I would not exactly say that I love my GZ250 but I do like the whole 250cc idea. My wife loves hers. Getting there on a bare minimum bike is an adventure in itself and has much to be said for it.
You don't "need" a big bike with lots of horse power to go on trips. You "want" a big bike with lots of horse power. There is a major difference between want and need.
When we tell a new GZ250 rider that they can't do something when they don't have the knowledge or experience to know that it can be done. I think we are driving them away not encouraging them or help ping them.
You can ride them on long trips. Pat Henry rode his to
Alaska. I have ridden mine 470 miles in one day and other trips of several hundred miles. The point is that you can do just about everything on a GZ250 that you can do on larger cruiser except go faster than 65 mph, win a race and impress the boys at Hooters on bike night. "Can't never could do anything." I think we should be helping people to learn to do things with their GZ250 not helping them to find another bike and get rid of it.
My question still stands.
Is there anyone here who is planning to keep their GZ250?