Hello From CA

[JKilgore]

Howdy All :)

Name is Jake, I'm from Riverside, CA and I'll be purchasing/financing a GZ250 from Beaumont Motorsports, Currently Working 2 Jobs(4AM to 11PM) so I can get the down payment quicker. I have decided this over the Honda CBR250 and Ninja 250 because of the gas mileage, Although Honda is very decent bike. I will be using this bike as my primary vehicle and also will be going on long distance trips once i get comfortable with the bike.

Just wanted to stop by and introduce my self :)


Jake

[alantf]

Hi there,

Long distance trips? Don't forget that the GZ is primarily a town bike. Don't even think of going long distances at freeway speed. You'll be wide open throttle, and not doing the bike a lot of good. It's happiest at 60-65 MPH. Also the seat isn't the most comfortable in the world for long distances. Not trying to put you off - it's a great bike. I've had mine for nearly 5 years, & I'm quite happy with it, but it is what it is - a small bike. I live on a small island where most speed limits are 30MPH, & the GZ nips through the traffic congestion like magic. It's a great starter bike for inexperienced riders, but I'd keep working the extra hours, because I've a feeling that in six months or so you'll be wanting to upgrade to a bigger bike.

All the best for your riding, & I hope you get as much enjoyment out of the GZ as the rest of us do. One thing I'd like to add. Get yourself an engine guard. Dunno why they call 'em that. It's job is to protect your leg from burning/squashing when the bike goes down. Notice I said "when" not "if" because I reckon that everyone on the planet who rides has had the bike go down at some time. BTW, if you're getting an engine guard, don't get the Suzuki one. Everyone agrees that they're a piece of shit. Someone on here will point you in the right direction for an American one. :2tup:

Having done my best to explain why the GZ is not good for long distances, I should point out that WaterWarrior's missus went half way across Canada on hers. He might be the best person to explain the best way to go about longer rides. :)

[JKilgore]

Hi there,

Long distance trips? Don't forget that the GZ is primarily a town bike. Don't even think of going long distances at freeway speed. You'll be wide open throttle, and not doing the bike a lot of good. It's happiest at 60-65 MPH. Also the seat isn't the most comfortable in the world for long distances. Not trying to put you off - it's a great bike. I've had mine for nearly 5 years, & I'm quite happy with it, but it is what it is - a small bike. I live on a small island where most speed limits are 30MPH, & the GZ nips through the traffic congestion like magic. It's a great starter bike for inexperienced riders, but I'd keep working the extra hours, because I've a feeling that in six months or so you'll be wanting to upgrade to a bigger bike.

All the best for your riding, & I hope you get as much enjoyment out of the GZ as the rest of us do. One thing I'd like to add. Get yourself an engine guard. Dunno why they call 'em that. It's job is to protect your leg from burning/squashing when the bike goes down. Notice I said "when" not "if" because I reckon that everyone on the planet who rides has had the bike go down at some time. BTW, if you're getting an engine guard, don't get the Suzuki one. Everyone agrees that they're a piece of shit. Someone on here will point you in the right direction for an American one. :2tup:

Having done my best to explain why the GZ is not good for long distances, I should point out that WaterWarrior's missus went half way across Canada on hers. He might be the best person to explain the best way to go about longer rides. :)
Hello and thanks for the speedy reply, Well I won't be open throttle i'm fine with cruising 65, maybe once every 300 miles i'll open throttle for a few miles then back down to 65.... I plan on purchasing a more comfortable seat or at least a pillow type cover for the seat. I plan upgrading to a 600 or 1000 next year, but will always keep this 250.. I do want to learn the ins and outs of this bike so i can fix it and do preventive maintenance.

[blaine]

Welcome to the family.I like your plan.The G.Z. will go 60 to 65 all day with no problems.I put over 30 thousands km on mine in this manner and never had a problem.
:cool: :)

[Water Warrior 2]

Welcome Jake. Congratulations on your decision to buy a GZ. As Alantf said, the GZ is great as a town bike but it will do a long distance in a pinch. You will find the GZ a great 1st bike with a very forgiving attitude towards first time riders. MC Enterprises makes an excellant crash bar to protect you and the bike in case you have a drop or mishap on the road. Your biggest safety concern should be proper armored riding gear for your own protection. If you can't afford it you can't afford to ride in my opinion. Budget for gear and the bike.
2 things we recommend for all new riders are professional lessons from a riding school and a copy of Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough. Yeah........more budgeting I know but well worth it. You can never be too prepared for the foolishness of other folks on the road.

