learner 250 4 stroke plasticbike shootout...

**georgedubyabush** · 5th February 2004, 10:52

1989 Kawasaki zxr250.

4 cylinder screamer (18,500 rpm redline).

Sits at about 9000rpm at 100km/hr and this is where it starts to make power with the biggest rush over 14000rpm. Gas mileage for me is adequate. A smidgen over 200kms a $10 tank on average, depending on how you ride of course.

Mechanically: Apart from everything being scaled down to tiny proportions and hard to work on... Problems with camchain tensioners loosening right off. You can hear the rattle at idle. Mine needed a new clutch when I got it at an alledged 15000kms. Needed valve shimming at 20,000kms as valves tight.
Otherwise just oil changes and tyres. Tyres?... an oddball 18inch rear rim cuts down your choices. The best i've tried so far are Bridgestone BT92's (BT090's dont fit), which last me about 5000 kms.

Riding position for most is pretty uncomfortable with a forward lean and much weight on the wrists, but Ive gotten used to it. A piece of thinly disguised plywood for the seat. I take a pillion now and then, but it isnt fun being a small, light bike.

Mine is the first model (1989) with the twin round headlights. (I think) the later models just have different fairings with the same mechanicals. The saying "polished turd" applies to many of these bikes if buying as they command inflated prices. They can look good with shiny plastic but are stuffed underneath. ZXRs do look attractive, most with a racey Power Rangers paint scheme.

Yeah yeah blah yeah... So how fast is it??? If you're a learner looking at these you ARE a hoon and are really only concerned with one thing... Some say the fastest of the 250 4 bunch, some say the cbr250rr.
Good for an indicated 180-190km/hr top speed. Fast to about 140, but over this you run out of puff and the boyracers will catch up. From the road I live on I turn onto a straight bit of road 4-500metres long then a fast corner. My zxr250 hits 160 by this corner, my skyline gts4 hits the 180 limiter. As long as the road isnt too straight and long, and traffic too light, a mere car wont give you any trouble. All in all I get to where I want to go well quicker on my bike. Wheelies? No. You can get a front wheel hop in first gear if you clutch it. Stoppies? Sure. Brakes are great.

Overall pretty capable, but expensive runner for a first bike. Handles well, but with not much in the way of adjustments for suspension. Fast enough for a learner to ride with bigger bikes. Have ridden with a pair of R1s and in twisty enough roads I wasnt holding them up.

<<< Add your own 250 4 or a second opinion >>>

**Hitcher** · 5th February 2004, 11:48

My "first" bike. Looks a bit like the new Moto Guzzi Breva. A naked bike with a sit forward rather than a lean forward riding position.

Mine's a 1992 and had 6,500 alleged km on the clock when I got it just over a year ago. It has now done 22,500km. A grey import, courtesy of Motorcycle City in the Hutt.

Redline at 14,500rpm with its typical 250cc "flat spot" at about 6,500rpm -- really irritating as this is about 102kmh in top gear (6th). Sixth gear is a true overdrive and Mr Yamaha, in his infinite wisdom, has included a green light in the speedo binnacle that reminds you when you're in top (as if the lack of whoosh wasn't enough of a clue).

I've never wound the Zeal fully out to see what it will do but it gets to 140kmh easily enough. Mind you, there's about 110kg of me and I stop a bit of wind... It will easily eat most two-litre cars off the lights (a lighter rider may do even better).

A warm-blooded little bugger. Refuses to start with any choke, even on the frostiest of mornings, but you need to use choke once it fires.

Twin exhausts -- four-into-two (one with four and two with three). Sounds pretty good for a 250.

This thing is really partial to 91 octane -- the ZRX1200R gets better gas mileage!

Yes, you can get the front wheel up. Stoppies -- I would say yes, because the front disc is the size of a large pizza dish and has plenty of bite.

It had its original Yokohamas on it when I bought it. These lasted about 16,000km. It now has Dunlop GT501 Arrowmaxes -- a great tyre for the Zeal. These improved the handling out of sight. This is a very nimble yet forgiving bike. I've added a Givi screen to mine to keep some of the wind off.

The Zeal tours well. It's comfortable to ride and mine has been around the North Island with no fuss. It doesn't mind gravel but throws a roostertail of shit which, at highway speeds, ends up all over your back.

This has cost me gas, tyres and servicing. I understand that these in-line liquid-cooled fours can get expensive with age but have nothing to support this view with mine.

**k14** · 5th February 2004, 13:34

Yip, i thought i would add my new pride and joy to the mix. Mine is a 1991 CBR250RR, imported last year and I am the first New Zealand owner. Had 11500 or so kms when i got it in december, done about 13000 now.

Nice upgrade from the old VT250. Handles and stops really well. Still getting used to it a bit, but it is great being able to change down at 12k rpms into the middle of the power band. Will take any car up to 150kph or so.

