GN250 on the open road

[Lewis 1711]

Hello all, after some fun times with my fa50 I am looking right now to get one of those new GN250s. Heard they're reliable, no nonsense type bikes, sounds good.
I'm pretty much wondering how fast they are...I mean, I'm not out to do any racing obviously, but I want something that can go on the open road comfortably, and pretty much keep up with traffic without straining it. Too much to ask from a gn250?

[MSTRS:Me]

Welcome Lewis. GN250 is really designed as a commuter/city bike. It will travel on the open road, but if that's what you want to do there are better options out there.

[Blakamin]

My CBR400 was passed by a gn250 once.....
(only had the cbr for 3 days so it was quite new to me)

[jrandom]

Most of the time, a GN250 will do 100kph on the open road with no hassle. It would be an excellent bike for you, unless you're really really feeling the need to do 180, in which case you'll need to buy one of the obligatory shiny plastic Jap import boy-racer two fiddys instead.

[Jonty]

When I took a GN250 out on the motorway it half scared me to death, guess I was feeling a little exposed and underpowered after riding my aptly named "boy racer jap import two fiddy"

[toads]

In my experience with gn250's they are capable of doing 100kms but not in a head wind, that cb250 that celtic sea lily seems to be a great bike in terms of reliability and and also seems to go fast enough, although I suspect that experience has a lot to do with how a bike performs, I was very nervous riding altogether when I had my gn, and that maybe why I felt it was too slow.

[campbellluke]

I find that GN250's a frustratingly slow in the open road. Although the one I took for a ride, had 80,000km on the clock ( wow ) , and was 12 years old.

I guess what your hear about reliability is very true. But I still think that they are slow. Slower than those twin GPX's.

To be honest, I would rather have one of those Suzuki FXR 150's.

But instead I imported a 250 Katana. 4 cylinder 250's rule, out on the open road!

[Warren]

They will handle the open road ok, but you will have trouble keeping up when going up hills and with head winds. If you want it to handle the open road comfortably then you will want a 4cylinder 250 sports bike.

[Warren]

Saying that, the GN's are a fraction of the price of the 250 sport bikes.

[hobdar]

I spoke to Stewart from TSS (Lower Hutt) He suggested NOT buying the new GN250, mainly cause its made in China and you can get an older one for under $1000 easy and it will probably be more reliable.

If your like me looking for a bike to hack around on until you get your full licence it should be fine. There is one advertised on trade me up near you but hes asking too much for it. Old ones have been selling on trademe recently rego and wof for 500 - 700. 1984 upwards....

All people i talk to say that the older ones are great learner bikes pretty much indestructible (check the oil regularly as it has a small sump) and you should be able to sell it pretty much what you paid for it. When i first got my learners (10 years ago) i think the same GN250s selling for $700 were about $1000 so they hold there value...if you want to go fast on the open road look for something else...FZR250 (my third bike handled the open road great but had to watch the overheating trundling through town)

[Lewis 1711]

Thanks for the replies everyone! not looking to do commuting at all mainly riding medium/long distance onthe open road. How about a '93 gsx250s? Looking for something a bit more sensible than a flat out sport 250....but something that can travel long distances well.

[jrandom]

Thanks for the replies everyone! not looking to do commuting at all mainly riding medium/long distance onthe open road. How about a '93 gsx250s? Looking for something a bit more sensible than a flat out sport 250....but something that can travel long distances well.

Oh, right. Medium/long distance on the open road, but not commuting, eh. A GN250 prolly isn't your best bet, then.

You want an FZX250. See my profile.

It's the perfect 250cc motorcycle for every occasion, excepting the times when you might need to go faster than anything, well, faster, of course. I see Colemans still have their nice minty blue one, and Boyd Honda is advertising one as well.

Keep your eyes open for a while, and you'll undoubtedly find an abused dunger like mine for a lower price, too.

[Blakamin]

an abused dunger like mine

only coz you abuse it!!

[jrandom]

only coz you abuse it!!

And the filthy little whore of a machine loves every minute of it.

[vifferman]

I've ridden a GN250 only once, and it was so long ago (somewhere back in the Cretaceous, if my memory serves me correctly, which is doubtful) that I can't remember what it was like, only that it seemed incredibly, ponderously slow, compared to the XB500RS Mutant I was thrashing around on at the time.

So why am I replying to this thread? How the hell should I know?!?
Because I can? :spudwhat:

Anyway, more recently (in the Quaternary, perhaps), I rode that fire-breathing monster, the Volty. It was sad that I 'enjoyed' it's quirky character for but part of a day, and travelling at nearly a bazillion km/h down the aft side of the Harbour Bridge is a memory that will remain with me forever.
Or at least until the courses of psychotherapy and strong mind-altering drugs expunge it from the sponge that is my brain, and normal, fitful sleep resumes, without those racking, cold-sweat nightmares, daytime hallucinations and ...



WTF was I ?

Oh yeah.
GN250, you say?


Dunno.
But I got my first bike (CB175) up to an indicated 85 mph, before they outlawed mph's. Or m's ph. And/or wrecked it. Or both. Or neither.


So, how come GN250s are so slow?:spudguita