Quote:
Originally Posted by Jmr85
i'm new here and am still yet to buy my first bike which i'm hoping will be a CBR250r (unsure if i'll be able to get a loan). but looking at the lists of bikes some of you guys are putting up is quite extensive and i see a few powerful bikes in there. have you guys resorted back to the little 250 because you're over the "need for speed" stage?? or is it really just a great bike and needs to be owned??
Joel
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The big question is: what does your ego want and what do you really need? Most people hear what their ego says.
So maybe I start with arguments when you shouldn’t buy a CBR250R: if you are a high speed freak or an acceleration junkie then it is better to choose another motorcycle. If you want to compete with others on a racetrack or misuse public roads as a racetrack, then buy another bike.
When could be the CBR250R the proper bike for you? If you want an economic, easy to handle motorcycle which makes a lot of fun to ride the CBR250R can be the right bike for you. It is fast enough for the use on public roads, the high speed is too fast to drive the motorcycle legally on roads in most countries in the world, and the acceleration 0-100 km/h or 0-60 mph of the CBR250R is better than those of most cars, so you don’t have to worry about being to slow in the normal traffic.
To reduce a motorcycle on the size of the engine, the numbers of power or torque and think the more the better is definitely WRONG! This shows the incompetence of people about motorcycles. The same phenomena you see when absolutely inexperienced people try to categorize or judge a motorcycle, some look first at the speedometer and think: the more it shows the better the bike is. How wrong this impression can be!
I also thought about buying the NC700S, in the summer I will test the bike and then decide, but by now I think I will keep the CBR250R, this motorcycle has too much advantages not to ride it.
Below I made a list of advantages and disadvantages between the two motorcycles:
I write about the NC700S and the NC700X.
Advantages of a NC700 compared to a CBR250R:
- More power and torque
- Boot in the place where usually the reservoir is
Disadvantages of a NC700 compared to a CBR250R:
- more expensive then the CBR250R, but still a very cheap bike compared to other bikes with about 600 cc
- you pay more tax, in Germany the tax payment depends on the size of the engine, the bigger the engine, the more you pay
- you pay more insurance, in Germany the payment for the insurance depends on the power of the motorcycle, the more kW a bicycle has, the more you pay for it
- the NC700 is a very economic bike compared to others, but it needs about half a liter more on 100 km then the CBR250R does
- The reservoir is under the back seat; many people who travel have their luggage mounted on the back seat, me too. And it must be really annoying to unmount and again mount your luggage every time you want to fill up. On a longer trip you will have to do it 2 to 4 times a day, depends on how far you drive.
- the intervals of adjusting the valve clearance: on the CBR250R you have to do it every 24.000 km on the NC700 every 12.000 km, so you have to do it twice as common as on the cbr250r, or you go to a garage and pay after 24.000 km twice as much for the NC700 as for the CBR250R. (But: the valve clearance on a NC700 is adjusted by screws, on a CBR250R by shims. It is a little bit easier to do it with screws and you don't have to interrupt your work and buy other shims to replace the old ones, if some shims have to be changed.)
- Wind protection: the wind protection on the NC700X is not so good a on the CBR250R, the NC700S has almost no wind protection, the small windscreen protects only the dashboard. Driving on longer trips can be uncomfortable without wind protection. (But there is also a small advantage on the NC700 according the wind protection: if you want do work on your bike it is sometimes easier and faster, because you don’t have to put off all the fairings.) You can buy a bigger windscreen for a NC700, which will protect the upper part of your body.
- the boot, the place where the reservoir generally is, is made from plastic, so you can’t mount a magnet tank rucksack on it. Of course you can use the place inside the boot, this will be about 25 liters, but in a big tank rucksack you get about 40 liters. If you don’t take a magnet tank rucksack and choose one with belts you can have the same as I described with the luggage on the back seat. It is annoying to mount and unmount this belts, when you want to open the boot. At least you will have to mount an unmount this belt when you start and when you finish your daily trip, if you don’t want the tank rucksack to be stolen or damaged while parking it in a public place.
- the weight: the NC700 weights about 215 kg, the CBR250R 165 kg, you won’t recognize this difference while driving, but if you have to push the bike, for example while parking, it definitely makes a difference. The V-Strom 650 has almost the same weight as the NC700 and I am really glad to push the ca. 50 kg less. It is not so important if your are a hobby rider and use the bike occasionally, but when you use it ever day, especially a lot in town it is definitely better to have a light motorcycle.
In the summer I will test the NC700S, let’s see how it feels to ride the motorcycle. But as I wrote before, I suppose the CBR250R will be the better choice for me.
So I wish you to find the right choice for you.
Whatever motorcycle you will use,
Drive safe!
