help a bike noobie

[marty]

or this in new plymouth for offers on $1800?

[jrandom]

mops, a CB250RS would be perfect for you by the sounds of it. Them's good bikes, they is.

Post where you are geographically, someone might be able to help out with your search for a bike, learning to ride, finding some gear etc.

[mops]

damn.

teach that CB250RS looks nice. so is the other bike. exacly what i'm looking for. and even around my price range !!!

i'm in auckland....

another question.

you know... generally cars do abour 200-300 thousand k's without engine rebuild, etc, when driven normally. how about bikes ???

[jrandom]

generally cars do abour 200-300 thousand k's without engine rebuild, etc, when driven normally. how about bikes ???

oooh errr (sucks teeth) well that depends, dunnit, on all sortsa stuff. How hard-tuned the engine is, whether it's kept running on nice fresh high-quality oil and clean filters, stuff like that. Also depends what you define as a rebuild I suppose.

Some random data - a colleague had a GSX1100 that started smoking and rattling around 130 thousand kays at which point he flicked it - his description of it was "pretty much f*cked". He didn't pay much attention to looking after it during that time though IIRC.

Then again I wouldn't really know would I? Wait for one of the Venerable Aged Bikers to weigh in on this one.

[Jackrat]

damn.

teach that CB250RS looks nice. so is the other bike. exacly what i'm looking for. and even around my price range !!!

i'm in auckland....

another question.

you know... generally cars do abour 200-300 thousand k's without engine rebuild, etc, when driven normally. how about bikes ???

Bikes,If your talking four stroke Should go 50,000 or so before they start needing work,Cam chains would probably be the most common thing to replace first.It very much depends on the Bike,up keep of maintiance ect.
I had a Suzuki 850G with 150,000 and never been touched,A Harley FLT with 280,000 up,one full rebuild.Bike engines are high performance compared to cars and reqiure owner in put or at lest shop servicing if you want to get the best out of them.There really ain,t any such thing as the average bike or bike owner.Your bike will only return what you put into it.Iv,e come across bikes with super high mileage and also with very low,always due to owner input.
What ever you end up buying,I sujest you get a work shop manual for it,you may not be going to do major work but you can save your self lots of money by just keeping things adjusted right or knowing what to look out for,a manual could be your best friend.I constantly run into guys that can,t even adjust their chains properly,or don,t know things like plug gaps for their big doller bikes.Bike shops love these guys.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[merv]

.... and the main thing is don't skimp on doing oil and filter changes and use high quality motorcycle oil.

[SILVER SUZI]

.... and the main thing is don't skimp on doing oil and filter changes and use high quality motorcycle oil.

My Suzuki had done 46 000k's when bought, did oil and filter at about 50. Bought genuine filter from Colemans (cheaper than after market!), and the guy there told me that I would probably be better off with a good quality mineral oil than synthetic in a bike of that age due to the synthetic being a little more viscious when hot. Anyone got any comments?

[merv]

The type of oil has been discussed on this forum a bit in the past. What to use is somewhat dependent on the type of motor and how worn it is. If you've got a bike that's reasonably large like Silver Suzi's 750 then 50,000kms is not that great, but if you have a 125 that's revved its guts out then 50,000kms is probably about worn right out. From new it is probably smart to use high quality synthetic or semi-synthetic oil making sure you run the motor in properly and then it should wear very slowly. One school of thought is to run it in on mineral oil for a few thousand kms and then switch. However I gather the issue is if you try to use synthetic in a worn motor or one that has run a long time on mineral oil then you can end up with an oil burning engine.

This is similar to older engines that were designed to run on the older oils. I guess as oils have improved the manufacturers have probably improved their engines with better pistons, rings and bores and tighter clearances and some of the older engines just won't suit the modern low friction oils. Its not much point paying $80 for 4 litres of synthetic if the engine is going to produce smoke from it, you may as well buy the $25 4 litre pack.

