Worth it?

[Lteejay]

Do you think $3000 is a good deal for a:
Suzuki GSX 250 FB Across
Kilometres: 83,000km
Year: 1993
Full service history
Is that a lot of kms on the clock?

[Posh Tourer :P]

At first sight, yes that is too much.... it is 13 years old and has high kms....

But I dunno what everything else is like now

[SN4PD]

Does seem a bit pricey, but then Auckland prices are like that.

I paid $5000 for my 91 ZXR250C about a year ago EX ChCh, it had 9,000 Kms on the clock and was in mint condition, (until I lowsided it).

Have a look at what's on the market outside of Auckland, it only cost me $170 to put my 250 in a container in ChCh and ship it up, (took 3 days).

[Drum]

83k is getting up there for a 250, but with a full service history it could be ok. At least for you to ride till you get your full license.

You should be prepared to spend money at the workshop at some stage.

[diggydog]

i think it's a lot k;s for the money, it depends how long you plan to keep her, if it turns out to be a good one.

[Lteejay]

Thanks everyone. Really only planning on keeping the bike for 1-2 years and then would trade up, but think I will stay away from bike with too many km's on clock and go for something else.

[Mr. Peanut]

How much do you want to spend? I'd try for a newish Kawasaki GPX250.

[SN4PD]

Thanks everyone. Really only planning on keeping the bike for 1-2 years and then would trade up, but think I will stay away from bike with too many km's on clock and go for something else.

If your planning to keep it for 1-2 years, you might want to look at something a little quicker, maybe save up a few extra dollars. You can always buy a quick bike and ride it slow, (while building up your confidence and getting faster), but unfortunately it doesn't work well the other way round....

Whatever you end up getting remember to keep about a thousand spare to buy some decent gear, probably not leathers initially but a decent lid, codura and boots, one thing you don't want to skimp on is safety gear. (Or plan B, convince the olds your going to kill yourself on the bike if they need to help you out with the safety gear).

Also remember that your going to bin it at some stage, so if its your primary means of transport only ride as fast as you can afford to crash.

Oh and my pet hate is kids ticking these things up on HP, it's not worth it :mellow: If you cant pay cash for a $3k bike, then your probably going to have trouble paying for all the parts it eats, not to mention worst case of writing it off and paying out hard earned cash for the next few years on something thats totally fucked.

That said, go hard, bikes are fucking good fun :D

[gamgee]

yeah and you can also buy a bike thats to powerfull to learn on and end up getting yourself in the shit every 5 mins cause your just making basic learner mistakes, whereas a less powerfull bike woulda been fine

[bert_is_evil]

I think there's something about the across model that makes it special compared to the other gsxr 250's, can't remember what it is (I don't mean the fact that you can stow your helmet in the tank)

[gamgee]

thats about it, the tank is under your arse, and the 'tank' is helmet storage

[gamgee]

they're a nice bike, I nearly bought one, but I wouldn't touch one with km that high, for that matter I wouldn't touch any 250 with km that high...

[bert_is_evil]

thats about it, the tank is under your arse, and the 'tank' is helmet storage

Oh, nothing special then. Just a bike with high k's.

[SN4PD]

yeah and you can also buy a bike thats to powerfull to learn on and end up getting yourself in the shit every 5 mins cause your just making basic learner mistakes, whereas a less powerfull bike woulda been fine

I would hope that you wouldn't repeat the same mistake every 5 minutes :gob:

You just need to learn how to control your right hand........ my bike can easily do 260kmph+ but you don't see me doing that through the spaghetti junction, engage your brain before you twist the throttle. :Police:

[The_Dover]

Oh and my pet hate is kids ticking these things up on HP, it's not worth it :mellow: If you cant pay cash for a $3k bike, then your probably going to have trouble paying for all the parts it eats, not to mention worst case of writing it off and paying out hard earned cash for the next few years on something thats totally fucked.


did you pay cash for the trumpet that you have dropped how many times?

and you don't even have a full licence.

[The Stranger]

I would hope that you wouldn't repeat the same mistake every 5 minutes :gob:

You just need to learn how to control your right hand........

Yeah, once a week is often enough.

Though right on with the right hand control.
So so important.

[SN4PD]

did you pay cash for the trumpet that you have dropped how many times?

and you don't even have a full licence.

I did pay cash thank you, the only thing I have financed is my house.... but I suspect it's a lot harder to drop.

[The_Dover]

did the cash come from your "home loan"?

as for dropping the house, does it have clifftop views? if so, start to worry.

[SN4PD]

did the cash come from your "home loan"?

as for dropping the house, does it have clifftop views? if so, start to worry.

Actually the cash came from 3 months of 90 hour weeks during a large corporate merger and integration project. Unfortunately Glendowie isn't in my price range, so no clifftop views :(

[boomer]

I would hope that you wouldn't repeat the same mistake every 5 minutes :gob:

You just need to learn how to control your right hand........ my bike can easily do 260kmph+ but you don't see me doing that through the spaghetti junction, engage your brain before you twist the throttle. :Police:


its amazing how some people don't learn huh??!!


:lol: :lol:

[SN4PD]

its amazing how some people don't learn huh??!!