[PimpS]

Welcome Jkillgore, you'll be boosted with knowledge of the guys here! I know i am! ;)

[JKilgore]

Howdy,

I do have a question though, What is the maintenance cost per year from oil changes to replacing parts? As I have just talked with my uncle and he says it costs more to keep a bike up in maintenance than it does a Car He also says a 250 isn't a good start because drivers in california are idiots and a 250 wouldn't be able to get out of a tight situation as much as a 600 would..

Any comments or answers?

[blaine]

The maintenance costs are quite low,even lower if you can do your own.Oil filters are relativity cheap and you only need a liter & a half (1400 ml) for a oil change.Other things like brake pads are cheap and last well.Not to mention that you get between 60 to 70 MPG.
:cool:

[Water Warrior 2]

Howdy,

I do have a question though, What is the maintenance cost per year from oil changes to replacing parts? As I have just talked with my uncle and he says it costs more to keep a bike up in maintenance than it does a Car He also says a 250 isn't a good start because drivers in california are idiots and a 250 wouldn't be able to get out of a tight situation as much as a 600 would..

Any comments or answers?
Routine maintenance is cheap and relatively easy for most folks. The GZ is primarily a 3rd world bike where costs are a major factor and unkeep needs to be simple. A little more time is spent just looking for loose fittings and checking for potential problems but that is true on any bike. If a wheel falls off a car you stop. If a wheel falls off a bike you crash and bleed.

Your uncle is right and wrong. A 250 is not going to get you out of a really tight spot with power. However a GZ and some training will likely keep you out of a tight spot 99% of the time. Develop your riding skill on a GZ and stay off the major roadways where the high speed stuff happens. You do have to learn to walk before you can run.. Read, practice in a parking lot, repeat.

[JKilgore]

Well thats the thing, I'm wanting to go on major roadways (I am wanting to take trips up and down the coast, to the beach, to Vegas etc etc) also Wanting to go back and forth to work/home. I am willing to learn the inside and outside of the bike i'm getting, I'm wanting to learn and know how to maintain / operate the motorcycle in a professional way.

I want to be able to accelerate fast enough get up to 65 on these short on-ramps that Cali loves to put on their highways, and want to be able to cruise 60/65mph without the engine over heating (like the CBR250 usually does at 75).


"The GZ is primarily a 3rd world bike where costs are a major factor and unkeep needs to be simple."
I hope I read that right :) You are saying that the upkeep is rather cheap?

[Water Warrior 2]

Yup, upkeep is pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. Oil and oil filters mostly. An air filter when required and a spark plug now and again. Regular checks if you are riding everyday(for me) includes all lights functioning properly, give the tires a kick and properly check with a guage once a week. Oil check before daily start up. Gas ? Do you need to top up to complete the ride ? Also be sure that all the hand and foot controls are working smoothly. This is an easy routine and can easily make your day go a lot smoother with only and extra minute or 2 spent every morning.
Chain maintenance is a sometimes dirty job but must be done. Try to find some DuPont with Teflon spray for the chain. It is the best overall in my experience and very cost effective. Also the cleanest. Chain adjustment is part of the routine but you don't do it often so don't fret about it. The owners manual will give you the specs for chain adjustment, procedure and also chain lubing intervals under normal conditions. It is all pretty basic stuff but remember we will help with even a tiny wee question if one pops into your head. When it comes to motorcycles, their functions and your safety there is no such thing as a stupid question.

[JKilgore]

Thanks A TON Water Warrior, Last but not least, One more question...

Will this bike be ok cruising 65/70 for 4 or 5 hours at a time? and if so, how about full throttle for 10 miles or so??

Only reason I Ask, is because i want to make sure it can keep up with the flow of traffic on the freeway when needed.

If yes to either question then I will def. purchase this bike

[alantf]

Will this bike be ok cruising 65/70 for 4 or 5 hours at a time? and if so, how about full throttle for 10 miles or so??



Reading what you want the bike for, I really think that a bigger bike (650cc?) is the way to go. As well as running the bike flat out for 4 or 5 hours (which is not a good thing for the bike) you'll find it very tiring as well. The GZ is a light bike, so you'll feel every bump on the highway, and you'll have to concentrate 110% on keeping the bike going. Also, you'll have no accelleration in hand if you need to get out of the way fast. Like we said, the GZ's a townbike. Running backroads for a couple of hours at 60mph would be fine, but 5 hours at 70mph is a completely different kettle of fish. :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

Thanks A TON Water Warrior, Last but not least, One more question...