The riding position is a little uncomfortable at first, but after a while you get used to it. Really sore wrists after 5 mins of riding for the first few weeks but now it is a bit better.

Great brakes with twin discs at the front but some braided lines wouldn't do any harm. Exhaust sounds a bit sewing machine like, but that should be fixed in the next 6 months or so with a nice race can. Haven't had to do any maintenance on it yet apart from a new set of GPR70's and the VIN and reg etc. Gets about 6L per 100kms, which isnt too bad considering it is seldomly dropped below 10k rpm.

Haven't ridden any other bikes to be able to compare it to (apart from my old VT250F), so I can't say much. But I love it and think I will stick with honda for many years to come.

Here are some pics if you want to have a look: http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/k14

P.S. Forgot to add that i will never had any cam chain problems, due to honda being awesome and making the cams gear driven. So that is definately one plus of the CBR

**bungbung** · 5th February 2004, 13:56

I agree with georgedubyabush's comments on the zxr, with the addition of:

My bike had 33,000km when I got it

Gas mileage, hit reserve at 170km when caning, which is a bit on the low side, but can be stretched to 250km if gentle.

I'm 6'4" and found it impossible to ride past about 60km without having to get off for a stretch. DO NOT buy one of these bikes if you are tall(er) like me. I bought mine because it was cheap, otherwise I think I would have bought a VT250/ZZR250 twin type of thing.

Cam chain rattle, check

Squishy suspension for those of us with more mass than the nominal japanese man.

pillion? hahahahahahahaha no (once, and never again)

Great fun in the twisties. It is immensely flickable due to its light weight. I did feel sorry for it once I passed 13 -14k rpm, but really to get any go out of these things, you need to ring the nuts off them c.f. vt250

One problem I ran into was an uncoated braided brake line eating into the fork stanchion, some kind of soft alloy couldn't really stand up to the stainless braid.

I sold mine at 41,000km with no major suprises, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the fella who bought it.

**shandawg** · 27th April 2004, 22:33

Yeah, that would be me Bungbung!

The plan was to ride the ZXR back to Auckland in a 2-stage trip - Welly to Taupo to Auckland.
The bike ran smoothly up to just after bulls, and was enjoying overtaking through those long straights.
At that stage my earplugs came loose and I stopped to put them back in and noticed the bike had lost all its oil all over the place.
Guess the heat eventually got to it eh.
A nice farmer towed me to Marton, where this great guy fixes bikes. He let me stuff around for ages trying to find the leak (which I bloody couldn't), used a load of brake cleaner etc, and only ended up charging me for the oil.
Had to keep stopping to let it cool every hour or so, every time i started to see smoke behind me from the oil burning off the exhaust!
She was a little slippery with the oil on the rear tyre.
Got to Taupo at about 9pm after leaving wellington at about 11

Shit I had a sore ass and wrists after riding that thing all the way home!

Apart from that she was a strong bike, and never had any other problems.
Ended up selling the bike soon after, as student allowance issues meant I was broke for a while. I do recall the keys jumping out of the ignition and onto the road on a ride out to helensville, took me ages to find them!

That was my second ZXR250, after my first one was stolen from under my flat

Great bikes, perhaps better for the smaller rider, as at 6'1" and 80kg I found the front forks (on both bikes) bottomed out quite easily.

Apparently that rattle at idle is the clutch basket and they all do it (so I am told - both of mine were the same).

**shandawg** · 27th April 2004, 23:11

http://www.angelfire.com/mac/nutron/.../oily_tyre.jpg

**bungbung** · 28th April 2004, 09:01

Hi Shandawg, good to hear it wasn't anything worse than an oil leak.

Are you looking for a "fuller figured" bike yet?

**shandawg** · 28th April 2004, 09:35

Gidday ola,

Yeah I finish my degree in June, so a new (Bigger) bike is on the cards.

Always liked NC30's, but a bigger ZXR (thinking 400 or 750) could be the go...

Thinking of fairly gradual steps though, as wheelies off the throttle don't sound like too much fun (yet)!

So the VTZ250 I have at the moment will be heading south soon, should really do a review of that and some of my other 250 bikes as well - for some reason I've now had five of them (First bike = RVG250 = bad idea, second one stolen, 3rd too slow...)

**NordieBoy** · 28th April 2004, 22:13

Nice little VT250 F2 Integra.
Bought it at 50,000km and it's done an extra 40,000 since with only consumables replaced.

13,500rpm red line.
170kph at 13,000.
300Km per 10L tank.
Twin disk front, drum rear (no inboard disk thingys).
Hydrolic clutch (Very nice and light).
Air adjustable ride height front and rear.
Full fairing.

Nice and light, very smooth, easy to crash start if the battery dies

Unfortunatly it's been sitting under a cover for the last 2 years as I've graduated to a Gilera Nordwest.