:lol: :lol:

What are you insinuating here :laugh::laugh::laugh:

[Lteejay]

If your planning to keep it for 1-2 years, you might want to look at something a little quicker, maybe save up a few extra dollars. You can always buy a quick bike and ride it slow, (while building up your confidence and getting faster), but unfortunately it doesn't work well the other way round....:D
I dont want anything too grunty at the moment. The best looking bikes I've seem are 600CC or more, but my wallet and skill don't match the drool meter :gob: (well on the low end anyway). Got the cash so dont need to put on HP, enough for gear too. Have seen a fantastic leather jacket. How much more of a pain in the arse are they compared to textured jackets i.e with the rain etc.
Also, seen a ZZR 1994 at $3000 on trademe - 52,000km. What do ya reckon?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=78386032&key=413031

[SN4PD]

I dont want anything too grunty at the moment. The best looking bikes I've seem are 600CC or more, but my wallet and skill don't match the drool meter :gob: (well on the low end anyway). Got the cash so dont need to put on HP, enough for gear too. Have seen a fantastic leather jacket. How much more of a pain in the arse are they compared to textured jackets i.e with the rain etc.
Also, seen a ZZR 1994 at $3000 on trademe - 52,000km. What do ya reckon?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=78386032&key=413031

If it's just a leather jacket then its probably not such a pain, but when leather gets wet, you get drenched, and because your riding theres the wind chill so you get fucken cold, or you can carry a rain coat to put over your leathers, which is also a pain in the arse.

Personally I use a codura jacket and draggin jeans for the 10km commute to work, and a full zip together race suit for "dry" weekend riding, (my tires are useless in the wet anyway).

As for the bike $3k is a little high for the kms, $2000-2500 would me more resonable. As it has high KMS and is 12 years old be prepared to buy EXPENSIVE Kawasaki spare parts, (I got new parts for my ZXR250 ex Jap at a third of the NZ street price).

Have you looked at all the other bike sites, bikepoint etc, you can normaly find a good deal if you scout around, prices on trademe tend to be a bit inflated, and dont be afraid to buy a bike from out of town, my last two bikes I brought from Chirstchurch.

[Lteejay]

.....dont be afraid to buy a bike from out of town, my last two bikes I brought from Chirstchurch.
You bought without seeing or riding?????

[SN4PD]

You bought without seeing or riding?????

When I brought my ZXR250C I had it shipped up, so no riding. I paid $2000-3000 less than its street value in Auckland for a bike in that condition, so even if it had a few problems I was coming out ahead. I got it off an importer, so if it was fucked then all I had to do was ship it back for a refund....... contrary to popular belief I'm not stupid :bleh:

As for the second bike, well you don't drop 20K and not ride it back from Christchurch :devil2: I didn't test ride that one (or any other big bikes beforehand) for that matter, the first time I had ridden anything bigger than a 250 was on the day out the shop door with my tank bag packed!

But considering it was brand new with a whole 5kms on the clock and a 2 year warranty I'd covered most bases....

[Drum]

I bought a bike from out of town too. I found the same model locally and sat on it to check for fit etc, but then purchased off a shop in Tauranga as it was a better deal (by more than $1000 even after freight etc).

When I found an oil leak, the bike shop paid for the repair to be carried out locally. Couldnt be happier really.

Buying out of town from a private seller may be a different story though.

[Lteejay]

Think I will probably get more bang for my buck if I go privately as I only have $3000, so will try to stick to Auckland sells. I will keep looking. There are a couple of GPX's on trade me that look OK.
Love Kiwibiker website as I dont really know anyone else who rides to ask these questions to.
Thanks for everyones help. I am bound to have more questions soon.:dodge:

[SN4PD]

Think I will probably get more bang for my buck if I go privately as I only have $3000, so will try to stick to Auckland sells. I will keep looking. There are a couple of GPX's on trade me that look OK.
Love Kiwibiker website as I dont really know anyone else who rides to ask these questions to.
Thanks for everyones help. I am bound to have more questions soon.:dodge:

At the end of the day its your money and your decision to make and not anyone else's. No ones going to mock you for whichever bike you buy, so get something you like not what other people think you should have / would like.

As for the questions, thats why this site exists, for bikers to exchange knowledge, corroborate, (and talk shit).

Finally when you do get your new baby you have to post pics for us all to admire, (and turn up to some KB rides) :)

[Hawkeye]

Just for the record Lteejay - Welcome to the site...

[The Flux Capacita]

haha i've been looking at the same bikes since my one got smashed up by a cage...seems this advice saved me alot of driving around although i was really interested in that blue zzr being local....other bikes on trade me with potential are:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=78615893

which i really like but can't get up to have a closer look at it untill thursday next week

this zxr looks ok but worried it's been thrashed around a bit

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=78436005

what do you guys think

also what other bike websites are there apart from trademe?

cheers
Flux

[SN4PD]

haha i've been looking at the same bikes since my one got smashed up by a cage...seems this advice saved me alot of driving around although i was really interested in that blue zzr being local....other bikes on trade me with potential are:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=78615893

which i really like but can't get up to have a closer look at it untill thursday next week

this zxr looks ok but worried it's been thrashed around a bit

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=78436005

what do you guys think

also what other bike websites are there apart from trademe?

cheers
Flux

Hi,

They both look like pretty good bikes, personally I'd go for the FZR over the ZZR any day. The ZXR will be a premo 250 to ride, bit more acceleration and top speed, but it will cost a mot more than $3300, I'd speculate the auction ending somewhere between $4000-5000.

With a ZXR around those KMS, look at having to replace the following in the next 5000-10000 KMS, brake discs ($1800 for genuine Kawasaki or $900 for locally made ones), fork seals & oil ($50-100 on your next service), chain & sprocket ($200-300), having said that they're a arguably (shush you CBR owners) the quickest Jap 250 you can buy for the money. Also remember that they will want an oil change every 4000-5000 KMS as general maintenance, and you'll probably want to ditch whatever shit tyres it comes with and put on something decent like GPR70's ($250 rear, $200 front).

Other bike websites...... www.bikepoint.co.nz