Small cc cruisers? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Small cc cruisers?

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PrivatePilot said:
IMHO, living in a city the size of Toronto you're painting yourself into a corner buying a bike that isn't even going to be safe/suitable for even the faster urban roads...like the DVP or the Gardiner.

No shortage of motorcycle owners out there who said "I'll never ride on any fast roads", until one day they wanted/needed to.



No question there's a size difference between something like a Grom and a 650 class cruiser, but the latter are still surprisingly small. The handlebars/mirrors on any bike are going to be the widest point, but with all the extra stuff that increases width down low (IE saddlebags and crash bars) they are pretty svelte. I just went out to the garage and measured my wifes Vstar for example and it's only "18" wide at the back end (exhaust included) and something like 24" at the front (signal light to signal light) and 30" handlebar to handlebar. At bumper height (IE, parked in front of a car up against a wall) 24" will do the job I'd think.

Yeah, it's going to be longer than a Grom, but on a purely width consideration I'm not sure the grom is going to come in much less than those dimensions.

I'm not trying to sell my bike here, I'm just commenting on the realities. Any 650 class cruiser (The rebel, marauder, Vstar) all share very similar performance and size measurements.
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Bikes can't be parked in a space that measures equal to their basic width though. did you measure from end of right pegs, to end of sidestand?

For the OP, I really must say, I've ridden a small cruiser, Kawi eliminator 125 to be precise. Fun little bike for tooling around the parking lot for my MSC, however I wouldn't take it out of the parking lot. Even for just tooling about town, 500 would be bottom tolerance for a cruiser I'd say. I wouldn't even consider my 750 to be a great highway bike, but it's awesome around town and on 80km backroads. If you want a cheap low cc bike for about town, that fits into a tight space, look to small sports or groms.
 
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For urban/city use you just can't beat a 250 dual sport. Suspension that eats the potholes, the height to see OVER traffic, light and slim they also fit your parking limitations. They survive tip overs easily and they aren't as likely to be stolen.
The most fun I've ever had on a bike was on a 250 enduro in my teens. There just isn't much fun on a 250 cruiser for an experienced rider imo, I think it'll get old pretty fast.

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Iceman said:
For urban/city use you just can't beat a 250 dual sport. Suspension that eats the potholes, the height to see OVER traffic, light and slim they also fit your parking limitations. They survive tip overs easily and they aren't as likely to be stolen.
The most fun I've ever had on a bike was on a 250 enduro in my teens. There just isn't much fun on a 250 cruiser for an experienced rider imo, I think it'll get old pretty fast.

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^^ Something for the OP to consider as well
 
Iceman said:
For urban/city use you just can't beat a 250 dual sport. Suspension that eats the potholes, the height to see OVER traffic, light and slim they also fit your parking limitations. They survive tip overs easily and they aren't as likely to be stolen.
The most fun I've ever had on a bike was on a 250 enduro in my teens. There just isn't much fun on a 250 cruiser for an experienced rider imo, I think it'll get old pretty fast.

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Any recommendations at all? I’m not familiar with the segment at all.
 
mimico_polak said:
Any recommendations at all? I’m not familiar with the segment at all.
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since your budget is limited, an XT250? or perhaps a tw200? Look for older 250 dual sports. Long as its got lights and mirrors it should be street legal

maybe an older klx250?
 
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For aound 3000ish there are lots of good options.


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There's also the Honda crf250l but it's newer and the yamaha wr250r both will be more expensive (4500-6500) used. Any of the above bikes are cheap to maintain, fun to ride and last forever. Also they sell for what you paid so you rarely lose any money on the ownership costs and they sell fast.

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I have an older Shadow 600 which has been parked at the cottage forever, its great for tooling around, was very fun to scoot to town. If I had never been exposed to 1000cc+ tourers I would still love it. But when I'm on a paved road that calls for over 80kms I keep looking for another gear. If i didn't already own it , I would never buy it.

Almost any of Icemans recommendations would be a great and possible better choice in the long run. a KLX in the 3k range would be fun/affordable/handy and five yrs from now you probably get most of the 3k back when you sell.
 
Always amazed on how a mere $1,000 difference in price could possibly make or break a purchase decision on a motorcycle. The bigger question is if you are going to quibble over this, what are you going to do when you need to pay the insurance which is ridiculous. When you factor in that you can ride it only for a whole 6 months a year (therefore really double the proportional cost of insurance on a car and which you can use year round in Canada), then motorcyling becomes more of a luxury than a necessity.
 
I rode a Virago 250 (XV250) tons of miles, they handle highways just fine, not great on freeways (400 series hwys). If you're riding is in the city or on 80KM highways and you're content with 125KMH top end - they are fantastic. I bought one that was used to 5 years as a trainer at Humber's riding school. When I bought it the speedo and all lights were in still new in a box, so I don't know the mileage. The bike needed brake pads ($30) for a safety and I rode her another 20K+ with nothing but a chain ($30), sprocket ($17) and a front tire ($60). I met other XV250 riders that had ridden 80K plus without major work on their bikes. Mine got 3.2l/100km - on a trip along Hwy 7 from Markham to Ottawa I went 300km on 9 liters of fuel.

There is a huge difference between an XV250 and a middleweight cruiser. An VSTAR 650 weighs 70% more than a 250 -- that's a big difference in tight confines. The 250s can run slow in city traffic all day without making much heat - makes them comfortable in the city.

The Vtwin Virago also makes a lot about 17lbs of torque, vs 14lbs for the parallel twin Honda & Suzuki. It's small but noticeable on such a small displacement bike.
 
Agreed. I rode a TW200 for a long time in the city (a dirt bike that thought it's daddy was a cruiser). Any dualsport will be great in city traffic -- the upside is a little fun in the dirt is possible. Their down side is highways -- you can ride a Virago to Bancroft and back comfortably on 80KMH highways, not so much for the dual sports.
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