Thread: New member
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Old 12-06-2008, 04:40 PM   #4
Water Warrior 2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Squamish B.C Canada
Posts: 11,409
Re: New member

Welcome to the forum. Always nice to have a new member. Please remember all the replies to your question "which is best" will be biased towards our little GZ. I do have some saddle time with the Virago 250 and feel a little qualified to make a comment. Firstly all 3 bikes are good entry level machines with a proven reputation. All 3 will take you from point A to point B without breaking if ridden within their limits. They are not rockets sleds but very mild mannered forgiving bikes for the new rider. All 3 are widely used in training classes for just this reason.
Comfort and fit. I think the GZ is the winner here. It seems to be a smidget larger and has a little more wiggle room. The Rebel is the smallest from test sits and reviews I have read. The Virago is in the middle and not a bad mount for a rider(me) of 5" 10' at about 185 in my birthday suit. Had 30 hours on the Virago in a training class both parking lot and street riding with a bit of highway thrown in for good measure. It was a good ride. The Rebel is very popular and reliable but does have one trait which shows up in nearly all of them and Honda has never addressed the issue. The transmissiom hangs up when trying to go into 1st gear when coming to a stop. Easily cured once stopped by pressing on the shifter and shutting off the engine, restart and away you go.
Appearance wise the GZ wins hands down in my opinion. Looks the largest with a big bike presence if not parked beside a much larger bike. The Virago looks skinny with the smaller tank and narrow V-twin engine. Looks fragile to me. Rebel is just ho-hum.
Enough for now. Again WELCOME to the forum. WW.
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