I am a NOOB!! (EJ Rides the little ol' Hornet)

[EJK]

On Tuesday I went to Justin's house (GIJOE1313) to pick up his Hornet. He has lend it to me for some reason but the main purpose was to experience a real 250.... I think.

Day 1:
Power

The bike is indeed heavier than the FXR but I got used it eventually.
When I went to his place, GI didn't just let me off (lol ofcourse not). We went right around the area and I felt the total difference between my single and this inline 4 baby beast. My hands began to shake...
When I got home, the adrenalin was still on me. Shaking didn't stop till the next day. Honestly I was scared of the power.

Summary

Its a whole new generation
The bike surpasses every specs compared to the FXR
The bike's métier is agility
Even a simple roll on generates enough power (compared to the FXR)


I questioned myself. If a 250 has this amount of power, then how the hell some people ride a bike such as the Yamaha R1?

I couldn't/ didn't rev it up over 8,000rpm that night. I dared myself not.

Day 2:
Comfort

I woke up around 6:30 somehow without an alarm clock (which is preety amazing for me). I listened to the drops of rain hitting the roof of the house. It wasn't that noisy which meant it was just a drizzle. Good. Well had nothing to do till 10:30am so what did I do? I made myself a blame to ride! (Just like GIJOE1313! Aargh! McJim was right! I am becomming like him!)

1st off, St Helliers bay via Mission bay. It was nice.. the road was wet but it wasnt drizzling anymore when I reached around the Mission bay. I took it nicely all the way. Still I wasn't used to the upright(er) position and the POWER. Then I did some more urban riding... All the way down the Gt Nth Rd, then to Swanson, then to the Don Buck(?) Road reaching Westgate. To finish off, I took the motorway back home, making it Urban Perfection Ride.

Now when I was on my way to school, For the first time ever on the Hornet, I reved above 10,000rpm!!!. As I went through the tunnel, I gave more reaching 13,000rpm screaming EXACTLY like an F1 car! Honestly it did! I'm a big fan of cars (well yeah.. bikes too) and this really replicates the sound of an F1 car. Oh yes! I was going through the under-pass, not exactly a tunnel, however the echo and the ricochet of the sound just made me smile. A BIG one too.

Summary

Upright position is ofcourse comfortable but I wasn't still used to it
I love the exhaust note!
It's quick when the needle goes over 10,000rpm.
...still (end of day 2) didn't know how to turn the bike well...


Hornet is a good bike but there are some parts which makes me nervous abit. The up riding position is comfortable but I feel that my body can't give some pressure on to the front wheel, making the front wheel light which could lock up easily during an emergency breaking in wet. I don't know... Others will know it better and may think differently but I personally feel it that way.

Also I am very used to the GT250R's riding position, which is the lying on tank position lol. Its wierd that I feel more comfortable on a GT250R. Maybe because I'm getting old and my back is aching heh...


Day 3:
Agility
Also woke up around 7:00am. Hmm no school till 12:00. Lets go :scooter:
Today I took it to the St Helliers (again). Since the road was dry now, I felt more comfortable. Furthur more, I took the bike to the Skidmark's birth place (St Hellier twisties). Went on and back a couple of time trying to learn how to lean the bike properly. It's really different to a sportsbike riding position. Gosh I'm a noob...

But by end of the day, I got it right. On my way to work, I took the Coatesville Riverhead, Albany road. The bike really handles awesome (I don't know if it's the Diablos or the bike). Can I comment on the Diablos too? Once they get warmed up, the bike feels like spreading sour cream on top of a toast! Also, the wide rear tyre is really useful.

Summary

Good on corners
Love the wide tyre!
Light bike! (Got used to the weight now)
I love the bright headlight!
Gotta love the Diablos.
When was the last time you changed the front break pads GI?


I went to sleep that night planning a ride to Huia the next day...

