rgv250

[Keen]

Hi,

has anybody owned/ridden one of these? will need a new bike in august and I'm thinking about one... dirt cheap for the performance you get, good handling, cheapish insurance i guess? I'm on a GS500 and I'd like to upgrade but student budget says no, at least a 250 stroker might be fun to thrash.....

although i realise its probably gonna be unreliable, but they're so cheap I could try and budget for an engine rebuild as soon as I get it, any idea how much thsi might cost?
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[Git]

I had an rgv250n, brilliant machine.
Never had any reliability problems either, top end rebuild every 10,000miles and bottom end at 20k. Never ever let me down.

Would love another one before I have to learn a zimmer frame.

[froggy128]

are thay an import?

[Andy99]

Great bikes,good handling with a good engine but they can be fragile.
I had an L model and i had to do full rebuilds on each barrel The powervalve bushes wear on the early models,which pushes the valve into the piston and takes out some of the expensive nicosil barrel coating. I did the engine work myself but the costs were still about £600 per barrel
Would i buy another one? Well i'd probably go for an RS250 or a later model RGV when they had modified the powervalves.
I still reckon it rated very highly in the smiles per pound spent stakes despite the rebuild costs,mind you i did buy it cheap
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[Git]

[Laura]

Remember they are not cheap to run at all.

You get about 13mpg and lots of two stroke oil.
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Good girls ride motorcycles bad girls thrash them.

[killa]

With out all the spaz and jargon, make sure it has a good history and you should be fine.
The engine's are pretty irish so you wont be doing the maintanence on it yourself unless you really knwo what your doing.
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Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[killa]

[EuropeanNC30R...]

13mpg if it's got a hole in the tank, more like a realistic 25mpg. I had one for a year, got some photos in my gallery. They're really good fun, but TBH a decent sports 400 is a much better all-round bike.

[Laura]

13 mpg if you are going to thrash the nuts of it.

Not suitable really for town riding.

But it can be done.
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Good girls ride motorcycles bad girls thrash them.

[EuropeanNC30R...]

If it does 13mpg it has serious problems, walk away.

[Keen]

damn- 600 quid per barrel? that would cost more than the bike.... i don't know much about it, but thats because you had a serious problem? a normal rebuild would be alot less right? (I hope)

not too bothered about mpg, I'll be back at uni in sept so I'll just use it to go to town or for weekend rides, I go to a campus uni so its not like I have to commute like this year.

I was looking at a sports 400, a vfr or a zxr400 would be a great fun bike to own, but to me they seem over priced for what they are, decent ones cost about the same as a bandit 600 or even a cheap hornet or sv..

besides i like the idea of owning a 250 that will keep up with alot of the big bikes
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[Josh|RD125LC]

Have you ever considered the Kawasaki KR1-S or the Honda NSR250? These are brilliant 250 strokers, and not at all on the slow side. The KR1-S has a top end of 136mph! And the NSR is something around 123mph I think. The NSR is the better looking of the two, but the KR1-S has much better performance. Tatters on this forum has one, ask him.

As for the RGV, I think its the best looking 250, lovely machine and has a top end of around 125mph I think, with acceleration to kill! I think DanceLikeAMonkey has one. Just ask him. But I also love the RGV, was on the verge of buying one a while ago, but it was asking a little too much for the condition it was in.
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Honda MBX50 | Yamaha RD125LC | Suzuki RG125F Lucky Strike | Suzuki GSF600S
RD125LC Pictures

[G]

A 2 stroke sports bike will be longer in the long run.

It will be more fun for having fun; but less good at getting from A to B.

I wouldn't want one as an 'everyday' bike.


I would even consider getting a cheap one as a second bike; may end up cheaper as you use your economical 500cc bike for 'everyday' work.

[dotti]

Good bikes, but boy do the chew through the oil and gas. I used one for about a month, whilst my friend was overseas. It went through a litre of oil every 2 weeks (1000km) and didn't half burn gas.

Whilst it went pretty well, it was fairly comparable in performance the the GSX400X I was riding at the time, yet the GSX was much cheaper to use and was actually faster around town, as it had more of it's power lower down the rev band.
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[Frost]

[Shaun]

[Frost]

3/4 fucked
Only having 3 functional powervavles in it just killed off the top end power a bit limiting top speed, didnt effect fuel consumption at all.

[Josh|RD125LC]

EDIT: It was DaFrostyOne who has the RGV lol. I got him mixed up with Dancelikeamonkey
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Honda MBX50 | Yamaha RD125LC | Suzuki RG125F Lucky Strike | Suzuki GSF600S
RD125LC Pictures

[robboadd]

If you've got money to burn get this baby.
https://www.bikedirectbristol.co.uk/stock/608035/608035.html
I want it sooooo much!

[Visitor Q]

Funnily enough my mates dad brought his down yesterday and i had a fair few long plays on it.

Gets about 17mpg not counting 15 quids worth of two stroke every 4 or so tanks

Performance is somewhat lack lustre compared to bigger 4 strokes, but ill give it that, the handling is spot on.

Got about 110 on the flat, and launching it down my favourite 'speed gaining hill' ie fucking steep, i got about 120. But it didnt feel comfortable. Alot hairier then 150 odd on the cbr i can tell you.

Power delivery is abit too two strokey for my liking, and you really really really wouldnt want to commute on it in any towns, or try and give any one a pillion because the fucker would be on one wheel the whole time.

As for wheelies, slightly let down, it wasnt the beast i had hoped for. It would come up if you sat back in the seat, ragged up to about 10k, dropped off then whacked it full on again in first. But it didnt feel happy, or controlled, or fast... or even remotely impressive.
And clutching just werent happening.

True given a bit more time on it relearning two strokes id get more out of it, and it certainly was a very engaging ride... but personally a vfr 400 would give you pretty much everything the rgv gives you, but with better fuel consumption and economy.
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[Andy99]

[Keen]

yeah i have to agree, a nice vfr400 would be a better bike, but you cant get hold of a decent vfr for under a grand like an rgv... rgv's just seem like good value performance/price.

A sports 400 would be perfect... an rgv would be not quite as good but cheaper.

so, whats the best sports 400? (joke )
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"he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man"- Dr. Johnson

[EuropeanNC30R...]

My Dad recently bought an immaculate 89 model vfr400 nc30 with fairly low mileage for £1050.

When I was deciding whether to sell the RGV and get an NC30, I worked out the running costs of each. The RGV was slightly over double the cost to run than an NC30.

I was attracted to the initial cheapness of the RGV when I bought mine, but if you save a little longer and buy an NC30 it'll pay for itself many times over... especially when the RGV blows

[R4nger]