Time to sell the GN?

[Ice_Monsta]

Looking for some opinions, I've been riding for a while now (han't bothered to get rid of my L yet though)
I'm thinking about going for a bike with a bit more grunt, but is it worth selling a 2007 mint cond GN250 and swapping out for a bike around...1988?
Looking at the GSXR 250's and ZZR250 sorta bikes, just wondering how other people are finding bikes like that? Maintanence costs etc?

[Bren]

if it were an older GN I would say keep it....they were reliable...(I have had one or two in my day)....But from what I hear these new GN's just aint cutting it no more...

[AllanB]

Save your money and get your full license on the GN then move up to something grunter. The GN will get a good trade/private sale price as they are popular.

[HTFU]

I did exactly what you are contemplating, except I had my full license when I sold the year old GN and bought a new GPX 250 for $6 g.

My reasons for wanting to stay 250cc was so my bro and other half could use it and I wanted to stick with a small bike for commuting (easy to push around in the garage, cheap to run and the gpx was a proven bike.). Good thing about the GPX is the extra power over a single like the GN and is very useful for open road riding. The twin can still accelerate from 100 to 120 pretty quickly so is good for passing.

Found the GN was a pain with constant chain adjustment and replacement. The GPX has been good in that regard. Still on original chain whereas with the GN I had replaced it twice by now.

I was not a fan of buying a 4 cylinder 250 because of the age, performance would have been good but I could have just bought a 500 or 650 twin for a similar price.

Recommend taking a 250 twin for a ride to see if it will do the business. Lots of 2001 GPX and 2005-06 hysosung comets around for $3500-4000 with little ks on the clock.

[Ice_Monsta]

if it were an older GN I would say keep it....they were reliable...(I have had one or two in my day)....But from what I hear these new GN's just aint cutting it no more...

My GN has been absolutely reliable, only problem, and i'm being picky here, is sometimes the neutral light doesn't come on, but flick into first and back to neutral it works. I have to buy a new car at the moment which is a bugger, i'm set on upgrading the bike now. Check out my profile photo though, still looks like that :-P my baby has never spent a night outside, and i've cleaned it at least 1 in every 4 times i've ridden it.
Whoever does get this when i get rid of it should be happy. I still don't regret buying my GN, always knew i was going to sell it which is why i have taken such care. Looking on trademe, looks like i could almost price the thing at more than i paid for it and get away with it! I'm guessing because they've stopped manufacturing them for now they're holding value even more?

[Drum]

If you're planning on getting an eighties era 250cc I assume you are pretty handy with a spanner? If not you may need to think about maintenance costs, which are likely to be a lot higher than your 2007 bike.

[hmurphy]

I rode a gn250 the other day and compared to the likes of my 2008 Hyosung GT250R, it wasn't nearly as fun! The Hyosung is faster, more comfortable, handles much better, and in my opinion looks cooler!

My Hyosung is also very cheap to run and my maintanence costs have been very low. Petrol is cheap, 17 litres gets me over 400kms, even if I ride the rimutakas all day long!

The 4 cylinder 250cc bikes cost a lot to buy at the moment because of high demand, so I would almost reccommend that you save your money and wait until you get your full licence to get a faster bike. Otherwise get a much cheaper twin cylinder like the Hyosung for the time being, then sell it off and spend not much more to get your real power toy!!