Day 4:
Ride

I woke up with a txt message alert saying "feeling like a pootle today?". So I replied my plan (last night) and we were on our way.
The ride was good. I took it easy as always. Some moss were on the road while riding the Scenic Drive, so I dare myself not to speed :crazy:
The weather was fine! It was a perfect day! All the rainy days have paid it's price! Enjoyed the ride very much :). Hornet indeed overcame the tough hill just before reaching Huia, whch my FXR struggled. Ride was easy. Just give me some cash and I bet I will go and go around the South Island.


Nice weather
Long time no Huia
Got some photos this time :)


Will upload the photos.

Overall:
So will I buy a hornet? Well it's a good bike but can't really judge it yet. I am very used to the Hyosung Gt250R's riding position. It somehow suits me perfectly. However if I want the power and the comfort of a sports bike position, maybe I'll try a CBR.

I gotta say, Justin is fortunate to have this bike lol It's got alot of love and I know it lol Mostly I love the sound. It is just amazing (especially riding through an under-pass hehehe I'll do that again soon!). Thanks for this opportunity Justin, like I said the other night, I was just a frog inside a well, and you pulled me out of it. Well thanks!

P.S. Pics will be uploaded soon

[ital916]

rev the tits off it, then you'll be happy. First gear redline is awesome on the hornet ;)

[EJK]

Furthur note, The review doesn't mean that I have fully mastered the Hornet in 4 days. I have just realised it's early stage of potentiality.

I've ridden many 250s including Zeal, Scorpio, GPX, GT250R but none of em comes close to the Hornet. It is an amazing bike. :niceone:

Pictures uploaded.

From Huia:
1. Huia
2. Huia
3. At Westgate. Red KFC, Red Stop Sign, Red bike and Red "80kph"
4. At Little Huia

[CookMySock]

If a 250 has this amount of power, then how the hell some people ride a bike such as the Yamaha R1?hehe, your first time on a 600 - you will feel like you are riding a rocket with footpegs.

1st gear gently, woah fat 600cc sound, WOAH torque!, change up!, 2nd squeeze it very gently on, farrrk it pulls, change up, look at speedo, fark! 90k's how id that happen?? ok here we go, straight road, roll it on bravely with care or regard, WOAH TORQUE!! revs build, WOAH!! PULL!!! revs build, holy shit!! slide back on seat, pull with arms, slide forward, revs build, do we throttle off? NO! revs build, pull turns to wrench, tip helmet forward, lock feet in front of footpegs, glance at speedo 165k wow, change up, FULL throttle, buffet in helmet turns to deafening subwoofer racket, white lines turn to single high-speed strobe, gentle bend coming - concentrate, shoulder out, hard bar-push, WOW we are leaned way over at, um, glance at speedo 185k's WOW, nah this is baaaad, jacket flapping violently, I'm out! roll off... Two finger braking, err nope, full hand braking, gee it takes a while to scrub that speed off dunnit, whew!

edit: well maybe not on your FIRST time on the 600.. :whistle:

Steve

[BANZAI]

So will I buy a hornet? Well it's a good bike but can't really judge it yet. I am very used to the Hyosung Gt250R's riding position. It somehow suits me perfectly. However if I want the power and the comfort of a sports bike position, maybe I'll try a CBR.


I've ridden many 250s including Zeal, Scorpio, GPX, GT250R but none of em comes close to the Hornet. It is an amazing bike


Get SUUUUUUUUUZUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIII!!!!!!!!

:Oi: what about my mighty GNX-R???

[McJim]

Hey EJ, are we talking about This little Hornet?http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=924211#post924211

[Choco]

You went through EXACTLY the same thing I did!
GN250 to Hornet250 :shit:

First time I twisted my wrist I thought to myself "holy cow! I'm going to loose my license on one of these"
So completely and utterly different to the Ginny in every way imaginable!

Oh: yeah she starts pulling around 10k RPM and OOOOHHHHHH the noise she makes :love::drool::yes:
Try dropping two/three gears to overtake something :eek: MY GOD I LOVE THE HORNET!!!!

I still miss my Ol GN though, but at least I fit on this bike :D

How long are you going to be borrowing it? Keen to grab some other horneteers and buzzing off somewhere for a photo shoot?

