Hello From CA

[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.