question about freeway riding

[maryes7]

I have been riding my GZ250 for 4 months. I would like to try the freeway but I wonder how it will handle the wind and if I will have enough power. Would like some advice from all of you expert 250 riders. Thank you

[music man]

I don't know about anyone else's experience, but I can tell you from mine that the little GZ gets pushed around pretty good by the wind if you are making a good speed, but it is usually not unbearable. I personally won't ride on any freeway unless I am just gonna go down an exit or two and get back off, the GZ just ain't got the juice for it. Not saying it won't go 70 but when it does it is tapped out, and being tapped out is not good in any vehicle at any speed. You lose alot of manueverability and you don't have any throttle left to get you out of trouble, But there are alot of people who ride theirs on the freeway, Just not me.



Later

[maryes7]

Thank you for the great advice.. Do you have another bike for the freeway or just use your bike for around town. I have a few places that I would love to go to that require freeway riding for about 30 min. I feel I would have to move up to a bigger bike to do that. I love my GZ250 and use it mostly to do errands around town and also to get back and forth to work which is just around the corner. Thank again, for your help.....

[alanmcorcoran]

...as a subset of, "Is a GZ fast/powerful/heavy enough?"

I think the general consensus is yes, you can go on the freeway, but you may not enjoy it. There's a gentleman that rode his GZ from KY to Alaska and he's done lots of highway miles. I don't have a windshield and I get buffetted around pretty good. There are also strong side drafts coming off semi's. Bu it's not like you don't have control. You have to sort of roll with the punches.

I'm still a newb so take my advice with a grain of salt - 30 minutes on a freeway will probably be about 20 minutes more than you will enjoy. But go ahead and try it. The bike can handle it, you just may decide to try an alternate route back. If your bike is new (like mine) it will be a challenge to get up to CA freeway speeds (70-75), so be forewarned. 65 is the best I've been able to do so far and that wasn't easy either.

Supposedly, freeways, with all of their inherent risks, are safer than "surface" streets.

[music man]

Originally Posted by maryes7

Thank you for the great advice.. Do you have another bike for the freeway or just use your bike for around town. I have a few places that I would love to go to that require freeway riding for about 30 min. I feel I would have to move up to a bigger bike to do that. I love my GZ250 and use it mostly to do errands around town and also to get back and forth to work which is just around the corner. Thank again, for your help.....

No I do not have another motorcycle, but if I were to go on a long trip I could probably deal with thirty minutes on the freeway for that one trip if it was necessary, but I have looked at a lot of places to go since I got my bike, and to be honest I haven't seen anywhere that I would want to go where I "have" to get on the interstate. There are ways to go just about anywhere with out using them. Its probably gonna take you a month of sundays to get there, but you can get there.


Later

[rusty rider]

I have ridden my bike on Interstates a couple of times I've found it is fine around 4 wheeler traffic but big trucks are another beast. Last night I was on my way home on a 4 lane highway when I came upon slower traffic. I went to pass and there was a larger truck in the passing lane, the wind pushed me around quite a bit. Another time I was passing a truck with another in front of me, the turbulance scared the crap out of me (see Sarris) :neener:

I will ride my bike on interstates in the future, but will only deal with one big truck at a time. If that requires slowing down so be it, you will find that even with a wind shield you get pushed all over the place. My bike will run 70 mph no problem with a little throttle left, I did have to tuck on inclines to maintain my speed though.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by maryes7

I have been riding my GZ250 for 4 months. I would like to try the freeway but I wonder how it will handle the wind and if I will have enough power. Would like some advice from all of you expert 250 riders. Thank you

All freeways are not created equal.
The general prevailing speed and the desity of the traffic makes a BIG difference.
I would never take my GZ on some freeways, like around major cities where everybody drives like they are nuts....Chicago, NY, LA, Atlanta, etc. Same thing applies to some long-haul routes with lots of trucks and excessive speeds....like I-80, I-70 and I-90. There are, however, lots of rural Interstates where the traffic is not usually too heavy, there aren't a lot of trucks and most drivers follow the speed limit and/or respect those who do, where I would have no qualms riding the GZ at 60-65-70 all day long.

All bikes are not created equal either but most take a pretty good beating from the wind created by trucks......until you get up to the "heavy cruiser" class, which is a BIG jump.

And, last but not least, while you may THINK that you can't get from A to B without using a freeway, there are VERY few places where that is really true.....very few. You might have to look at a map or do a little exploring to figure it out but there probably IS a way. Having spent a LONG half day trying to get from North Atlanta to East Atlanta without freeways, I do know that some places it really IS almost impossible......or that the best non-interstate route is not the shortest one.

[gnu88001]

Overall, freeways are safer than other roads with all of their side-traffic. I keep mine at 55-60, let the rest pass me, and try to keep my distance away from the rear of large trucks. Turbulence ... schmurbulence! I just pretend I'm riding year-round in our normal spring gales here in southern New Mexico.

[mld85]

I agree the GZ can handle the freeway but its not too happy about it. The furthest I have taken it on the freeways is probably 20-30 miles. The GZ is a great bike but I use it just for around town and on back roads were it will happily cruise along at 50-60 mph all day long. As for wind, it can push you around on any motorcycle. I do my cross country trips on a 750, small compared to the bikes of today, and dealing with wind is something you just get used too.

[Joho]

I took my GZ from Myrtle Beach to the Ft Lauderdale area (about 630 miles), with about 85% of the driving being freeway (I95).

It was... fun. I love riding motorcycles, so it was a great experience regardless. The wind wasn't a concern, but if you've ever driven on 95, then you know that the little gz just cant keep up with the speeds. I kept it at about 70 in the right lane, and I was still getting overtook by 18-wheelers.