250r Capabilities

[Wildheart]

I have seen alot of stuff on the net saying how great this bike is, but not alot on what it can do... Any of you guys here up to a riders review? Looking for the kind of stuff you'd get from riding this thing more than one time and saying yeah its great! has anyone had any long rides? what do you like or not? How fast have you got it to (anyone top out)? how is it at freeway speed (75ish?) does it still have enough power to get up and go at this speed? do you feel like your going to get blown off the road by any car that passes?

Looking for honest pros an cons. I am SERIOUSLY considering this bike as my first, but due to the fact they are very hard to find in this area, I can't even sit on one before i throw some money in and wait even longer (which im not gonna do without alot more info).

I know this isn't going to be a GSXR thats why im interested in it. Honestly I've been shopping around for almost a year, looking strongly at the suzuki GS500f. Now that I actually have money built up its decision time.

Thanks for any input.

[am0517]

ok here is my take on it. (3weeks riding)

First point the bike is a little light and the wind does blow u around slightly but once u get a feel for the bike that dies quickly.

I have done 100mph on my way home from going to visit some friends tonight at the track. so if u need highway speeds i would say it has enough power on the highway unlike some people say!!

i had a 3 hour ride when i first bought the bike to get it home and i was new to the street and it was kinda bad but not too bad. but i could prob do that plus some now that i am used to the bike.

The bike has enough power to do anything under 90 with no problems at all. the bike is light and can move through the corners. this is my input of my lil nijette and its a great bike but sit on the bike and see how it feels

[benjamin11]

Ok well, here's my impression.



I keeps up with ANY speed traffic with ease. You mention "75-ish mph riding". If you're going to be doing a lot of those speeds in your commute, it's reccomended that you get a 15t front sprocket. I can't touch on how it helps personally, as it's being shipped to me now.

As for getting blown off the road by "any" car that passes. No. I made a 200 mile trip a week or so ago going 65-75pmh and nothing bothered me. On the interstate, a passing semi can throw you around a bit. But hell, that even happened in my mazda.

It's fun, comfy ergos, obviously the MPG is stellar.

I weigh about 160 and I'm 5'11" and I love the ergos.

It's extremely forgiving. I've made a couple handfuls of rookie mistakes and haven't gone down yet because the bike almost seems like it's helping you to keep it up. It's a friend.


You'll like it if you get it. You simply will not regret it if you're serious about riding.


I don't know how it compares to the 500, but I'm sure that's a great bike as well. I hear good things.

[kbroderick]

Before I put the 42t rear sprocket on (which changes final gearing roughly the same as a 15t front sprocket), I had taken mine on the slab (haven't since). It can pass people at 70 MPH road speed, but you'll need to be thinking about it (right gear, carry momentum, and probably not climbing a significant hill unless you were already going fast enough at the bottom of the hill). I'd also point out that the speedometer is seriously optimistic; I think it's probably at least 10 MPH off at 70 MPH (indicated) on mine. I've, err, heard that my bike might have attained 100 MPH indicated with gearing to spare ;) ... but I don't recommend going that fast, especially as a newbie. If I had been riding that fast, I would have been keenly aware of not having the appropriate skill set to deal with shit happening at that speed (which is probably around 87-92 MPH actual).

With the taller gearing, I have significantly less acceleration around 70 MPH indicated speed, but I also have a lot less vibration and find myself comfortable cruising at an indicated 65-ish MPH regularly. Putting decent rubber on helped, too (the cornering and braking is sooo much better than with the stock crap tires, and I think I'll see even more improvement when I go to a Sport Demon in the back rather than the Conti I've got on there now).

Since I've learned to wear earplugs now, I think I could be pretty comfortable on a longer slab ride (combined with the taller gearing). I've done it before (approx 2 hrs on the slab), but it wasn't nearly as much fun as spending 2.25 hours doing the same trip on a two-lane state highway and I arrived a bit fatigued.

