Suzuki NZ250

**dave o** · 12th February 2007, 21:23

Hi,

Im just starting to get into biking and joined the forums about a week ago.
I have a cg125 at the moment (but no license :E ) and am wondering about getting a suzuki nz250 and giving the cg to my girlfriend to learn on.

have any of you guys got any opinions on the nz250? There is one on trademe at the moment that has done 51000km and i quite like it, but i cant find any reviews on them. id like a better bike than the cg to actually start riding around on, but havnt got much money so i probably wont go to a dealer.
heres a link to the bike:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...p-35395895.htm

any thoughts would be good

Cheers,
Dave

**Deviant Esq** · 12th February 2007, 22:15

Hiya Dave.

I've got the NZ250S - the fairing model. Have a click on my profile to see a picture of it, though I'll admit it's not a great picture. Anyway, my opinion of the bike: excellent machine for a learner.

Pros: They're very light (~120kg dry) and chuckable, and handle well with good tyres. The powerband is pretty linear so there aren't any sudden surges of power or flatspots in the revrange, and it has fair torque for a 250cc (being a single). It's got a good turn of speed for a single as well, and if you're a fair rider you should be able to keep up with a CBR250 - though not on the straights as although it can go faster it tends to run out of puff at around 115km/h. They're cheap to buy, easy to work on, and well maintained they just keep on going. Mine's done ~90,000 km. Great in town, narrow bike so easy to filter on.

Cons: They're now an old bike and spare parts are very difficult to source. If you take it for a warrant, never take it to a bike shop as your front brake disc will likely be too thin (they'll fail it for that), and they're near - impossible to source. Take it to a general warrant place because they're less picky. The electrics can be dodgy if they haven't been maintained, but this is more due to the age of the bike. They were only made from 1986 to 1989 I believe, and not many made it to New Zealand. They don't have any storage compartments.

Overall: an excellent machine for a learner / restricted rider. I've had mine for about a year and it's done me well. Starting to get the bug and wanting a bigger bike, but you get that. Depending on how patient you are...

There are other good 250s out there, depends on your budget. Best of luck mate. Incidentally, the one on trademe you've supplied the link to is definitely not stock. But the auction says that. So the charactaristics of the bike could be different to what I've said.

Oh, and here's a couple of pictures. The second is the S model.

**dave o** · 12th February 2007, 22:32

cheers for the great reply

for some reason i really like the look of that one on trademe, i think it makes it look faster or something haha.

one time i was searching the forums and i saw someone post about a nz250 and they said "theyre like a grenade, stay away" or something. i cant remember who said it though. anyone know why that would be? do they reach a point where they just fall apart? or was it just that persons one experience?

cheers,
dave

**pzkpfw** · 13th February 2007, 19:34

I saw that grenade comment too. I think it meant they blow up - but I figure you must need to thrash them to make them do it.

My old NZ250 (used it to go through my CBTA courses) seems to have been maltreated. Rusty; wrong bolts in engine; found an old air-filter all through the carb; ...

But as long as I use it often enough to keep the battery charged it just goes and goes.

Never let me down.

When I tried to sell it on trademe I had a guy tell me about all the stuff he's doing to his NZ to make it faster (lighten flywheel, change carb, change header, ...) so it can't be that ready to blow up.

It's an easy bike to control and fun to chuck around. The only issue I had with it was that at 6'3" I tended to overbalance it when practicing emergency braking.

If you were in Wellington I'd throw mine at you cheapish.

Cheers,