Quote Originally Posted by jrandom
This has probably been discussed before, but some general interest questions in relation to the Zeal, for comparison with other 250s (you or Hitcher might like to answer here):

- top speed?

- fuel consumption?

- wheelie-ability and general engine power delivery behaviour?

- tyre sizes, and preferred brand/model from experience?

I didn't see this thread till today.

Top speed is like what Hitcher said, about 140 (maybe almost 150, but that might've been with a tailwind or a downhill, I'm not sure). You won't get up to 140 quickly though, the acceleration after about 120 or 130 is quite slow.

Fuel consumption, I get about 180 - 190 km to reserve commuting. I'm not sure if it's any different touring. Last time I checked I weighed about 92kg.

I haven't ever tried doing a wheelie, so can't comment there. But the forks on my Zeal are pretty soft, like if I go into our driveway at anything other than slow walking pace, they bottom out on the bump, so I'd guess that the forks on my bike might not handle wheelies too well.

Power delivery... Well, I've only ridden my bike and my brother's zzr250 enough to get a feel for the bikes. Compared to the zzr250, the zeal seems quite nippy, the zzr seems like it's got a huge flywheel or something making it rev up a lot slower (it's an inline 2 cylinder, so I guess that's why, compared to the zeal's inline 4). I ended up lowering the needles in the carbs one notch because it had a bit of a flat spot in the middle of the range, where I used it most for commuting, and with the lowered needles I don't notice any flat spot in mid-range. But it might be a bit harder to start, requiring more choke.
Top end is a bit weird, but that might be particular to my bike. It sort of accelerates, but as you crank the throttle wide open, it'll kinda lurch and decelerate a bit. I think it might be starved for air a bit, as it didn't seem so bad when I removed the airfilter to test it (airfilter is back in now and I just ride around the problem).

My tyres are (or almost are) worn out so I'm going to have to replace them now (or soon ). They're the same tyres that were on the bike when I got it 10,000km's ago. I don't actually know anything much about tyres, so I'll just write what it says on the tyre walls:

Front:
Bridgestone Battlax BT45F 110/70-17 54H

Rear:
Bridgestone Battlax BT45R 140/70-17 66H

I'm guessing that that's more tyre info than you wanted. Anyway, I haven't had any problems with them. Well, the rear has slid out a few times, but I think that's more to do with the road than the tyres (ie. wet tar snakes, or weird road surface). The only time it slid out enough for me to fall off was when I was going around a roundabout slow and leaned quite far over and the peg dug in...

I'm not really sure about the headlight, I haven't done much night riding.

Sprockets are expensive though, approx. $70 for the front and $130 for the rear, iirc. I don't know how the prices of other parts compare to other bikes though. They're importing Zeals into Australia, so I guess that means parts can come from there rather than japan, which might make them a bit cheaper, or more likely to be in stock.