Am I mad buying a 250cc?

[kevinheb]

I have very recently passed my tests on a FZR600, after riding my lovely YBR125 around for the last year.

Now I absolutely love my YBR125, and have used it for commuting 25 miles each way along an A road and filtering through city traffic to work for the past year. I have rarely found it underpowered and enjoy the challenge of riding it to its full potential. It keeps up with the traffic (except for a BIG hill on the way out of Bristol). Riding the Fazer was fun, a bit like a fairground ride, the acceleration was pretty mad. I took it on the motorway at 80 and enjoyed a good ride on it after passing, but I guess I found it overpowered and a bit over the top; can completely understand the attraction of a bike like that but its not really for me.

I'm currently not needing to commute to work, but may need to again in the future, but want something with a bit more kick to travel around on and take gf as pillion (having tried with the 125 it really struggled!!). The YBR was my first motorised vehicle, managing to reach almost 40 years of age without driving/riding anything other than a push bike.

Since passing my test a week ago I have been reading up, and have narrowed it down to

HONDA NC700
BMW F650CS
HONDA CBF250
YAMAHA YBR250

due to their high mpg which I value highly, much higher than acceleration. Now with the 250s both seem very similar but the Honda seems more common (and cheaper) than the Yamaha. The bigger bikes are a lot more expensive than the 250s, £3.5k+ vs £1k+.

So am I mad having a full license and riding a 250cc, or will it do everything I want it to without needing to bother with one of the bigger bikes?

Opinions much appreciated
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YBR 125 (sold) > YBR 250 (sold as spares/repair) > F650CS

[Musketeer]

New 250cc four strokes are almost as gutless as 125ccs. For yourself it may be ok if you are a slow and sensible rider.. but taking a pillion on 250 is going to suck

Hard not to comment on '600cc too powerful for me' drivel. Give it 2 weeks and it won't be too powerful for you and you will notice all the benefits of spare power. And 50 mpg isn't good enough?
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Current Bike: Yamaha XSR900 Previous bikes: Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, Aprilia RS125 2-stroke

[-Matt-]

If you can afford it id grab the nc700, brilliant bikes. Mpg is excellent. Tons of luggage space especially with luggage fitted if you ever want to tour. And great all round for commuter fun tours or taking the gf.

[von1papen]

I got a CM200 after I passed my test. Brilliant fuel economy and abit more poke in the low end for around town.

If you're wanting it for commuting and nipping around town at below 50 most of the time it'll be grand.

However if you go near carriageways, motorways or want to go out for a fast run or long distance it'll bore the life out of you and it'll knacker the bike. Plus it can get quite exhausting after an hour or so of 65/70mph wringing the neck out of the bike, being buffeted by the wind and barely being able to overtake anything at the top end.

I'd keep a 125 for economy and a 500/600 whatever for fun and longer distance rides.
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Honda CG125<Honda CM200< Kwak GT750 (SOLD) < BMW R65

[Pigeon]

Not sure if they are suitable, but the new CB500F does 75mpg+, which is about as good as you'll get on anything other than a 125. Plus all the reviews seems to indicate they are "fun" to ride.

The BMW G650GS also does 65mpg I think, which again, is pretty high for any bike.

The KTM 690 is similar, around 65mpg.

They've all got to be more fun than a 250. That being said, I'd happily own a 250 as a second bike / commuter.

[AlanC]

I have a Yamaha WR250X slightly-less-than-supermoto. Got it after passing my test back in '08 and have kept it because it's great fun to ride at speeds up to about 60mph. But above that there's no real acceleration left, and it has 30bhp as compared to the 21bhp YBR250 / 20bhp CB250.

I'd agree with Maggot: the 250's you're looking at aren't going to be that much more capable than the best of the 125's. An NC700 / CB500F would be a lot more capable and pleasant to ride.

That's why I also have an R1: for those occasions when I want a bit more go...

[Rogerborg]

[bikertomm]

If you've absaloutely loved your YBR 125 for a year of doing that and rarely found it underpowered, please record your face when you open the throttle on a 600+ inline 4


My personal opinion is yes, you are mad for buying a 250 4 stroke. But everyone's different, and if it's all you need from a bike then go for it, re-sale value would be a worry for me.
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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[Rogerborg]

[barrkel]

I can get 90mpg on the open road with relative ease on my SH300, but it's closer to 70mpg when riding like a lunatic in the city. Infinitely preferable to a 125 though.

Overtaking on NSL roads on an underpowered bike will teach you the value of planning ahead. Every time I've stepped down to lower power, I've gotten better at overtaking once I went back up again. You build up speed for the oncoming gap rather than relying on brute acceleration, which itself can be dangerous in the wet. And you learn to speed up to close in coming into right hand bends, then back off if the opportunity doesn't arise, etc.

