I've been looking around for a 250-500 moto that looks cool...  Just to look.

Why aren't there any?  Where have all the small naked standards gone?  Something that gets kick-ass MPG and looks cool...

I don't like plastic...  I don't like cruisers...  What happened to the '68 CB450 damn it?!  Why can't Triumph make a small Bonneville or Speed Triple?

I guess it's a good thing I have a bike that I like already...

250 Ninja Streetfighter!

Out of the box, the '05 250 Ninja is super-ugo.



Even in yellow it looks bad...

I guess I'd have to see it without all the plastic. :dunno:

'74-'78 Kawasaki KZ400 (the two-cylinder, not the four)
Any Yamaha RD (350 or 400, or the old R5)
'70's CB350 (two or four-cyl), or CB400's (harder to find I-fours)
Kawasaki had a KZ200 (I had hoped it was a 250) single cylinder that was really neat to look at.
An '82 Suzuki GS250L, like one I used to have in Florida, could be flatbarred and made into a neat little air-cooled, two-cylinder cafe-racer.

Yeah...  I like old bikes.  60's through early 80's Japanese bikes are SWEET!


I was just wondering where they went...  And why they went away...  Give me back my toaster tank, light bike, and small displacement!!!

Small displacement is out for imports to the US because of the exchange rate, I hear.  It isn't worth it for them to bring 'em over.  You have to go to Europe for a 150 Tuono.

And H-D isn't about to make a small-displacement bike (insert compensation comment).

want small and sportish? go Aprilia? their lil 125s and 50s look super cool but I have also tossed around the "why not make 500s a serious bike" question, alot of things could be changed with the gs500 to make it a really nice looking  commuter, but we all know it would jack up its price and make it hard to afford

that new kawi 650 looks more modern

there are many small cc bikes that are very cool but none are sold in the US.  TZR, NSR, RGV, RS250, etc

From what I've seen Aprilias are either...  Above 650...  Off road...  Or two stroke... which == Not Street leagal in the US.

Maybe there's something I missed...   :dunno:

alphasports gt250
http://www.alpha-sports.com/GT250N.htm
like a little itty bitty sv650

That GT250 uses the GS500 frame. Cool, eh? We have a bunch of them at the dealer here.

Those are Sweeeeet!  Where can you get them?  



415 lbs is pretty heavy for a 250 though...

Triumph DOES make a Bonneville.  Kawi too, IIRC, both naked and low-slung and sleek.

God I feel weird sitting around with the other riders from back in Visalia who are all sportbike squids, watching a stunting video, and I'm just thinking about how I'm going to figure out how to shoe-horn in a 4-valve liquid cooled 944 ST2 engine into my dream bike, the 900SS SP and get it running all EFI and whatnot.

I swear I should have been born in Europe somewhere.  I almost hit an original Mini as it passed me on the I5 going north through LA because I couldn't take my eyes off it.  So nice...

the question isnt when will the makers make them, but when will the "bigger is better" USA market buy them in droves so it will be feasible to import them. You can get grey market sub 400cc bikes but they'll cost you nearly what a 600 will cost you. I used to have a link to a company back east that imported them and "converted" them to street legal, including title. Cant find it now. But you could get a cbr400rr, zx4r stuff like that.

Honda's CG125, CBF250, & CBF500 are decent looking bikes, are they imported into US? loads and loads of 125s available here some looking realy good also some bike called Suzuki GS500E is still available naked'n'nice. Kawasaki still do the ER-5 but it could look better.

Quote from: RVertigoThose are Sweeeeet!  Where can you get them?  



415 lbs is pretty heavy for a 250 though...

http://www.kimcousa.com/ASGT250.html  add one to your shopping cart for the discount price of $3799.95.  Isn't the Ninja only $2999?

A friend of mine and I are working with the idea that the US market has had a hole in the sub 500cc displacement bikes since the late 70's mid 80's. We figure on marketing to college students and city dwellers who can pick up a cheap 250cc bike capiable of 75mpg and able to maintain hwy speeds.  Since China's economy is shifting gears right now there are  many companys jumping to do business w/ the US. Nearly 50% of all m/c production comes from China. Right now we have a 125cc scooter and 250cc scooter headed to the US. Since m/c displacement cant be larger then 250cc in China it works as a good fit. Best of all I'm the m/c guy so I am going to doing all the testing. If they seem like a worthy product and things get rolling there are some 250cc sport bikes that didnt look to bad I'd like to get over here.
-ash

My first bike, a Honda CL77(the ubiquetous "scrambler"), bought new in 1966, was a "do anything bike". The criticism leveled against it was that it didn't do any  one thing great (but it did do a lot of things well). I took it on 300 mile road trips, ran down the "twisties" as fast as I could on "universal" tires, puttered through the deep woods at "trials" speeds, and chased down gravel and dirt and washed-out country roads, all at respectable, but not remarkable, rates of travel. Sure there were compromises in its design, but it was a do-anything, go-anywhere bike. AND, it was good looking, affordable and reasonably light. I want its successor.

honda is realeasin nsf100...track only bike...very nice but for 5000 shells...ridiculous

I don't think that Honda is street legal?  :dunno:  Looks kinda like a track/off street only bike.