Motor Bikes around Melbourne

[Calais Clint]

Hey all just a Quick one to see if ne one has some advice for a person who wants to by a bike. Cos ill only be a learner itll be a 250cc road bike, Does ne one have something for sale or where is a good place to look for a decent second hand bike?.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Clint

[amckiwi]

Do u need info on personal injury inurance 2?

You have bigger balls than me mate

[Dacious]

Strongly recommend you do a rider Training Course - lots of suppliers, depending where you are. HART at Tulla or there's mobs in Moorabbin and out Ringwood way.

The thing to always remember when riding a bike: in a car if you have a bingle you and the other driver get out and argue about who's at fault. If you touch anything on a bike (and sometimes when you don't) you will be the one lying on the road bleeding regardless or who's at fault. No good being in the right if you're also in Casualty.

So be prepared to give way in any and all circumstances; whenever something potentially could cross your path from a tricycle to a B-double cover your brake and back off. Just don't 'look' like you're going to, to avoid being intimidated. If someone wants your bit of road, give it to them and stay alive.

And ferchrissakes don't split lanes in front of quickish cars and then putter along slower than they're going - nothing induces people to pe Taylorform dangerous manoeuvres more than that. Then you split back to the front, they dive all around you causing more risk ad infinitum.

Secondhand bikes? Take someone with you who knows bikes is the best advice, and small 4-stroke singles or twins are a better bet for a learner than 4s or two-strokes.

Mick Hone Motorcycles in Box Hill are good at customer service. Staffords in Heidelberg are pretty fair. Brighton Kawa is not bad, either. Taylors in Dandy. Race Replica in Northcote-ish.

[Nawdy]

Agree 100% with everything Dacious has said, and one other thing rider training teaches you - the right attitude. It's a combination of attitude and skills (with commonsense thrown in) that will help keep you safe.

And don't skimp on your riding gear either - it's not very nice when your skin rubs on the tarmac. And it hurts for a fair while afterwards too.

I would recommend you go to a well known bike dealer rather than a grey importer as well - some dealers are there just to make the $$$$, and see 1st time 250 buyers as easy targets.

And don't listen to the crap about "Temporary Australian" and the like - most of it comes from self-appointed experts who wouldn't know what side the clutch lever is on..... motorcycling is a whole lot of fun, and comes with it's own set of challenges. I also believe it helps make you a better car driver as well.

Good luck with it!

[NinetySix]

i would have a look in the trading post... if your mechanically minded then you shouldnt have too much trouble working out if the bike is in good nick or not

heres a little buyers checklist:

http://www.ksrc-au.com/html/bike_inspection.html


are you set on what kinda bike you wanna get? motard's are nice :yup: the parallel twins/v-twins aint bad... the I4's are over rated if you ask me, and they all sound terrible.

would be nice if they brought out LAMS here in vic, as the 260cc limit is a bit silly... you can ride a ~70hp aprilia RS250 but cant ride a ~30hp 600cc dirt bike

of course its only a $110 fine with no points or loss of license for riding anything over 260cc... no TAC or insurance either tho :shiner:

[Calais Clint]

thanks guys for all the advice im doing a rider training course through deca as i know a huy through work that works there. Im looking for a kawa zzr250 or honda cbr250r and ill be buying all the good gear. kevlar is harder than skin lol

[Smitty]

i would have a look in the trading post... if your mechanically minded then you shouldnt have too much trouble working out if the bike is in good nick or not

heres a little buyers checklist:

http://www.ksrc-au.com/html/bike_inspection.html


are you set on what kinda bike you wanna get? motard's are nice :yup: the parallel twins/v-twins aint bad... the I4's are over rated if you ask me, and they all sound terrible.