**Two Smoker** · 28th April 2004, 22:40

Well even though this is about 250's, ill add my 150 in hehehe (because it performs like a 250 four stroke

)

Bought my RG150E about 5 months ago with 15000km's on the clock, i have now wound it over 27000km's.....

Fucking quick with a wicked powerband, redlines at 13000rpm and cuts out at 14000rpm, powervalves kick in at about 8000rpm and thats when you need to hold on tight.....

Speeds: 60kmh in 1st, 80kmh in 2nd, 120kmh in 3rd, 140kmh in 4th, 165kmh in 5th and 195kmh in 6th (all speedo indicated). Its been recorded (not by me) as doing the 1/4 mile in 14 seconds flat. 0-100 is a guesstimate of about 6-6.5 seconds. Its is very capable of stoppies and rolling stoppies, wheelies arent so great on it (probably because i lose my balls when it gets close to the balancing point) and you can only get them about 2-3 feet high.

Will leave 250 fourstrokes behind for the first 2 gears, but they catch up because of the long ratio 3rd gear, i have had a good go against a Porsche Boxster S and a Subaru RSK B4, both i left behind and only at about 120-130 they caught up.....

Absolutely awesome through the twisty's because it is so light (only weighs 128kgs dry) gave a Porsche GT3 a good run for its money through some twistys (I had Milky as my witness)

Downsides is it is a two stroke single, so not very smooth, you need a gentle wrist to ride it fast but smoothly.. the powervalves go if you cain it all the time, and the rings need doing after 25-30000kms. The suspension has no adjustment at all and suffers from it (i reakon it livens up the ride hehehe) im 6 foot tall and i can ride it for about 2 hours before i need a stretch.

A great bike if you want to be different, and a great bike if you want to step up too an RGV250 (which im going to do very shortly)

**shandawg** · 28th April 2004, 23:27

Yeah the RGV250 will be a great step up for you Two Smoker - had a go on one yet? if not you will love the extra power (and the violence of the powerband!).

My current VTZ (1989 VTZ 250) sounds pretty much on a par with yours Nordyboy, except It's the naked version, and has one big front disk instead of the medium sized twin disks. You'll see it if you click on my username.

The air adjustable shocks are handy, and although I haven't tried, I reckon it's neeearly as quick as a CBR250 (had a burn on one last weekend) with a lot more down low. Quite a decent kick at about 9500 rpm.

The inboard rear drum is a pain when it comes to inspection, but I hardly use it anyway.

Pretty good bikes. Not the most exhilirating in terms of rider position etc, but fun nevertheless.

**phase** · 1st June 2004, 19:28

I've got almost the exact same bike as K14 (looks the same) but I'll add my 2 cents anyway.

It's my second bike after owning a '95 ZZR250 which I found boring to ride (apologies to anyone who owns one of these). In comparison the CBR is light, goes quick but wouldn't call it fast and looks good. The ZZR just looked good (dubious).

I commute everyday from NS to CBD, and it's well fun between traffic. Light enough to throw about and has enough zip on demand to get outta those tight spots. I don't mind so much resting on my wrists, but I find the super hard seat get's a little unbearable after more than an hours riding. I bought it in Hamiltron and rode it back - felt like I'd spent the night in prison (!).

I didn't pay through the nose for it either, which I'm pretty happy about. My bro got his '94 CBR250RR for $8k from Red Baron!

I haven't had to carry out any forced maintenance, but I haven't had it that long so who knows. I don't think I'll bother getting another 250, although I have considered a 2-stroke 250. I think I'll wait for my full and get WT's gixxer - probably still be there!

Overall, I like it but won't be sad to see it go.

**sheight** · 12th September 2004, 13:14

i have a gsxr250 1990, it has about 50 thousand on the clock.
mechanically they are pretty similar to the cbr250, zxr250, and fzr250
4 cylinder, 16 valve, high reving 250cc sports bike.
it redlines at 17k rpm which equates to about 195kph in 6th gear. 100kph is at 9k rpm.speedo ends at 180, have had it past that on a long straight road! after 160 it begins to take a while lol. peak power is at 14krpm which is again pretty much par with the others and from what i read is about 45 horses.
never dynoed so i wouldnt know.
quite a light bike so driving with a cross wind kinda blows you around the road a bit lol.
brakes are twin discs up front and one at the back are brilliant. stops on a dime. stoppies np!
wheelies are a bit more difficult, no way without clutching it in first and a bit of brute force.
tyres are a 17 inch 130 on the back and 110 on the front.
ground clearence to burn also
about 200k on a tank on the open road.
have traveled from auckland to bluff on it. and after a while it begins to hurt.

lol!
great fun in twiste roads, because of its weight and agility will keep up/gain on bigger bikes, not on the straights tho

great learner bike with f1 noise. dosent look to geeky
your crotch and back will take a bit of getting used to with the seating postion, however only on long rides.
recomend to anyone. plently of laughs