Will this bike be ok cruising 65/70 for 4 or 5 hours at a time? and if so, how about full throttle for 10 miles or so??

Only reason I Ask, is because i want to make sure it can keep up with the flow of traffic on the freeway when needed.

If yes to either question then I will def. purchase this bike
Mmmm...no to both questions. That is asking a lot from almost any 250 available to you. As Alantf said, you would find it very tiring to begin with and you probably should be looking for something bigger for your future needs. There are quite a few Japanese 500 to 750 V-twins out there that would be much more suitable. We don't want to burst your bubble but the GZ would be very underwhelming on a Cali freeway even for a short burst.
Something that helped me decide on my choice of bike was just lurking on various websites to get a general feeling for the bike and it's capabilities. This will give you a good idea if the bike is a rider or a frequent fixit machine. There are many bikes out there with one factory wart that is addressed by the aftermarket to make it a reliable rider. The internet is free and full of options so do your homework.

[blaine]

I agree with ww.A good bike that has lots of power for your needs,is good on fuel,(50 to 55 MPG),and is light and nimble,is the Vulcan 500.It has a vertical twin that is basically a sport bike engine (Ninja),in a cruiser frame.
:) :cool:

[mole2]

Welcome to the forum. From reading all the above postings I'd have to say look for something bigger. I can recommend the Yamaha V-Star 650 (classic or Custom - I prefer the Classic as the seat is better). It's heavier than the GZ250 and will hold the road better in wind. It's still light enough to learn on and still do 65 - 70 all day long while getting 55 mpg.

I take it you are not experienced with motorcycles. My advice would be to take the MSF BRC (Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider Course) BEFORE you make your purchase. This way you'll have some experience to make decisions with. Plus it's the best money spent for your safety. My opinion of jumping right in and riding freeways is a recipe for disaster if you haven't been riding a while. As WW said you have to learn to walk before you run. I'll add that you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Don't rush anything as it's your health and safety that will be at risk. Good luck in whatever you choice you make. Ride safe.


:)

[JWR]

I will agree with the others...the GZ will not hold the speeds you want to run.

Hills and wind are not kind to the GZ.

The Vulcan 500 will do what you want all day.

[Water Warrior 2]

After all that, if you are young, fairly strong and have longer legs you might want to look at a Vstrom 650. The strength part comes into play after you drop it. The bike carries a high center of gravity but handles nicely once moving. Check them out for yourself. The 2012 model is a 2nd generation model so there should be some good 1st generation(2004-2011) bikes on the used market for a while. They work well and don't break. No chrome to polish and look best when dirty. Kinda ugly but they grow on you.

[alanmcorcoran]

I don't think you are going to be happy with the GZ for very long. It's not an appropriate bike for CA Freeways, period. If you are some kind of genius mechanic and have perfect racing technique you might be able to get it to go 70, but realistically, 65 is it unless you have a tailwind or are going downhill. That's too slow for the freeway. I have a KLR650 (in addition to the Geezer)- goes lot better on the freeway and I got it for only a little more than I (over) paid for the GZ. (They've dropped a lot in price since then.)

Plus the GZ is very light. At 65 you are at full floggery and between the truck drafts, the scoring and freeway divots, etc you're gonna be bouncing all over the place. It won't kill you and you might even get used to it, but it's no fun. If you do a lot of freeway riding, bigger is better. You'll enjoy the ride a lot more on a heavier bike.

Are you buying a used bike?

[JKilgore]

Hello All

I won't be purchasing/financing this bike as i thought i would because I quit my second job , ( I held two "Physical demanding" jobs and it was to rough on my back) so I'm looking for another second job that's not so much physically demanding)

An Update, am trying to get a 1500 dollar loan (I have poor credit) because I have found 2 gz250's on CL for 1500, reason i'm trying to get a loan is because it would take me 2 months of Strict saving in order to save up, unless i get a second job which isn't likely.
I now have my permit which is a good thing :) and thought it over, I will be getting the GZ250, as I won't be using the freeways as much as i thought i would be doing, Just to and from work, home, store, errands, friends, beach, movies etc etc etc etc...

Thanks again

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds good. You will really like a GZ. If it wasn't for freeways no one would "really need" a bigger bike.

