GN 250

[ZorsT]

Did you go look at this bike?
Was it ok?

i havent looked yet, been too busy with work, and i want to bring dad along, and he works aswell, so I have to work around those two obsticles... It looks like its OK by the pictures I have seen, will attach now

[Kendog]

If that is the one on Trademe it has sold, I have just found out.

[crashe]

Woman I know, sold her GN250 in Hamilton, she got around $500 for it (I think), but then she rode it everywhere.... every day..... and she never really cleaned it much either.... but she always said for a learner it was a great bike. She also rode it up and down the country when ever she had to... It was an older GN250 and had a bit of rust and it was starting to need a bit of work done to it.

So depending on what condition the bike is on.... be cheeky and start at $500 and only go up to $800 as it has no Rego on it.... and the WOF is about to run out as well. Get someone to go and check it out as well.

[Coyote]

Also make sure you have a decent test ride. My dad test rode a FZR250 for me (before I got my licence) and we were about to buy it, but my dad took it for a test ride and found out that it had herendously bad handling above 80kph. Good job we didnt get it, now I have a CBR

[Groins_NZ]

My first bike was a GN250, a 1987 model with a brake drum on the front instead of the better disk model. It used to be my dads but he seemed to loose interest (probably some other hobby came along) and it ended up being left in the garage for sometime. I eventually managed to convince him and more so, my mother, into acquiring it – after handing over $500 to dad of course, which was a lot to me back then.

Anyway, great bike which I had many memorable moments riding on. Such as riding through the snow from Taihape to Ohakune when the road was closed – the army had been in the night before to rescue people from their cars which were left abandoned. It very eerie seeing cars sitting in the middle of road and trucks in ditches – probably why that experience sticks in my head so well. Used to go up that way a lot and quite often had my mountain bike and a set of skis strapped on which was a site to see indeed.

Ended up shipping the GN over to England when I was working as a chef over there. Cost me about $1100 to get it over which was cheaper than buying most anything else. Ended up touring round most of England, Scotland, Whales and Ireland on it. Rode around London for about 4hrs ONCE due to being very lost remember taking out a few car mirrors that day.

Used to ride to work through country lanes lined with hedges when cooking at a country pup in Henley On Thames (very posh). One night on the way home I ran into a rather large dug out drain which somersaulted myself and the bike several yards down the road. The bike would have landed square on top of me if it wasn’t for the pack rack. Remember lying on the road holding my sore bits and thinking… ‘where the fuck is the bike’, at that moment it landed about 15metres up the road – seemed to drop from the heavens. Managed to ride it home though, except to be going straight I had to steer hard left!?

Took me six months to rebuild, straightening the front forks, wheel and spindle were the main job. Several months later what do I do… I’m in a rush to meet my girlfriend on the other side of London and I think to myself… ‘hhhhmmmm I should really check the oil – haven’t done it in a while, nah she’ll be right’. Cruising down the M6 and what do ya know – can’t quite remember the sound it made but it wasn’t good. Hadn’t totally seized, but I had to stop at a garage and borrow some tools to tighten up the tappets somewhat. Pretty noisy after that and didn’t last much longer unfortunately.

I was soon to go back up to the North of England and very sadly had to ditch the bike – the top end was knackered. I was tinkering about with it one afternoon and the postie came round to deliver some mail. He started talking about how he’d been trying to find one of these bikes for ages. I told him what was wrong with it straight up and jokingly said he could take it away for 100 quid which he immediately said okay to - bastard! Anyway I was in a fix so it was a coincidence that this guy came round that day and even offered to come and pick it up.

I had a couple of annoying problems with it during the years I had it. One was the carburettor which kept getting crap in it, or the needle was bent or something. Fitted a inline filter which helped a bit. Just about every long trip I had to dismantle it. The other issue I had was to do with the CDI (think that’s right) box – although many a bike mechanic could never tell me exactly what the problem was? It started to stutter only at higher speeds but then gradually got worse – more than likely related to the ignition system but again no one seemed to be able to isolate the problem. Might have been because of the continuous high speed riding I was doing over there (not really meant as a touring bike after all).

Right, I’d better quit typing already.

Just a thought…. Would your dad be keener if you proposed getting a GN125? Then maybe 6 months down the track move up to the GN250?

Good luck!

[FlyingDutchMan]

A GN125 is all well and good, but it ain't that good for long trips. Mine had trouble going better than 100 (admittely it was old and beaten). Did a trip from chch to taupo and back on it though... nothing like getting the needle off the end of the speedo (about 130km/h ) while going down a steep hill with a big tail wind - I thought the bike was going to fall apart.

[avgas]

A GN125 is all well and good, but it ain't that good for long trips. Mine had trouble going better than 100 (admittely it was old and beaten). Did a trip from chch to taupo and back on it though... nothing like getting the needle off the end of the speedo (about 130km/h ) while going down a steep hill with a big tail wind - I thought the bike was going to fall apart.

Yeh my made just bought a new one. I had to ride it home for hme. Good fun those bikes

[ZorsT]

seems logical,. but i would be going on a 20min each way trip, mostly in 100kph zones so i dunno. I have a theory where every transaction you make, you lose money (with vehicles anyway) so i scrubbed that off the maybe list.

but i wont be allowed to go over 70 for the first 6 months anyway **yeah right ** - a point to ponder

[T.I.E]

gn 250 what ever you do, do not exceed more than 130kph
i got over that but it was not pretty.

excellent bike though

[Coyote]

but i wont be allowed to go over 70 for the first 6 months anyway **yeah right ** - a point to ponder

Haha. I've only had my learners for almost a week. Already been 140.

Also, cause I've been to 140, 100 on the motorway isn't so daunting