curious question
 

How many of you owners of the GZ250 are new riders, maybe buying it as your first bike? And how many are like me-a long time rider that just wants a road bike that is simple to work on and gets great gas mileage and is fun to ride (even if its not a rocket)?

jon

"Almost" everyone here bought the GZ as a learner or a brush up on 20 year old riding skills. The rest of the members, like Badbob, own them for what they are.

Me personally, i fall into the 'bought as a learner' category. Thought i'd keep it alot longer than i did. But didnt.

I fall into both categories, it's my first bike but I've decided I'm going to keep it. It's reliable, simple, insurance is minimal, and it can get me anywhere a car can. And now that I know it inside and out and have all the tools, maintenence is hassle-free. I didn't get into motorcycling for the sake of motorcycling, I got into it because I like simple machines. Ditching this bike would be like ditching an old friend.

Re: curious question
 

I fall into the second category. An "old fart" who wanted something easy and fun.
I got what I wanted but find that I need a little re-training time. :roll:

My last bike would do 100 mph with two gears left! It had a 1/4 turn throttle and lots of compression braking. What a difference.

After a couple of weeks, I'm just now getting really comfortable with the different dynamics. Need to downshift to get any real compression braking and don't need to feather the rear brake to help modulate the throttle in a turn. It may not be a rocket but has good pickup for a bike it's size......when you figure out that you can slap it WFO without raising the front or getting thrown off the back. :2tup:

I'm a veteran who likes small displacement bikes.

I'm completely new to riding, so I bought it [only a couple weeks ago] as a beginner/learner bike. But I like the fact that it's simple, smaller, and easy to maintain.

curious question
 

I bought the bike because I liked the LOOK. It is comfortable for me. I read the reviews. Fast enough for me. Rides nice. I have had other bikes in the past and have a 250 3 wheeler.

Got my GZ as a full on beginner.

Got this particular bike because of the price (virtually free but needs work), but was wanting something very forgiving for learning to ride as well as learn the mechanics of a bike. The luck of the draw ended up being my GZ. At this time I do not believe I will keep this for myself when I upgrade, but my wife may take an interest in learning to ride. When the time comes, I would like to pass the torch to another beginner as it was given to me. Just come and pick it up and have fun learning.

I got mine primarily because it was cheap and easy to find even in Tallahassee FL. Classifieds are maybe 80% Harley's here and after you toss out everything that is completely unsuitable, junk, and just plain abused guess what was left. I had just just finished my MSF course and I wanted something to ride now. Thats how I got the first one the second one I got because I had one already. Having two makes trouble shooting a lot easier and I would not have to learn to maintain two different bikes.

I've had several bikes in the past.

I bought my GZ because gas hit $3.50

85 MPG is MUCH easier on the wallet than 15MPG I get from my F-150

I'm a veteran small displacment rider; last bike was a GS550 which had 4 of everything to keep synchronized, tall, and with a huge vetter fairing hanging on the front. Ridding a bike not only saves gas but also wear and tear on my old cars. Tried buying a chinese 125cc bike for 999.00 delivered. Turned out to be a nightmare that I still loose sleep over. Although my new GZ cost 2k more I walked in laid the money down and rode it home. What a relief after what I had been through!!

bought as my first bike here... :-)

ha ha now i have 8 posts john!! : )

Bought as my first bike after riding one in the MSF class. Love the fit and feel of the bike even though I'm a fairly tall guy at 6'2". I got the bug to ride for no apparent reason except for a short cruise on some mopeds at the beach. Original intent was for some fair weather riding on some back roads near my house but I can tell already that I'll be doing more than weekend cruising.

I bought mine as a total beginner. If I do go for something bigger it won't be for quite some time. I really have no need for a big bike. The way it stands right now it's perfect for taking to and from work and short (2-3 hour) rides. In August I will be taking it to Pennsylvania and back ( I live in upstate NY ). I know someone here went to Alaska with theirs, so I am pretty confident the GZ is going to be good enough for anything I might want to throw at it. Which right now isn't much. :)

I live in Puyallup, Wa. My son attends Ithaca College. We flew out to visit him and see the college the Cotober before last and loved the area. Looks like a great place to ride too. We drove around Lake Cuyuga and over to Watkins Glen too.
jon

The GZ?
 

Why a GZ? Two Harleys in the garage, yet I commute on the GZ. Well, I'm 50 (not quite an old fart yet) and I find the GZ to represent motorcycling at it's purest. Light, easy to ride, cheap to own & maintain, & the super gas mileage. But that aside, the GZ teaches it's rider PATIENCE. Man, there's nothing more dehumanizing than the demise of patience. The guy in the 8'-0" tall 4WD pickup damn near runs you over to get by and in front of you just to stop and wait the same light as you. What was gained?? How fast do we need to drive to get to the same light? The whole world could use a GZ patience lesson.

Anyway, take your time & enjoy your GZ. It represents all that is good about motorcycling. And, PLEASE don't be in such a damned hurry. Life is short enough as it is.

Sorry for the sermon, Amen.

:chop:

My GZ250 was purchased with no riding experience behind me whatsoever. After being encouraged by others to buy a slightly larger bike, my better senses prevailed and I purchased my first motorcycle ever. The main factor that contributed to this was naturally the cost of gas ($40 a week in a Ford Ranger was hurting my feelings). While I have only had the bike for less than a month, I am hooked. It is easy to ride, I actually enjoy cleaning it, inexpensive to maintain, and puts me in a better mood when I am commuting to work or school.

Sarris ... well said I am a little older than you ( 57 ) . I agree that life passes by too quickly. Enjoy it while it here.

how many miles
 

i wanted to know with good maintenance how many miles or how long could a gz250 last

Re: how many miles
 

I know of one with 50,000 miles on it.

I bough my GZ for 2 reasons. first being good gas mileage (man is it hard to find reliable info about the mileage a particular bike gets). second, being my first motorcycle, I didn't want anything powerful enuff to kill myself by using too much throttle, and besides my main decision was to have cheap efficient transportation to work. I'd rather buy an old diesel VW rabbit that gets 45 mpg than a big bike that gets the same.

Don't take this bike for granted and think that you can't kill yourself on it. That's how accidents happen.

lm a new rider who needed alternative trans...ive spent twice as much on new gz trynna repair raggedy a$$ old cars

Big powerful bikes just cost more and make it slightly easier to kill yourself.

I bought mine as a reintroduction to bikes after a 20 year hiatus. I had not been on road bikes much before so.... I also want the cheap mpg. I think I will probably step up to a bigger bike at some point but I'm not sure. This thing is pretty satisfying.