts too?

[HDTboy]

Buy Aarons 250