First Bike

[Bwah]

Hi all,
am getting my licence monday and very excited.
Have been researching bikes, but that all went out the window on the weekend when I saw a Bandit 250 parked on the pavement - I couldn't believe it was a 250! Looked so damn good - my missus said "forget the other bikes, you can take me for a ride on that any time!" - well, in victoria, it's gonna be 15 months away min, but I got the gist.

Yes it is a very cool bike, but having read the forum, I am a bit worried that it might be a really bad first bike option. It sounds like parts are hard to get and shops don't want to fix them. I'm in Melbourne, so it should be easier, but if anything goes wrong, I could be stuck without wheels. Another naked bike is the Hornet 250, but the pipe being so high up is a worry for the missus, unless I upgrade at the time of full licence.

I imagine Honda would have parts easy, but the thing is, I would prefer a Bandit for sure!

Any advice. I'm limited for time so don't have too many chances to spend days fixing things myself. So as a commuter, it could be a really bad option.

Thoughts???

Cheers,
Bwah

[aussiebandit]

G'day, Glad to have another Aussie on board (pardon the pun).

Be careful of the 250 Hornet, a lot of them are grey imports as well.

Other grey imports to be careful of are

FZR250, CBR250, Spada, GSX250, ZXR250.  Basically any 250 that looks cool, is probably a grey import.

But, as you live in Melbourne you should be fine.  Most of the "unofficial" importers are there and they carry reasonable stocks of spare parts.

You are better off finding an "Official" import as you at least have some hope of support from the usual Dealers.

Suzuki did import some B250's.  There are two ways of telling. Most of the genuine imports have a red head cover, and the grey import will most likely have 'import' in the vin number.

Fortunately, I live in NSW, so we have LAM (Learner Approved Motorcyles).  These are bikes of up to 660cc with a power to weight ratio of less than 150kw/tonne.

However, one advantage you have is that the 2 stroke 250's are learner legal.  So for you the RGV250, KR250, NSR250, TZ250 and RS250 are all learner legal - not good for commuting - but learner legal.

If you jump onto the Aus/NZ forum here and introduce yourself there, I'm sure someone more local to you may help you out some more.  B6Mick is probably the most regular member from Melbourne.

[Bwah]

Ta for the feedback.
So does that mean that Grey imports differ? That is, if it is officially brought into Australia, do they change components or engines, even though the bike has the same name?? That is, you suggest i be careful of Grey Imports Hornet 250 and others, and try to get one that was officially brought in. How does it change things?

Ta very much.

Bwah

[aussiebandit]

Grey Imports are bikes that were built for other countries, generally Japan.  Even though a bike may have a similar, or the same, name as an official import the internals and electrics can be different.  Even a slight variance in a part can cause problems.

If the part isn't stocked by Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki/Yamaha Australia, you can have a lengthy wait it to come from Japan, they same can be said of low volume or older bikes.

I had a GR650 (don't laugh it was the only 'big' bike I could afford at the time), the bike was sold in Australia by Suzuki in very low numbers, I think the Army bought most of them.  Anyway, I had an off at 120 and needed to replace the left foot peg.  It took 7 months to get one from Japan.

To be honest, as you live in Melbourne, I don't think you'll have too many problems, as I said before most of the reputable Importers have good stocks of parts for the bikes they sell, some even offer a warranty.

As an insentive to buy from these guys, they often have "Learner Packages".  Buy the bike, get a Jacket, Helmet and Gloves thrown in.  I think Sumoto do a lot of these deals.

However, beware if you intend to tour as I know a number of Dealers in country areas that won't touch a Grey Import, even in emergencies.  This is because they simply won't have the parts for them.

The other thing to think about is that most Grey Imports are not new bikes, they are used bikes from Japan.  To make matters worse some of them, particularly the 400's, are ex race bikes or wrecks.

If you haven't already, check out Just Bikes or Australian Motorcycle Trader (AMT) or
http://www.bikepoint.com.au/portal/alias__bikepointau/tabID__0/DesktopDefault.aspx

Personally, I wouldn't touch a Grey Import, but remember I live in country NSW and it's hard enough to get parts for the B12 over the counter.  If I lived in Melbourne or Sydney and just wanted a 250 for commuting, then I'd think about it.