Complete newbie - First bike

[TOTO]

the gn250 is a very good bike, but a little underpowered and the latest models I think 2004 onwards are made in china rather than japan and they tend to rust and show some weaknesses - I have 2 good friends who owned them.

if you are after a cruiser , I can not recommend the suzuky VL 250 high enough. it has a very very comfourtable seat which is great for long trips, very comfourtable body position, low center of gravity so it is easily mauvarable at low speeds. Plenty of shiney bits that you can drool at when you polish them and a very reasonable underseat storage compartment. Oh and in terms of power it cuite hapily cruises at a not slow speed if you wanna give it a little extra. I had trouble keeping up with one of them one time which had a very good girl rider

Do go in the shops and sit on as many 250 cruisers to find what you like most but by all means try the VL, I think you will like it

[Slyer]

I don't think there's a better 250 cruiser you can get than the VL250 if you can afford the premium.

[Irontusk]

I don't think there's a better 250 cruiser you can get than the VL250 if you can afford the premium.

It's also by far the best value. I havn't ridden the others, but I settled on the VL pretty quick just looking at the prices.. The Magna VT250s are all 15 odd years old now with 10000km being average, and when I bought my Suzuki it was only a few hundred dollars extra to have a brand new bike with warranty and no hidden faults. I'm very happy with it (but can't wait to move up to a bigger bike!).

I did my BHS before finalising the purchase. It was the first time I had ever ridden anything other than a bicycle or quad, passed it with no problems other than my own personal back issues (so it's also worth mentioning that I have a munted spine and the VL250 never gives me any issues, I'd assume it'd be very comfortable for a shorter and 'uninjured' rider)

Even though the VL250 has gone up $1000 in rrp recently, it's still a few grand cheaper than the Yamaha equivalent.

[KiwiPhoenix]

Thanks for all your info and advice. It's awesome to have somewhere like this to ask all these questions and get honest answers!

I do have to say when driving I do have a look for bikes to see what everyone is riding and it seems there are alot of suzukis on the road. I really like the style of it!