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