[zeocen]

I actually said to Justin, after having a blast around Maraetai loop on the Hornet 250, that had I known what kind of bike it was when I had my GPX250, I would have been so, so gutted knowing that I could have had SUCH a bike on my learners period.

Man I love that little fucker, I even took some video of me saying how much I love it! Here is one part of said video, ignore what I'm talking about mostly as it was relevant to the place I uploaded it (nice little biker community world wide over there). Justin is on my ER6 and I'm on his little'ol'hornet, I give it a bit of a gun here and there in this one but my camera ran out of battery so I lost all the good twisties. Needless to say, it was super, super sweet. 250's are just tits.

<div><embed src="http://www.livevideo.com/flvplayer/embed/12FBB44CC6724BB8B86140BE431505AF" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" WIDTH="445" HEIGHT="369" wmode="transparent"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.livevideo.com/video/embedLink/12FBB44CC6724BB8B86140BE431505AF/706018/hornet-pt-3-good-news-on-cam.aspx">Hornet pt.3 - Good news on camera!!</a></div>

[imw-hornet]

Hi EJK
What a write up on your 4 days with the hornet , i have recently got one my self and while i was reading , i was grinning saying to my self ,,,yep that could happen , its just like that HA HA.
Its a GREAT bike , love it ,,,,,, love it even more over 10 000 :) :rockon:

[Nagash]

Haha, good on yah EJ. Amazed by the power of a 250 :Pokey:

[CookMySock]

Here is one part of said video [....]Hey man, can you link me to how you did your camera and audio ? Very nicely done! Little or no wind noise, clear engine note, clear vlog. Love it. :first:

many thanks,
Steve

[Morcs]

I questioned myself. If a 250 has this amount of power, then how the hell some people ride a bike such as the Yamaha R1?

cos once youve ridden a thou a fair bit, anything under 400cc feels like you may as well get off and walk :niceone:

[EJK]

Get SUUUUUUUUUZUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIII!!!!!!!!

what about my mighty GNX-R???

lol I can make a thread about it if you want ;) Its a great lilttle bike. I talked about it with Steve and yep, it is an amazing Town bike :niceone:


Hey EJ, are we talking about This little Hornet?http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=924211#post924211

Thats the baby :sweatdrop Who parked it down there?? :dodge:


You went through EXACTLY the same thing I did!
GN250 to Hornet250 :shit:

I bet! Ah gosh I feel pathetic not knowing what a real 250 can do!


Hi EJK
What a write up on your 4 days with the hornet , i have recently got one my self and while i was reading , i was grinning saying to my self ,,,yep that could happen , its just like that HA HA.
Its a GREAT bike , love it ,,,,,, love it even more over 10 000

Yeah it's a great bike! :laugh: I'll see you on the road sometime ;)


Haha, good on yah EJ. Amazed by the power of a 250

Indeed... I may was a single cylinder hoon but I'm actually a complete noob!


cos once youve ridden a thou a fair bit, anything under 400cc feels like you may as well get off and walk :niceone:

I can't imagine :innocent: How much throttle do you Thous give when departing from the lights??

[gijoe1313]

Good to see you have done a lot of thinking and reflecting about riding here! :yes: No probs with the lend of a bike (just as well I have a few more to spare! :innocent:)

And will be pleased even more when you get the little FXR running again! Nothing beats the pleasure of riding your own ride! Even if you did enjoy the time on the little ol'hornet! :lol: :scooter:

Just remember to always fill up someone's ride when you've finished borrowing it :oi-grr: :msn-wink:

[xwhatsit]

One day, if you're extra-specially careful and nice and say all the right words to Justin and remember to iron your shit just so, ask for a go on Daisy, the 250cc 2T twin. Then you'll crap your daks!

Justin: gizzusago one day! Before you do 200,000kms on her and she falls to bits out of sheer exhaustion! You can have a ride on the Cub :lol:

[nodrog]

....How much throttle do you Thous give when departing from the lights??

all of it, slowly :eek:

flag the 250, get a GSXR1000.

