New Newbie (kelvinator9)

**kevinator9** · 2nd February 2013, 11:48

Ah yes I know of Alister. He was my flatmates instructor.
I did have a look at the Kawasaki and it looks very nice but it unfortunately way out of my price range... even used.

Good news is that I got the basic skills certificate today so I am stoked. Will book the licence application/test for this week to get the paper to make me legal!

**Grashopper** · 2nd February 2013, 22:16

First thing first, welcome to the forum

As someone who has a GN250 I would not recommend anything with less power than that. The GN250 is a good beginners bike and has been ok so far for longer rides, too. It does the speed limit on open roads, it just takes a bit of time to get there. The biggest disadvantage I see is that it is so light that a gust of wind can shove you around quite a bit which can be a bit scary for a beginner. But I don't know how much different that is on other bikes.

I only rode one other bike so far and that was a Honda cbf125. I really liked that bike. I thought it felt a bit more stable than the GN, but it was my only third lesson and a couple of months ago, so now I'm not sure about that anymore.

Only advantage the GN250 had on the cbf is that the GN tells you which gear you're in, which is really useful for a beginner.

I would recommend to at least sit on a few different bikes and if you take the cash maybe you can even take some for a testride.

**Shortie** · 3rd February 2013, 14:31

I've owned both the gn250 and the Scorpio, my opinion is the yamaha handles better and has more power for highway speeds. Also the new gn250 I had started rusting straight away, so be wary of the late model ones.

**Dangsta** · 3rd February 2013, 14:59

Welcome to KB. I had a Hyosung GV250 as a first bike. Comuted on it and rode it from Wanganui to Palmy on the reg. Did a Tauranga trip on it too. Couldn't fault it as a first bike. Cheap, reliable, handled well, held highway speeds and was a lot nicer to look at than a gn. I'd definitely advise taking one for a test ride if you get the chance. Good luck.

**kevinator9** · 3rd February 2013, 17:02

Hi Guys,

Thanks a bunch for the many opinions. I have started to realise the GN's are not a great option.

The Yamaha Scorpio still seems like a solid contender. I will be looking out for one of these.

What are the km values on motorbikes like? It seems to me that 0-10000km is somewhat 'like new'. 10000-30000km is mid range and 30000km+ is high and will soon be in need of maintenance. Is that accurate? I know things like service history etc will override and there are many other factors that play a part but this does help give a little perspective on what bikes to be looking at.

I have seen a number of Honda CBF125/250. Are these any good? The 250's are all a bit out of my price range but look to be solid options. How does the 125 fare? Same story as a GN125 (ridiculously underpowered)?

Basically I will have $2800 from the sale of my car. $500 of this is aside for gear and I may be able to scrounge up a couple hundred dollars from a little extra work. I feel that with my limited budget, most of my options are not great...