Instead of starting yet another “what kind of motorcycle do I want?” thread, I’ll just append to this one…
I’m seriously thinking of getting a bike, my first one in 15 years. I’m a geezer. I’m leaning towards a cruiser, maybe a sport-touring. Definitely not a crotch rocket, and not a full-dress touring bike.
I’d probably mostly do weekend backroad fun trips, occasionally to Reno for a weekend (250 miles each way).
Is a 900cc big enough? (I’m thinking Kawasaki Vulcan 900, or Suzuki M90…) Would I wind up wishing I’d gone up to 1200cc or so?
I’m a big guy – 5’11", 225 – if that’s significant.
I owned a Honda CM400E from 1981 when I purchased it to 1998 when I sold it, One of the longest trips was from Montgomery Alabama to Wichita Falls Texas and back this was a Straight shot out to school for the AFB, A friend of mine followed suite on a water cooled CX500. My Air Cooled machine did just fine and I did an oil change in Texas before the return trip. Other long hauls I made on that machine were from Grand Forks ND to Sturgis SD even taking in Mt Rushmore during that trip. That 400 always left my hands numb after hours of cranking High RPM’s but it never let me down nor vapor locked on me. When it had 25K miles on it I got the top end off a Honda 450 and installed the pistons and jugs and Never touched the bottom end. When I sold that machine it had around 55K miles on it. Hardly ever did it use oil and was such a small amount I hardly noticed it. I went through 4 chains before I figured out a Diamond Roller was a damned good Chain to have on a bike. I changed Sprockets a few times once cause I over tightened things. a pile of tires and lots of fuel but I would have driven that bike from Maine to Southern California a dozen times and never thought twice about it.
Check out Honda VFR800. They meet that criteria and then some. Smooth, and more than enough power. And beautiful to boot. They’ve been called “the gentleman’s sports tourer.”
In terms of the 250, I’ll have to check the finishers list later, but I know that people have completed the IronButt on a Ninja 250. That’s about 11,000 miles in the course of 11 days.
I’ve got the same bike. same year and everything. I’ve only gone about 100 miles as the longest ride, but I can’t see it being any less comfortable for longer rides. you’d have to stop for gas every 150 miles or so anyway, so there’ll be times here and there to get up and stretch your legs.
Of course you can make a 600+ mile trip on a 250. As others have stated in this thread, many have done it. The question is do you want to. For me, the answer to that question is a resounding ‘no’. 250s are generally small with little to no farings and don’t have the power or comfort of a larger bike. The longest trip I’ve taken on a 250 was approximately 120 miles round-trip, which was enough to let me know that (a) I would never ride that distance on a 250 again, and (b) I need a new bike.
I never did make the trip to St Louis on the Yamaha 250, although I’m trying to find the time to squeeze in a trip sometime this summer on my latest bike which is Kawasaki Vulcan 900 LT.
My first bike was a 1983 Yamaha XS650SK Heritage Special. With its 3.1 gallon tank I could go 100-125 miles before needing a refill. 150 miles to empty, it got 50 mpg.
One weekend in the 1980s I rode it from San Francisco to Los Angeles for a weekend. 425 miles one way. It was my first long distance ride and it went okay. So from that, a couple of years later I went on my second LD ride, from SF to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. 1,500 miles one way. That was painful, and having to get gas so frequently was a pain. I stopped for the first night in Barstow (I got a late start), and then didn’t stop after that, I rode through the night the next day.
The 650 Special with stock seat is not very comfortable. I was one hurtin’ mother! And that was when I was in my late 20s, young, strong and in shape.
I loaded up a Yammie TW200 once with camping and prospecting gear and rode it down the interstate to a place in the desert that was altogether about 400 miles there and back.
The main thing is to make sure that she’s got good clean quality oil along with a clean filter and the like and, too, maybe give her a sip of Seafoam to keep the jets nice and clean. Also, don’t run her wide-open for a long period of time as that would be hard on her, ease back and ease up along the way.
You should have no problem at all with the machine being able to handle those amount of miles. Above all – stay out of the blind spots!
Cold, November 1969 - fresh out of the Navy and heading for San Francisco from Oak Harbor, WA on my Yamaha DT-1 dirt bike (250 cc and 21 ragin’ horsepower). 900 miles later I could better appreciate why Harley’s w/ windshields seemed to be more well suited for highway cruising. A character-building experience, I guess … but then I had to ride back again. :smack:
Yeah, all 250’s are very much not created equal. I have a Ninja 250 and do long trips on it all the time. The only real issue I have with it is I can’t really load it up with gear, but if I’m not camping I’d much rather take the Ninjette than my allegedly more long trip worthy 650 adventure bike. It’s a little unnerving to be cruising at 10,000+ RPM for hours on end, but it doesn’t seem to cause any issues.
I think part of what’s going on is that the 250 sportbikes like the Ninjette or the CBR250 are very much designed to be daily riders in the many parts of the world where they’re considered to be a reasonable size for a commuter or touring bike. The 250 cruisers like the Rebel or the Vstar, on the other hand, are purpose-made trainer bikes and really aren’t designed with normal use in mind.
I’ve never owned a 250, but my first bike, decades ago, was a Kawasaki KZ440. That was a great bike. I rode the heck out of it. Lots of long, multi-day rides. I rode it from NYC down to the Skyline Drive, then the whole Blue Ridge Parkway, carrying camping gear.
Onomatopoeia points out that smaller bikes generally don’t have fairings, and he’s right. But I did fine with a handlebar-mounted windscreen. I actually don’t like fairings all that much – too much stuff to take off to work on the bike, and too much paint and plastic to worry about.
The bike should be fine, your butt may not be. Does it have a comfortable seat? Also plan for stuff like rain, when it’s raining it gets pretty damn cold on a motorcycle at highway speeds.