would be nice if they brought out LAMS here in vic, as the 260cc limit is a bit silly... you can ride a ~70hp aprilia RS250 but cant ride a ~30hp 600cc dirt bike

of course its only a $110 fine with no points or loss of license for riding anything over 260cc... no TAC or insurance either tho :shiner:


hey hey ...cool
good advice there...and from Dacious
the blokes in Moorabbin are called ..Motorcycle Motion
good school

btw
I forgot I wrote that buyers guide for my Kwaka mates
its been up on the 'net for a cupla years now:headbang:
thanks NinetySix
there is also a helmet buying guide I wrote too....
http://www.ksrc-au.com/html/buying_a_helmet.html


cheers

[Vulture]

thanks guys for all the advice im doing a rider training course through deca as i know a huy through work that works there. Im looking for a kawa zzr250 or honda cbr250r and ill be buying all the good gear. kevlar is harder than skin lol

Go with the ZZR, much nicer riding position for a learner and a twin to boot.

[jevees]

I agree with Vulture that the ZZ-R 250 would be the better bike for a learner. They are a nice bike. How much did you want to spend? And what year bike you looking at? Well good luck with your search.

[vzmonaro34]

after working in the motor cycle ind for many years i surggest the zzr 250
they r much more learner frendly and the bike is inported in to aus buy the factory where cbr250r is not they r private inports and the insurance will be much higher and the parts will alos cost lost more all the grey imports (bikes not imported in to aus buy manufacture) get resprayed in aus so u dont know what it loooked like before that.
just be carefull with the zzr they have a noise big end form factory so very hard to pic up if the one your looking at is ok

[Dacious]

Both the ZZR250 'L'il' Ninja and the 'Baby'Blade have been brought in as grey imports and officially imported by Honda and Kwaka Oz. A giveaway is the greys have the light in the speedo at 90km/h. I think Oz only got a single-disc version of the ZZR, too. The CBR250 with single colour is the official version IIRC.

All the small fours have little or no power below about 5,000 rpm, and need the bejesus revved out of them, which is tiring and means downshifting on hills or into headwinds. The little ZZR has been around since the 80's and looked after is a solid, goodlooking little unit that actually goes pretty well in the midrange, with enough power up top for the freeways, hills and overtaking. You should be able to beat just about any car to 80 km/h with practice and they top out at about 160-170. Plus av. economy should be ~ 60mpg or 22km/litre. Honda's 250 Spada is also a good unit. There's also 'baby' Harleys from Yam, Honda and Suzi and the little V-twin Yamaha is available both as a wannabe Harley and Euro-style sport twin.

Oil is critical in these small bikes, the same oil lubes the engine and gearbox. Bike gearclusters are constant mesh, meaning all the gears are turning all the time whenever the bike is moving. Bikes often have roller big-ends, mains and little ends meaning low-pressure oiling systems so good oil is important. Gearsets destroy the long chain polymers, meaning they lose their viscosity and become a low-weight monograde in time. 3,000km for a couple of litres of oil in a hard-revving 250 is more than enough. Some traillies only carry a litre or so.

As a small motor is always working hard, use good fuel and steer clear of anything with ethanol in it. Bike use mostly vacuum-feed carbs and anything that swells fuel lines or seals and blocks air vents resulting in lean running is not worth risking.

[VX SS S2]

ZZR250's are a little slow... my friends Nissan Pulsar can beat it...

Go the CBR250RR (Australian Delivered), you pay a bit more, but they hold their value better than any other and you will sell it easy provided it is in good condition...

Nothing sounds like a CBR engine at 18,000rpm :)

[NinetySix]

i absolutely hate the sound of a CBR250 at any revs to be honest, and i owned one. such a buzzy whine yet still not going anywhere... and with a pipe they can be quite deep at idle, but are always offencively loud at full noise...

