All round newbie - Help selecting bike

[wazza]

Hi guys.
Just like to say that I have been reading a lot of the previous posts and have found them both interesting and helpful.

I’m a newbie here to the forum as well as to the world of bikes. I’m looking into, well definitely going to be getting a bike (and my learner license) but I am slightly unsure on what to get.
I’ll try making it simple for you guys as any advice/help is most appreciated. I have been looking at sport style bikes (faring and no faring and either option at the moment is considered), mainly the Suzuki GSX and the Kawasaki ZZR. Although I have had the Suzuki Bandit in mind.

Now for the difficult part, I come in at 60kg and height is around 5ft2. I have taken a 2005 GSX for a ride, well up and down the street (the basics – changing gear, stop/start, etc.) where it was more on my tip toes when I stopped (felt alright but not sure how it should be)?

I’d say I’m looking in the $3,000 to $4,500 range for a first bike, 250cc, speed doesn’t concern me too much as I’d rather focus on riding skills and technique at this stage. Comfort if there is such a thing – the more comfortable you are the more you tend to focus on what’s ahead/surroundings. If possible was thinking of something that is challenging but won’t bite too much if something goes wrong while learning (basically don’t want something I will get bored with after a week or two). And anyway there is always time to upgrade later.

Cheers
Wazza

[Rosie]

Hey Wazza!

There are lots of threads on different learner bikes, if you do a search it should come up with some useful info.

A couple of bits of advice from me:
Being able to touch the ground fairly easily will help your confidence a lot when learning. Having the balls of your feet comfortably on the ground is probably as tall as you'd want to go when starting out.
If you get a bike without fairings, you are much less likely to damage it if you drop it from low speed (or from stopped). There is a good chance your bike will have a little lie down at some stage while you are learning.

Have fun looking for a bike

[discotex]

Hey Wazza!

There are lots of threads on different learner bikes, if you do a search it should come up with some useful info.

A couple of bits of advice from me:
Being able to touch the ground fairly easily will help your confidence a lot when learning. Having the balls of your feet comfortably on the ground is probably as tall as you'd want to go when starting out.
If you get a bike without fairings, you are much less likely to damage it if you drop it from low speed (or from stopped). There is a good chance your bike will have a little lie down at some stage while you are learning.

Have fun looking for a bike

+1 on the above advice.

Hornet or Bandit or VTR250 would be my picks. If you can find one that's been properly lowered that'd be even better.

[howdamnhard]

All good choices,go test ride some and find out which suits you best.

+1 on the above advice.

Hornet or Bandit or VTR250 would be my picks. If you can find one that's been properly lowered that'd be even better.

[Chanak]

My (biased) pick would be a RG150.
At 5'1(ish), It is not too tall to me. Only real problems I have are the 12hr work days limiting riding time, and the person at the controls being a noob

[Romeo]

Foobin's bandit has a much lower seat height than I had expected, and at 45hp and a sporty seating position I was seriously impressed. I'm definitely getting a naked, full HP (4-stroke anyway) 250cc as soon as I can afford it. Why naked? Because if you drop it on the grass you can just pick it back up without any damage ;D - *nudge nudge*.

[wazza]

Thanks all for the responses. Sounds good I shall have a look into the other bikes that have been mentioned and plan a trip to some Auckland bike shops (bigger selection than up here).

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

Get the blue one... I like blue... yup blue it is...

[mowgli]

I'm 5'7" and have been riding a month now. I bought a hyosung GT250R and love it. I tried both faired and unfaired and found the faired bikes much more comfortable to ride. That ruled out the VTR which was the other bike I liked. I can comfortably put both feet flat on the ground so you should have no trouble getting at least the balls of you feet planted firmly.

I listened to the advice about the likelihood of dropping and decided to go with a faied bike anyway. It seems the damage caused in low speed f'ups is mostly levers and cosmetic. Hey it's a 250 ridden by a learner so no one will be surprised if it's got a few marks.

Some people warned me off sport bikes because of the drop handlebars because they would be difficult at very slow speed and the forward leaning position not good for observation. Regarding the latter I find I can ride as upright or as far forward as I like. Observation is no problem.

Visibility on the GT250R (including mirrors) I find is great. On some sport bikes the mirrors are very close in and difficult to see anything in. As a learner this is very bad as it will train you not to use them at all. You need to get used to using mirrors properly to pass the practical tests for R and full.

Regarding slow speed handling you simply have to adjust you technique to fit the bike. I was taught on a GN250 to keep my wrists flat for slow speed manoueving to avoid working the throttle unnecessarily. On the GT doing this caused me all sorts of grief when my hand came up against the tank. Basically as my hand came up against the tank (tight turn) my hand would get stuck and/or ride up closing the throttle. Closing the throttle caused the bike to fall into the turn which is the last thing you want. Now when at slow speed I keep my wrists at about 45 degrees and consciously avoid adjusting throttle (using rear brake and clutch to control speed). Works great once you get used to it so I wouldn't avoid drop handlebars.

Others said that the sport bike's throttle can be twitchy at slow speed and difficult to control. Again not a problem. If anything it teaches you not to mess with the throttle at slow speed which is great.

So finally sport bikes are great. I love my hyo GT250R (as does my learner mate who just bought one 2nd hand). Good luck in choosing a bike.

[spookytooth]

First i'm not sure if they can be ridden on the road these days.What about the likes of a xr 200/250 light weight handle well and if you drop them they dont cost much to fix.There must still be duel purpose bikes aroundseat hight mite be the only problem

[discotex]

So finally sport bikes are great. I love my hyo GT250R (as does my learner mate who just bought one 2nd hand). Good luck in choosing a bike.

Sport bikes certainly are great. If money isn't an issue if/when you drop it they're even better.

The Hyo is a good bike to learn on too as the riding position is more sport-tourer than a hardcore race crouch. Nice predictable vtwin power too.

Bit out of the price range of the OP unless they get a second hand older one which had many more complaints than the newer ones. Shouldn't be hard to find a cheap crash damaged one though

[fireball]

i know of a nice well maintained looked after 250 cruiser out west
she is looking for about 3900 for it but you can lower what she wants to about 3500 PM me if interested...


see youre up north if you want it taken to you no worries!

[gunnyrob]

a v twin like a VTR 250 is good as all power is midrange. I hear Hyosungs aren't too bad. STAY AWAY from two stokes as they take some experience to ride safely. (all power comes as a rush)

Try & find a riding course, they teach great stay alive skills.

Good luck, see ya round

[mowgli]

Bit out of the price range of the OP unless they get a second hand older one which had many more complaints than the newer ones.

How old is older? My friend just bought a late model second hand GT250R partly on my recommendation. I hope it doesn't give him trouble.

[discotex]

How old is older? My friend just bought a late model second hand GT250R partly on my recommendation. I hope it doesn't give him trouble.

Pretty sure the 06+ are the better ones to have. Then again anything older probably has most of the kinks ironed out under warranty.