Motorcycle oils are said to be designed for wet clutches too so best stick with them and not car oil.

I have gone halfway house with my bikes and use Castrol GPS which is semi-synthetic costing about $40 -$50 for 4 litres. My bikes have not worn enough to ever need topping up between oil changes.

I presume the bike manufacturers know best for their product so at least always stick to their suggested viscosity ratings.

[wkid_one]

Mangell just cracked his Fazer over 50,000 and it is still running well.

Gotta agree with Merv - oil maintenance is crucial - especially when buying a 250 which usually revs like a sewing machine - all those rapidly moving parts and shitty oil make for costly repairs.

Also - make sure you choose a bike that parts are easy to get a hold of.......

[Big Dog]

I did 120,000 kms on my Gpx 250 1989. however I change the oil every 6,000 kms checked my chain every 6-900km (lubed and adjusted) and had it serviced by a licensed dealer once a year (and hovered around seeing what he did different).
When I sold it it had a little crash damage but compression was textbook.

Except for the R spec engines, jappa post 85 well maintatined should be good for 150,000 according to the maintenance manager at red baron.

[Motu]

Um,I'm don't work on bikes much anymore,but cars are my day to day life - all I can say is...ah,shit happens mate - the most carefully maintaned vehicle can turn on you,usually around this of year - but some dickhead who never does a thing can get decades out of a POS.HAH!!! cept for my sister in law...her 96 Commodre hasn't had a service for 2yrs/50,000km and just shit a trans....oh,and you want it fixed before Xmas?,sorry girl,your penny pinching has just caught up with you...you can't afford $3000 before Xmas,well nor can I!!!

[marty]

those vr/vs commodores always shat the trannies at 200 - 225k's. cheaper to buy a drivetrain from flywheel to driveshaft from a wreckers than it is to fix them

[LB]

Hamish and I always have our Beemers serviced every 10,000kms as per the manual. We also change the oil (and sometimes filter) half-way inbetween services. Use the $80/4ltr Shell stuff. (we've got a mate who works at Shell so we get it half-price, though would use it even paying full price.) Hamish has over 60,000kms on his R1100S and has had nothing done to it, and no signs of any major wear. My R1150R has almost 50,000kms on it and is going fine.

I agree with what the guys say that generally the better you treat/service a bike the longer it will last.

My Duc - the mechanic at the Ducati shop (who I know and trust) reckons there's no point changing oil halfway inbetween with it. I probably will anyway.

[mops]

i do realise the importance of oil changes in the eingine. My ,turbo subby gets $100 worth of filter and synthetic every 5000k's. 163000k's on the clock and still going strong (knock on wood)




question. how much oil does usually go into 250cc bike motor ???

question 2. I just realised, i dont have any place to store/park my bike. I mean, i have no garage, no carport, no sherd and there's no way my flatmate/landlord will allow me to park this ting inside house. any ideas how could i overcome this problem ??? I have big tree in the backyard that i could chain the bike to. what doyathink ???

[edited to correct numerous spelling mistakes]

[curious george]

question. how much oil does usually go into 250cc bike motor ???

question 2. I just realised, i dont have any place to store/park my bike. I mean, i have no garage, no carport, no sherd and there's no way my flatmate/landlord will allow me to park this ting inside house. any ideas how could i overcome this problem ??? I have big tree in the backyard that i could chain the bike to. what doyathink ???

[edited to correct numerous spelling mistakes]

Question 1: twice as long as a piece of string
(and it depends on the thicknes of the string)

Question 2: Never store bikes in a sherd. Very bad. I would not leave your ting where anybody else can see it either.
Bike chained to tree =good idea, unless tree can ride a bike. Then you have many more problems. Find a quiet shrub instead. Or adjust suspension for big tree.

How about making a small wooden shelter? A wee lean to type thing? Put wheels on it, and ta-da! You can buy them, but some 2x4 and 3mm plywood would suffice. I'll draw a picture if you want.