The 250cc vs 500cc first bike comparison!

[conure]

A friend of mine is planning to take her bike test this summer, I have advised her that a good first bike would be a 500cc twin, due to not having a huge amount of money. Another friend, who to be honest does not know anything about bikes has advised her to get a 250cc bike, I know if she gets the 250cc she will end up unhappy as it will be for motorway use, and the only real 250cc bikes that arent high revving 2 strokes seem to be the ollld 250cc CB's, and the new CBF's.

Anyway, I'll try to get him to sign up in a bit to argue his case, but until then please give me some info on which would be a better first bike post test, and why.

Thanks very much.

[Rob W]

If the guy knows nothing about bikes, why is she even listening to him?

A 500 twin would be a LOT better than a 250 for motorway miles. They're cheap to buy, cheap to run and cheap to insure. As a first 'big' bike they're nigh on perfect IMO.
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[0ddball]

Your advice is on the ball. Both are around the same power but deliver it in very different ways.

A good 500 twin is very reliable and cheap to run and will go for an easy 50000miles at least with nothing but routine servicing and a couple of valve clearance checks. Will be fine on the motorway at legal speeds (acceleration is slow after 100mph).

The 250 2T's will require fairly frequent top end rebuilds. (perhaps once a year if it does a lot of miles). Take a bit more effort to maintain (and the extra cost of the 2T oil). And they aren't really suited to sitting at constant high speed on the motorway and their is a risk of seizure. On a plus side they are generally more fun to ride than the 500 twin.

[minesweeper]

Get the 500 or a 400 like a cb1 or something damn cheap and nigh on indestructable.

Matt

[conure]

again, thanks very much for the advice you have given, it's been very useful.

[fredsredhat]

as was said the 500's is the way to go. with a 250 she'll be at the top end of its speed range at motorway cruising speeds, with a 500 she'll have that little bit of "point and squirt" left, great if your halfway overtaking a car and decides he wants the same bit of road as you do. the main choices would be Honda cb500, suzuki gs500 and the kawasaki er-5. the honda is probably the better bike but its really down to how much she wants to spend and what's around at the time. Nick.

[The Tot]

250 inline 4's are highly strung (ZXR250's & CBR250s), need a bit of attention, albeit less than 2-strokes, so as long as you keep giving it regular oil changes and service it, it'll be fine. Performancewise on par with parallel twin 500's. It does about 110mph on the flat chasing the redline. I managed to keep up with Smoto's GS on acceleration - 2 of the guys from the uni bike club have GS's and it's evenly matched. They're quite a fun bike according to them!

I've frequently used my bike on the motorway and i would believe it would need an "economy gear" as riding along at 90mph means i'm revving at 13,500rpm. I wouldn't say it's a motorway bike as it's more comfortable on the smaller A roads where slower speeds are more appropriate.

Your friend should get a GS500 or CB500 as they're very good workhorses, although the honda will need relatively less looking at - solid. If you can also find a CB1/NC27 with the gullarm engine, they're solid too.
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[colin1]

for motorway use, id say its more important to have a decent fairing and get some ear plugs for the wind noise

you dont really need much power on the motorway

parallel twin 500's are geared for in town, so they can be a bit vibey at higher speeds

if you are persuading her to get a 500 rather than a 250, you might as well persuade her to get a cheap 600 like a bandit as that will be a lot smoother on the motorway as its got a 4 cylinder engine.
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[damnas]

Yeh, my intructor also suggested a 600, like a bandit for motorway use.

Can get hold of some for 1.5k apparently?
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[colin1]

ebay has loads of them

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUZUKI-GSF600-GSF-600-BANDIT_W0QQitemZ4631083858QQcategoryZ9808QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

you could get a thundercat for £1500
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