[riningr]

I've read a lot on here about top speeds - I've had my GZ250 for 2 1/2 weeks now and getting close about 300 miles that I've put on it (just rolled over 10000 miles total yesterday), most of my riding is to-from work which is 10.5 miles one way of mostly country and a few city roads, but I have jumped on the highway a few times with it and its been a decent ride, just to jump on the highway to go across town for lunch a 1 mile stretch of highway I don't have a problem getting 70-75 mph going there, coming back is a little different since I have a big hill to climb I only do 60-65 on the way back. I rode my GZ250 to school on Tuesday which is about a 20-25 mile ride of highway and to my surprise there was actually a couple of times (on a slight down hill) that I hit 80mph... and then I really didn't have any problems holding 70-75mph and was actually passing cars and semis... the wind might have been slightly at my back as well as I got on the highway coming back after class and the wind was at my face so I only rode it a few miles then jumped off and took back roads home... this is just my experience, overall I'm happy with the bike even on the highway, but I wouldn't want to spend hours riding on the freeway because it is a lot of work to keep the bike where you want it at highway speeds and in the wind... By the way I'm 5'11", 240lbs and this is my experience so far with my GZ250... I'd love to drop down under 200lbs and the bike would probably like it if I did too, as I'm only getting 55-58 mpg currently... not as good as I hoped but still 2x(+) better than my car and 3x(++) better than my truck.

I will say however that the first day I rode my bike to work there was 25+mph winds that afternoon and I had a terribly uncomfortable sub 45mph ride home going against the wind... so now I look for rain and wind before I decide to ride in the morning...

I don't have all the bells and whistles on my bike that everyone else has (seat backs, windshields, saddlebags etc.) so maybe thats why I get a little better speeds than everyone is posting just because it has less stuff to cause drag?

[jack-_-hammer]

Hi I also live in california and I am familiar with Riverside I know the 91 can get extremely congested and from experience even though i'm a newbie here i was riding for 2 years on a 600, Yeah 600's are nice I got a wreckless driving ticket because its easy to drive at 90mph on the freeway. Honestly I just purchased my gz250 off of craigslist, Save up atleast 3-400 dollars more than the total of the bike keep in mind that you also have to buy insurance which isnt expensive full coverage for me is 55 dollars a month and thats only because i have a ticket for doing a California Roll when i was late for school. i payed 1900 for my 2009 gz250 I had to drive all the way to San Diego to pick her up. the transfer fee was about 130, insurance was 120 down and 55 a month. i actually got really lucky because even though i only saved up 2000 i had just got paid so i had extra 700$ I had to Eat cup of noodles every day but here is the awesome part i'm getting 65-80 mpg i used to pay almost 50$ every 2 weeks and i would drive about 340 miles My job is 15 miles from my house so round trip is about 30 miles right now on 1 tank of gas which is 12.50 i get about 150 miles. so i'm saving about 25 dollars every 2 weeks just from gas. As far as driving goes when its clear i like to stay in the slow lane i go 65-70 mph if there is traffic I only split lanes if cars are going 10mph or less i've been hit twice by people while splitting lanes luckily there was nobody next to me so i had room and i wasnt going fast so I didnt get destroyed. Also if you have a smart phone download the craigslist App you can search by location i like to put Los angeles, Orange county, Inland Empire, and San Diego all arent to far away you might be also close to like palmdale and a few other locations. It also lets you search by price so you can put 2000 on Max and make sure you search by Gz250 and Gz 250 If i didnt do both i would have never found my baby. I hope this information Helps your purchase.

[Moedad]

As a fellow southern Californian and former GZ owner, you will be very happy with the GZ as long as you don't expect too much. For staying here in the LA area, it will be great as long as you're not running wide open from Riverside to Santa Monica on I-10 every day. It'll get you out to the coast and cruising PCH in fine style. You can probably get up to Big Bear on it as long as you're not in a hurry and pull over to let others vehicles by when need be. As has been said, it's a great town bike and will do freeways in a limited fashion. Taking it to Vegas would probably be dangerous. Not because the bike wouldn't make it, but because the bike would be going pretty slow on I-15 over Cajon Pass and especially up the Halloran Grade out of Baker. People drive pretty fast out there and a small slow moving bike would be a danger. Plus as Alan said, those winds and the air blasts from large vehicles would be blowing you all over. I have a V-Strom just like Water Warrior's and am very happy with it, but I sure miss the mileage I got with the GZ.