Because they like smaller bikes…
Here are a couple pages of talk on the new CBR250; first one has a comparo to the Ninja 250 from Motorcycle USA:
forums.ninja250.org/viewtopic.ph … f56#823878
forums.ninja250.org/viewtopic.ph … b2e14f8f56
250s are great learner bikes. 600s are hazardous as a learner bike… you have to hold on when they get on the cam.
Why would any beginner rider buy a 600cc or 1000cc in the States? I don’t understand it. IMO there really should be a law that a rider with only minimal experience shouldn’t be able to buy anything above a 400cc.
I have ridden for a long time, but I think it would be sweet to have a CBR 250 for around town, close to home.
I’m sure any kid who bought one would get harassed by guys with bigger bikes. That sucks, because it would be a great beginner bike.
In the Europe you can ride on L plates on a 14hp bike, when you do your test you’re limited to 33hp for 2 years. That means the soonest you can get on a big bike is 19 with two years’ experience. If you’re over 21 and have held a car licence for over two years you can get a big bike licence after taking a “direct access” course, doing the test on a 46hp bike and then ride anything.
A lot of people who ride think it’s a good idea, a lot of people who want to get into riding think it’s shit. I think it is a good idea, but I also think it could be made a lot more attractive if some more bike companies started to see small bikes as the end, not the means to the end. What I mean is, all the small bikes with the exception of the Aprilia RS125 are shitty looking, low spec pieces of shit. It’s worse now that they’re killing two strokes. I’m sure if someone put a good spec, 250cc 4T bike together in the style of the now Moto3 bikes with a single cylinder MX derived engine and made it look pimp a lot of people would get on it.
The Yammy R125 is great, but it’s a 125cc four stroke. No one who could get a bigger bike in the near future would invest in that. Take it up to 180cc and it will still stuggle to make 20hp.
Now with the 100mph = instant ban rule, high insurance costs and ridiculous fuel price (over $50NTD a litre now in the UK), I think 250s make a lot of sense. If I went back there I’d first look for an RS250, if I couldn’t find a good one at a reasonable price I’d consider a Yammy WR250X motard or an Aprilia SXV450 motard.
Big sports bikes don’t get going until you’re doing 100mph, which means death in Taiwan or prison in Europe. There’s no point in them now if you ask me!
Paddy B, just get the Ninja 250 and enjoy the ride!
Nice post, jaame 
I hadn’t heard about the 100 mph rule. Not that I ever go that fast, but it seems a little overboard.
[quote=“jaame”]In the Europe you can ride on L plates on a 14hp bike, when you do your test you’re limited to 33hp for 2 years. That means the soonest you can get on a big bike is 19 with two years’ experience. If you’re over 21 and have held a car licence for over two years you can get a big bike licence after taking a “direct access” course, doing the test on a 46hp bike and then ride anything.
A lot of people who ride think it’s a good idea, a lot of people who want to get into riding think it’s shit. I think it is a good idea, but I also think it could be made a lot more attractive if some more bike companies started to see small bikes as the end, not the means to the end. What I mean is, all the small bikes with the exception of the Aprilia RS125 are shitty looking, low spec pieces of shit. It’s worse now that they’re killing two strokes. I’m sure if someone put a good spec, 250cc 4T bike together in the style of the now Moto3 bikes with a single cylinder MX derived engine and made it look pimp a lot of people would get on it.
The Yammy R125 is great, but it’s a 125cc four stroke. No one who could get a bigger bike in the near future would invest in that. Take it up to 180cc and it will still stuggle to make 20hp.
Now with the 100mph = instant ban rule, high insurance costs and ridiculous fuel price (over $50NTD a litre now in the UK), I think 250s make a lot of sense. If I went back there I’d first look for an RS250, if I couldn’t find a good one at a reasonable price I’d consider a Yammy WR250X motard or an Aprilia SXV450 motard.
Big sports bikes don’t get going until you’re doing 100mph, which means death in Taiwan or prison in Europe. There’s no point in them now if you ask me!
Paddy B, just get the Ninja 250 and enjoy the ride![/quote]
OK OK I agree with you all that 250’s are good beginner bikes. I wasn’t really thinking of that. Just not something I would consider appealing when I think of the distances and mountains of the western United States.
But they are especially appealing in Taiwan due to the regulations. Which is why I may end up getting one even though CB-400’s can apparently be had on the cheap. I couldnt even be bothered to get my basic license until I was already riding here for two years so the process of getting a 251-549 seems like something I wouldnt bother with.
A Ninja though? Great bikes no doubt but not pleasing to me either aesthetically or riding position wise. I’d go for a CB or TU first.
I think a V-Strom or F650 is what I’d like to get eventually. In Taiwan a 250 or 400 would be plenty but those expressways can get you in and out of good riding areas quickly and are great for getting across and/or avoiding Taipei and its suburbs (no reason to ever drive IN Taipei as far as I’m concerned).
Sorry my post was a little misleading re:the 100mph ban rule. If you are caught in the UK at over 100mph you face instant disqualification. There are varyine levels of disqualification depending on the circumstances (speed, conditions etc). You could be eligible to reapply for provisional licence, then retake your test immediately or the ban period could be longer. To get a jail term you have to be caught going more than 100mph. I seem to recall news articles about people being caught at 140+, 172 and 160-ish. A few years ago there was a case of a guy getting caught on a Fireblade at 166mph and MCN tested it and found it was only capable of 159 or something. Anyway it’s by the by, I just want to clear up that if you are caught at only 100, 110, 120, you probably won’t go to jail.
Re: Ninja 250. It is a street bike with a sports bike fairing. Take a look at one or go and sit on one. It has very high bars, quite short reach and very low pegs. If you go to a Kwak showroom and do back to back sitting tests on some Ninja 6 or 10s, and Z750s or 1000s, you’ll find the riding position of the 250 more closely matches those of the Zed street bikes. There are a lot of crappy things about the Ninja 250s too though and you say you don’t like the look of it. Well, for me what it looks like is as important as what it goes like and I’d never buy a bike I didn’t like the look of.
You make a good point about expressways too… I’d forgotten about that. From my house to the mountains is about an hour if it’s after 8am and all the traffic lights are working in sequence. On the expyway it would be about 20-30 mins regardless of time of day I reckon so you’ve got a good point there.
I used to have a Ninja 600. I got it because it was much cheaper than the Aprilia RS250 that I actually wanted. If I had the choice of getting a 4T 250cc high spec bike I would have jumped at it. I think it would be a great way to learn to ride fast (as in proper fast).
[quote]
Get down to 7eleven and pick up a copy of “Bike catalogue 2011”. It’s just hit the shops, it has full colour photos of just about every bike under the sun. [/quote]
Check out p.447.
What’s with the specifications of the Wolf Legend (yelang chuanqi) 125 EFI?
Are SYM really bringng out a 250 cc version of this bike?
Or has there been some sort of editorial error?
Doesn’t seem right to me.
The catalogue I’m refering to is actually called “Riders’ Stylemook: Motorcycle and Scooter 2011”, not “Bike catalogue 2011” which sounds like it is a different publication.
I picked it up at Family Mart yesterday.