the I4's do have a slight advantage in top end power over the twins... but all 250cc bikes hold value very well in vic, and are very easy to sell

there really isnt much between all of the sports/semi-sports 250's, and a lot of it comes down to rider skill and condition of the bike... there are plenty of 250's out there that have not been looked after and dont go as well as they should, so theres plenty of 16 second cars out there with a few 250cc scalps to display :)

a healthy CBR250 or ZXR250 is capable of a low 14, even a high 13 ... but that takes a lot of skill and a very healthy bike.... to 100 should be in the 5 second bracket, tho they do die off after 100.... usually limited at 180kph if its a grey import, but dont really have the grunt to go any faster


as for fuel, use good fuel but dont use premium of any variety... will foul the plugs and make it impossible to start on cold mornings, and will generally lose performance due to it running rich. the gains from rejetting to suit 95 or 98 octane are simply non existant

[vzmonaro34]

the zzr is imported in to aus by kaw but the zxr250 is a grey import

[vzmonaro34]

the zzr is imported in to aus by kaw but the zxr250 is a grey import
not sure about the cbr250 i didnt think ere imported by honda

[Calais Clint]

Ive made the decision to buy a ZZR-250 and it will probly be from Sumoto in melbourne, they get the bikes and re-comply them to latest specs and sell for a reasonable price. just a matter of getting my finances in order and getting my license.

[NinetySix]

honda did sell cbr250's here locally for a while, didnt sell real well when they cost nearly as much as a 600 with more than double the HP tho

ZZR's come as both grey imports and kawa aus delivered

the ZXR250s (aka "ZX2R") are mostly grey imports but peter stevens used to import them from japan brand new with 0km on the clock (genuine) and sold them with warranty till they stopped making them about 2-3 years ago... tho the bikes hadnt changed at all since about 1996, and even then not much

[NinetySix]

Ive made the decision to buy a ZZR-250 and it will probly be from Sumoto in melbourne, they get the bikes and re-comply them to latest specs and sell for a reasonable price. just a matter of getting my finances in order and getting my license.


NO!!!!!!!!!!!! that is the worst mistake you could ever make, i dont wanna defame them too much but beleive me you do not wanna buy a bike from them, if you go to any bike forum you will find horror story after horror story about people who have bought bikes from them, even worse the people interstate who bought them with free shipping and then had to pay to send the bike back to melbourne to fix it up, only to do jack schitt to it!!!

here is a link to such a horror story, you dont have to sign up to view it:

http://www.cr-x.org/cbr250/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10375

take it from me... ive experience it, my mrs got her first bike there, her story is in the link above and its a shocker :cussing:


they have threatened legal action to a few of the forums AFAIK, but lucky cr-x.org is hosted in ireland so they couldnt do squat :whip:

[Smitty]

Ive made the decision to buy a ZZR-250 and it will probly be from Sumoto in melbourne, they get the bikes and re-comply them to latest specs and sell for a reasonable price. just a matter of getting my finances in order and getting my license.

please don't

go buy a 'proper' Oz spec ZZR from a Kwaka dealer
..any dealer or even private!
but not them. Their rep is 'orrible, a lot of the bikes
dodgo. Go talk to the guys at Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders here in Oz
..and see what they think www.ksrc-au.com have a look
at their site and then go to the forum

cheers

[tigermica]

dont spend 2 much on ur 1st 250....after a year (or sooner) YOU WILL get rid of it for a bigger toy...and u probably will drop/crash the 250 anyway...

[Calais Clint]

thatnks ninetysix, i actually found a bike at Cranbourne motorcyclesfor a good price, am getting a mate to look at it on saturday and all being good i will buy it. I have also booked my test for 23 of this month. thanks to everyone who has posted with advice i will take it all on board and it should help me to become a safe experienced rider.

[Smitty]

thatnks ninetysix, i actually found a bike at Cranbourne motorcyclesfor a good price, am getting a mate to look at it on saturday and all being good i will buy it. I have also booked my test for 23 of this month. thanks to everyone who has posted with advice i will take it all on board and it should help me to become a safe experienced rider.

this sounds better......
good luck with the bike and licence:cool:

[Calais Clint]

Thanks Mate Turns Out The Bike Is A 2000 Build And The Guy Quoted Too Little So Im Getting A Ripper Deal.

[NinetySix]

how much?


10 char

[Calais Clint]

im paying $3800 ride away