I felt like I was going to get blown right off the road the first time I rode on the highway (made it one exit, said screw that, picked up a two-lane state highway from there). Since then, though, I've become much more comfortable on the bike and have ridden on the highway and had it occur to me in a sort of intellectual/academic sense "hey, I'm getting blown around pretty good right now", kinda like "hey, that's a cool paint job on that truck". In other words, it doesn't bother me at all since I've gotten used to it (I just adjust without thinking about it).

Overall, I'm quite happy with my 250. I've put enough miles on that I'd be comfortable moving to another bike, but I'm hard-pressed to come up with one that would give me the additional performance I'd like (particularly for passing two or three vehicles on a two-lane road where the traffic is speeding up to 60-65 MPH on the straights and parking it in the corners) without huge penalties in other areas where I really like the Ninja (cornering, gravel road performance, parts availability, and gas mileage).

[benjamin11]

very good post.

[Boldblood]

Originally Posted by benjamin11

It's extremely forgiving. I've made a couple handfuls of rookie mistakes and haven't gone down yet because the bike almost seems like it's helping you to keep it up. It's a friend.

+1

Very important and true. There are many mistakes you can make on a '08 250R that would kill you on a 600.

[RxNinja]

Like most have said.
Great light weight bike, comfy for long trips. Longest one I did was a 8hr ride, and around about 350+- miles. Very fun ride, had no problems other then I could have used the sprocket upgrde. Don't do a lot of 10rpm rides on stock gears. Or at least with my bike, it pushes oil into the airbox.
Don't see the point in repeating what the others have said. But, are you planning on getting an 08 or a later model? What size are you? All typical difference in all situations.

[Wildheart]

Thanks for the imformative posts, it eases alot of worry hearing from actual riders. Since I've started this escapade of searching i've read thousands of posts, many magazines, talked to alot of riders, and sat on probably close to 50 or so bikes. Im around 5-10 and 175lbs. Most bikes seem to fit well, however i have to say i was the most comfortable on the SV650, and ninja 650. Again I have yet to find a 08 ninja 250 to sit on, but I suspect by the time i can actually get an opening in an MSF course, they'll be one somewhere. The 08 ninja is what im looking for the most information on, however any yearmodel you can provide advise on is still helpfull. lord knows, you've already squashed a few rumours already.

Hopefully by then I can buy one as well, and not find myself residing in a buddies house (LOL). My wife has been a difficult sell.

Thanks again for your responses.

[RxNinja]

Oh. Alright.

[HighsideSV]

Originally Posted by Boldblood

+1

Very important and true. There are many mistakes you can make on a '08 250R that would kill you on a 600.

Aside from cracking open the throttle too far at the wrong moment moment, what other mistakes will a 250 magically protect you from that a 600 would not?

[YZFHEFF]

Corner speed.

Fantastic little bikes. Plenty of power for how light they are.

[benjamin11]

omfg awesome Avatar.

/offtopic.

[dunelly]

I just did my MSF course a week ago and started riding my 250 the last 3 days.

its so fun!
the only bad thing i have to say about it is how high i have to rev up. Maybe because im a newbie, but I always feel a little weird revving past 7k RPM. Like I might hurt the bike. And I had to realize that i too had to succumb to the speed limit, just like a car would . that part sucks so much, I'm scared to go past 30 in a 25.

Any bikers here have experiences with doing 10-15 over the limit? Are cops less likely to pull you over? It's not so much that I am a speed demon. I just want to get the hell away from cars by speeding up for a few seconds.

[rockjunkie]

Originally Posted by HighsideSV

Aside from cracking open the throttle too far at the wrong moment moment, what other mistakes will a 250 magically protect you from that a 600 would not?

As if that's not enough, how about hamfisting the front brake and flying over the bars or locking up the tire? 250's brakes aren't nearly as strong as a SS so that won't likely happen. This bike is very light, so if you start to tip over and drop it, it's pretty easy to catch, low COG too helps.

I've had mine since March. The only thing that annoys me is the limited power which requires constant shifting to stay in the minimal power band. And passing at speed must be pre-meditated.

[BLACK07FZ1]

Hello, newbie to this site.

What do these little bike's get on gas mileage? They must be good. I can't find one to sit on it.