Will a 250cc be fine from Wellington to Taranaki?

[nadroj]

Use helium, bik will be lighter and will go faster.

Naa he would sit higher & have more wind resistance.....

[george formby]

I second that. For the luxury ride though go to a stationery shop and get a metre or so of the biggest bubble wrap they sell. It goes between the sheepskin and the seat. You can thank me later.

I will thank you now. Very crever.

[James Deuce]

What the fuck!?

I rode my RG250 all over the country, laden with gear. I rode my GSXR250 all over the country, laden with gear. Capacity isn't the issue. It's whether or not you actually look after your motorcycle well enough to trust it.

That's you as in the you that should be taking responsibility for the reliability of your transport.

That Spada engine. When they test their engine designs, Honda are aiming for 72 hours of continuous operation at redline without significant engine damage. Often, small capacity motorcycle engines are run for 2-3 weeks at redline before they fatally expire. Your engine is designed to be used across its rev range for whatever period of time one could resonably expect to be the "lifetime" of a motorcycle. The engine will probably do 100,000km, even being brutalised by a long line of squid learner riders.

The stuff that wears out on bikes usually isn't engine or transmission. It's suspension bearings and bushes and suspension units themselves and stuff like wheel and steering head bearings that need regular maintenance and replacement, maintenance that NO FRIGGING LEARNER 250 RIDER EVER FREAKING BOTHERS WITH.

*pant* *pant* *pant*

[Brayden]

Man cheers for all the replies. Guess its an overwhelming hell yes it will be fine!

At this stage I'm not exactly sure when I'll be leaving, obviously with all this snow and shit it's gunna have to be weather dependent.

If it clears up by next week i'll most likely be looking at leaving from Welly on Tuesday the 23'rd and coming back from New Plymouth on Thursday the 25th if anyone wants to tag along on any stage of the journey. If not fine then most likely the same days in the following week.

Note however that this will be my first long distance ride!

[James Deuce]

Note however that this will be my first long distance ride!

It will be the first of many. There is NOTHING like it.

[Oakie]

and bring a cloth to wipe your visor clean (you can do it at a servo, but it doesn't help when you are in between them and get a wicked bug splat in the center of your visor!) :

I recommend glass cleaning wipes that come in an wee flat pack holding about 50 wipes. Take up virtually nil space in a bag or under the seat and the leave visors, headlights and mirrors sparkly.

[GrayWolf]

Uni holidays soon and thinking of tripping up to the Naki in the next few weeks. Thing is at 110 kmh my bike is running in the power band range at 9000, redline is at 13.

Would is survive a 4-5 hour trip up without the engine screwing or overheating etc? Anyone else ridden long distance on a 250? Cheers

point 1, rev range? You dont HAVE to ride at 110km's per hr.. but I would suggest a good old rule of thumb, no more than 2/3's of maximum revs of the engine for touring speeds. 50-70% rev range should be the sweet spot.
Do a filter and high quality oil change for the journey.

2) YES many moons ago, on an old RD250dx air cooled. I travelled 20,000 miles in one year on that bike (32,000km's) as long as you remember its still a 250 and dont thrash the hades out of it, it will do a 5hr trip quite comfortably.....

[ducatilover]

I did 500km in a day on mine and it probably never dropped below 9000rpm.
I sold mine with 150,000km on it, I put 130,000 on it.

It really will be fine.
Just make sure you've got good oil in her and nice coolant. that's how mine lasted and I thrashed the shit out of it, it was a rev limiter whore.