Questions...

[burkbuilds]

I rode my GZ about 12,000 miles the first year, mostly to school and back every day, but I wasn't going half as far as you were and the biggest vertical obstacle was a hill along the road that no where near qualifies as a mountain or anything and I almost always dropped 5 mph on that little hill. Now having said that, I'm 210 lbs and that's a lot more than you weigh so it might not be as big of an issue for you. Also, I modified my seat and had it recovered to make it more comfortable. Most GZ riders will tell you that they aren't comfortable on long rides with the stock seat, although I think Water Warriors wife rode across Canada with a stock seat and was fine with it. Even with the seat customized on my GZ, riding 100 miles was not comfortable. When I found out I was going to be travelling 100 miles on the highway each way each week for an extended period I sold the Gz and bought a Vulcan 500. The stock seat is very comfortable and about the same height as the GZ, right at 28 inches. The Vulcan will get about 10 mpg less than the GZ, but you won't have any problems maintaining any speed you can legally drive on any grade without downshifting. The Vulcan at 498 cc's falls just below the 500cc price hike that most insurance companies start raising their rates at.
AS far as holding up, the GZ will definitely hold up if you take care of it. As Easy Rider pointed out, all those guys who blew the engine early were running it wide open throttle for extended periods. I'd be willing to bet almost any cruiser that was ridden WOT for extended periods would probably blow in a similar number of miles.
As to comfort level on my Vulcan. I rode 2 1/2 hours without a stop Sunday evening, mostly on I-75 at speeds of around 75 and I was fine when I finally arrived and got off, no stiffness or "monkey butt" or anything. So I'll have to disagree with Sarris on the point of saying you need something 650cc minimum but I do agree that the GZ will probably be more uncomfortable than you will want. I don't have any problems with the bikes he recommended I'd just like to add the Vulcan 500 to that list as a bike that would be comfortable and meet the requirements you have listed. Good luck with whatever you choose.

[dhgeyer]

Guys, remember that the original poster is considering a TU250, not a GZ250. Entirely different seat and riding position. I sat on the TU250 for a minute or two, and the seat is very different than the GZ. The footpegs are in "standard" position, not forward as on the GZ. The rider's feet are more or less under him/her. I find this much more workable on long rides, but others don't. Not sure how it would be on a long ride. But, I'm still "voting" for something a bit heavier. The Vulcan 500 has the most comfortable stock saddle I've ever tried on any bike, including larger Vulcans. At least that's how my butt felt on it.

[dannylightning]

I would strongly agree that the gz or the tu would NOT be a good bike for any kind of long distance traveling. especially mountain or hilly terrain. highway driving on the gz is not a good idea at all, you get up to 50 some mph and its starts to take a while to get it going faster. and when the wind is blowing hard your all over the road and its kind of scary. about 60mph the rpm's get kind of high on the gz. i would never run that bike over 60mph for any extend period of time. put it this way. the gz and tu is a great little around town bike and a great gas saver and it would be better to start out on something like the gz or tu but in your case like others have said its not going to do the trick for the kind of riding you need to do on it.

if money is the issue i suggest craigslist and lots of shopping around, right now is a good time to buy if you live in a colder climet, winter is right around the corner. you can get a really nice used bike between 3 and 4 thousand. for example i just got a 2001 800cc suzuki intruder volusia for 3 thousand had about 6k miles on it and its pretty much in brand new condition well about as close as you can get to brand new condition any ways, you really halve to look hard to find the flaws on this bike. i have had 4 people ask me if its brand new already. they were suprized when i said it was a 2001.

bottom line you can get a killer deal on a bigger bike if you be patient and keep shopping around, i would suggest you do, you never know what you might find. there is always the suzuki s40 650cc witch is a bout the same size and weight as the gz, just a bigger engine. but thats still going to blow all over the road when its windy. and im not really sure how much extra power your gonna get out of that single cylinder 650cc engine. some say its really not that much of a upgrade from the gz.

on my new bike i can cruz at practically any speed i want, i took it out on a super windy day and i did not faze the bike one bit. its fast its comfortable unlike the gz. but it is big that might be the only draw back with something like this. i would be confident to drive that bike across the country if i ever decided to.

when i got my gz i had no idea what i was relly getting, did not know any thing about bikes. i saw the speedo went up to 80 so i figured i could do 80 on that bike all day long if i wanted but that was not even close to the case.

i hear plenty of good things aout the vulcan 500, honda shadow 750 is a nice bike and there are usually plenty of used shadows on craigslist, some in the 3k dolor price range.

just some things to think about..

[VTXorcist]

Yeah, smaller bikes are very good for beginners, but keep in mind that cruisers are not like sport bikes. A 650cc cruiser is far, far, far, etc, less likely to take off on you than a 600cc sport bike. In fact, beginnerbikes.org recommends both the Yamaha V-Star Classic 650cc and the Suzuki S40/Savage 650cc among its beginner cruisers (http://www.beginnerbikers.org/forum/sho ... hp?t=26387).

Having said that, no matter what bike you get, you'll want to take some time getting to know it on parking lots and back roads before you try your first 80 mile round-tripper.

[dhgeyer]

Originally Posted by VTXorcist

Having said that, no matter what bike you get, you'll want to take some time getting to know it on parking lots and back roads before you try your first 80 mile round-tripper.

Now I think that's the best advice anyone has offered yet in this thread. I wish I'd said that. A 5 mile ride. Then a 10 mile ride. Then a 20 mile ride.

[cactus]

Just want to thank you guys for the advice, its been really helpful to me.

[GZ250]

If it is really 80 miles a day and everyday or 5 days a week I would not suggest a bike. You won't be able to ride on rainy days and from Dec to March it would be cold and chilly. Not an easy ride.

It would be tough and than boring later on especially when you will loose power on hills. 250's are just good on plain roads. To save on gas find alternatives. Find a smallest car.

For fun drive 250 is good. I ride 50 miles a day and I can understand how you would feel over that. Any seat, any bike, not good for every day 80 mile trip. period. read posts on pains in backbone, hip, butts, legs.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by GZ250

If it is really 80 miles a day and everyday or 5 days a week I would not suggest a bike.

Any seat, any bike, not good for every day 80 mile trip. period.

Unless a person is in a SEVERE financial pinch, I wouldn't recommend a bike as one's ONLY transportation either......if you have something like a job you have to go to every day.

The second part of that is, however, just bunk. Sticking a "period" on the end doesn't make it any less so. :roll:

The trip is 40 miles each way. You would have to have some pre-existing medical condition for that to be a significant problem.......even on the stock GZ seat.

Assuming you would have to stop occasionally for an intersection.....where you put down your feet and can "stretch in place" a bit......it should be no problem at all, for most people......on ANY bike.

[dhgeyer]

So, cactus, did you decide on something and buy it? You said you were thinking Saturday. Not that your doing so would stop this conversation......

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by dhgeyer

So, cactus, did you decide on something and buy it? You said you were thinking Saturday. Not that your doing so would stop this conversation......

Ain't it the truth. We can sit and babble while Cactus is out doing something. Me, just sitting and watching the rain, ugly clouds and thinking "another week of this crap". But I did have a good ride yesterday.