[EJK]

Just remember to always fill up someone's ride when you've finished borrowing it :oi-grr: :msn-wink:

Thats a little embarassing story :o Sorry I couldn't afford to fill it up :sweatdrop

[NOMIS]

Sheesh, I neer heard someone go on about he 250 hornets lack of power so much hahaha, I do like them over 10.000rpm tho.

Cant wait till I get my full tho you do get over it aye. having to rev it hard to do anything does get anoying especially with my exhaust great little bike tho aye.

[NOMIS]

try riding a 08 zx10r with 210 hp, now that thing idles to over 60km lol, I didnt even get to take it out of first gear and when I did any way from idle it jumped to 80kmph haha,

Now i really can not justify having a bike with that kind of power. was just kinda scary lol

[Maha]

Justin is on my ER6 and I'm on his little'ol'hornet, I give it a bit of a gun here and there in this one but my camera ran out of battery so I lost all the good twisties. Needless to say, it was super, super sweet. 250's are just tits.


Justin on a loaner?.......why didnt he give it the ole' Veitch!!!!


Thats a little embarassing story :o Sorry I couldn't afford to fill it up :sweatdrop

Ah haaaaaaa you gave it a spanking though aye EJK???....:banana:

[Morcs]

I can't imagine :innocent: How much throttle do you Thous give when departing from the lights??

depends what lights at the drags about 90% whilst slipping the clutch.

being lazy around town, about 50%.

front wheel shoots up to the sky if you sudden whack on as little as 30% throttle :eek:

[klyong82]

Its a Honda EJ it will perform much better than a Suzuki :dodge: Haha well I think you know what you need to do bro..

[Macstar]

Phew EJ, when i read the title of this thread I thought "Oh shoot he's crashed a Hornet"! Yeah they're fun bikes. So when you going to try the 919?

[NOMIS]

Phew EJ, when i read the title of this thread I thought "Oh shoot he's crashed a Hornet"! Yeah they're fun bikes. So when you going to try the 919?

Hey macsta buddy ol pal are you offering are yah?? lol

[NOMIS]

depends what lights at the drags about 90% whilst slipping the clutch.

being lazy around town, about 50%.

front wheel shoots up to the sky if you sudden whack on as little as 30% throttle :eek:

Hey 100% on the hornet never a prob wile slipping the clutch haha. just kidding I wouldnt do a thing like that. <_<

[EJK]

Sheesh, I neer heard someone go on about he 250 hornets lack of power so much hahaha, I do like them over 10.000rpm tho.


Humans are amazing things. They can get over prob almost anything :yes:
Its a fact that if you give the person a powerful bike and some time to practice, he will get used to it. Well the cockyness will grow at the same time depending on the person too:yes:



front wheel shoots up to the sky if you sudden whack on as little as 30% throttle :eek:

Phew thats a bit much... wanna try my 150? Bet you'll need 100% to evade stalling the engine! :laugh:


Phew EJ, when i read the title of this thread I thought "Oh shoot he's crashed a Hornet"! Yeah they're fun bikes. So when you going to try the 919?

Bin? How dare you! lol And for the 919? Umm probably never? You know... Honda... :whistle:

[gijoe1313]

Thats a little embarassing story :o Sorry I couldn't afford to fill it up :sweatdrop

:slap: All you had to do was tell me that part! :lol: I remember being poor as a student, didn't like it! :rofl: Never mind, just remember to pay it forward.


Justin on a loaner?.......why didnt he give it the ole' Veitch!!!!

Ah haaaaaaa you gave it a spanking though aye EJK???....:banana:

Hehe, well I ride like a nana and I was interested to see how the ER handled (very nicely thanking you!) I was going to ride my Big Ol'Hornet that day, but since Zeo said I could have a go, who was I to say no? :msn-wink:

And yes, was interesting to hear the effect of the loud little ol'hornet! :love: Never knew what people were talking about until that day! :lol:

... now, how is Daisy doing with Jafa? :sweatdrop

[EJK]

:slap: All you had to do was tell me that part! :lol: I remember being poor as a student, didn't like it! :rofl: Never mind, just remember to pay it forward.


Ah yep, I'll pick up your bike and fill it up this Saturday! I can do that!


...returns it after 5 hours and with 300km on the clock