I don't think it's mad at all. I wouldn't buy new unless you're planning to keep it for a long time though.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[j.silvs]

If you are going round town then I dont think your mad at all.

I just look at them tho and they look like a dressed up 125. So I wouldnt own one

[m3-paul]

I used to love my 125 as well but it was an RD125LC that was a little nutter, not a four stroke.

I think you need to get out on some of the bigger bikes you have listed and have a blast around on them. You will get used to the power quickly and unless you are silly it won't overwhelm you.

I was on a bloody slow rideout yesterday with a couple of 125s, on of them a ybr125. I almost died of boredom. Hit the heady heights of 52mph on a national speed limit road, had the utter embarrassment of a transit over taking us (I had promised to behave and not fly off in to the distance) and my poor fireblade honestly never got out of third but spent most of its time in second. I think I may have got in to fourth for 52mph but was too excited at getting over 50 to remember.

125s are great to learn on but if it is your only bike and you are a full licence holder step up the CCs. Leave the 250cc bikes alone unless it is a 2 stroke toy as well.
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Yamaha TZR250 - love the smell of TTS!!!!
CBR900RR Fireblade - so much fun

[thepuma]

I have a Honda CBR250R and I get around 90mpg. I bought it with the sole purpose of commuting on as an alternative/option to getting in my car every day and its perfect for that. My 20 minute commute is on 30 and 40 mph roads all the way so my bike is perfect for that...if I needed a bike solely for pleasure then I would have got a 600cc sport. But for what I need a bike for the 250cc is perfection.

It does more than twice the miles per gallon as my car and over the year the money I save on petrol pays for the insurance, tax, breakdown cover and servicing on the bike...so in effect all im losing is the deprecation.

I do travel to football on it at weekends which is a 60 minute trip on A roads and motorway..but it sits comfortably at 75mph at 7k revs so it does enough. It can do a ton if pushed. Its certainly not the quickest but then again I have a car for that which does 0-60 in 6 seconds so for me and my need a in a bike, a 250 is fine for now.
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[Polarbear]

[thx1138]

I could live with just my 250.

[Notj7]

I'm riding the NC700D as a courtesy bike at the moment, and even from a CBR 600 to that.... I have to say I really like it! Nippy, good mpg from what I've read, comfy and plenty of wind resistance. If I didn't already have a bike I'd be after one of those sharpish.
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Left the forum.

[kevinheb]

Many thanks for all of the useful advice, I'm still mulling the whole thing over, as I'm not really riding much at the moment, I don't have to rush in to buying anything.
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YBR 125 (sold) > YBR 250 (sold as spares/repair) > F650CS

[-Monty-]

Have you looked into insurance prices for 250's? I've found when just "browsing" different bikes insurance prices that 250s are disproportionately expensive. You could insure a bigger bike for the same or less money. Of course it's different for different people.

As others have said. If you can afford it, go with the NC700. I've even heard someone say they got 90mpg out of one once (although obviously riding like a granny) - thats 125 territory!
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Present: [Kawasaki ZX7r][Suzuki DRZ 400s]
Past: [Honda PCX 125] [Yamaha RXS 100] [Honda CB 500] [Triumph Speed Four] [Honda ST1100 Pan European - Po-Po Edition]

[kevinheb]

I've just checked the insurance, for my 125 it was £90 TPO, for a CBF250 its £80 TPFT, as I've now passed my test I guess its a bit cheaper.
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YBR 125 (sold) > YBR 250 (sold as spares/repair) > F650CS

[Rogerborg]

It's more that 125s are expensive. Try a quote on something like a GS500 as well.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[thepuma]

It is true about the insurance....when I bought my CBR250R it was cheaper to insure me on an ER6F than it was on my 250r. Heaven knows exactly why, but probably the fact that lesser experienced riders are more likely to ride the 250 and therefore more likely to crash? But then surely an inexperienced rider is more likely to lose control of a bigger cc bike?

Thats insurance for you though...it rarely makes sense.
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YBR125 (SOLD) - CBR250R(SOLD) - CBR650F(SOLD) Current - Street Triple
765 RS

[SteveZZR]

[Blau Zedong]

In my day the aim was always to get a 750+ cc bike ASAP. I'm not sure what's happened to kids these days.
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18:54:48 Rob Fzs: jews don't give away stuff for free

18:54:59 Rob Fzs: unless its their clothes/ hair/ golden teeth

[Rogerborg]

[thepuma]