[kmrcstintn]

I'll approach this thread from a different viewpoint...

at the end of April I was involved in a low speed collision while on my '09 GZ250; essentially I bounced off the front bumper of a car and the bike fell over on the opposite side; the insurance company inspector took into account anything that had a mark, rub, scrape in addition to the truly broken stuff...luckily the engine guard took the brunt of the hit or the bike would have been totalled due to the additional damage; there were parts on the replacement list that were salvagable and needed some clean up and others were replaced with lower cost aftermarket parts that saved alot of $$$ (important or mechanical necessary stuff was replaced with OEM stuff)

I was a persistent pain in the ass but it paid off...I have my GZ250 back at nearly 97% of what she was before the crash! she has obvious marks on the very back edge of the exhaust and the engine guard that confirm the bike's been down (and I'll lose resale/trade value in the future); I look at it this way...an '09 GZ250 with less than 5500 miles is a better machine than a good quality 50cc scooter (which is what I would have opted if my GZ250 got totalled out);

I have learned to work within the limitations of my GZ250 and hope to have her around for years to come! as an alternate I have an '06 Honda Shadow Aero 750 with @ 10,500 miles...she gets used when riding in a group event (charity/benefit ride) or at higher speeds or to destinations further from home