Take-off in style

[yuckhil]

G'day all!  3 weeks ago, I bought a GSF250V with 15,000 on the clock.  She rides so smooth that I never rev above 8,000.  Until the other day, when my mate blew me away at the lights in his Skyline.  Now of course, a twin turbo Skyline is hard to beat, but I was wondering what a good B250 take-off should measure.

Apparently, the B250's power band is 10-14,000, but I've heard that it's bad to rev the lower gears too high.  Does anybody have an opinion or experience on this?  For a fast take-off, what are good RPMs to let out 1st and to change into 2nd and 3rd?  Of course, without raping her - I'm not talking drag racing.

Secondly, I asked about servicing at Peter Stevens, Melbourne, and although willing, they weren't very enthusiastic, since they currently import Vespa and something else and are busy with their own post-sales services.  Any suggestions for a bike shop in Melbourne that cares enough about the smaller bikes for regular services?  CheerS!

[Red01]

The engine doesn't care what gear it is in. As long as you keep it below red-line, and maintain control of what you're doing, you're fine. If you're going to try to beat quick cars with a 250, a drag racing style will be required. I've got no experience with the 250, so I can't give you specific take-off rpm and best shift points though.

[aussiebandit]

Secondly, I asked about servicing at Peter Stevens, Melbourne, and although willing, they weren't very enthusiastic, since they currently import Vespa and something else and are busy with their own post-sales services. Any suggestions for a bike shop in Melbourne that cares enough about the smaller bikes for regular services? CheerS!

I don't have any personal experiance with any of the shops in Melbourne.  But, I've heard good things about Peter Stevens, Brighton Kawasaki and OCD in Okleigh. Apparently the Honda dealer in Frankston is now pretty good since it changed hands.

If you post this in Aus/NZ forum you may get some more reliable/personnel experiance responses.

[Benjamin]

hey yuckhil! Fellow Aussie in central VIC.

Service wise, you might be better off finding someone who is an "old skool" mechanic, maybe with Suzuki fetish. They can be tricky to track down, a family mate down here is one of these and he doesn't charge the earth, knows how to get the best out of the bike.

Regarding take offs, I can only suggest learning to slip the clutch a little. Like Red said drag racing style will be the best. If you haven't revved your Bandit above 8K then you haven't experienced what these little toys are about. Their character changes significantly from 10K rpm onward. Try gradually increasing your revs with some practice starts, 8K, 9K, 10K but I wouldn't go above 11K for a take off else you'll risk the front end coming up! Keep your weight forward when taking off fast.

A smooth progressive letout of the clutch, not too slow, but not dumping it either will beat most if not all traffic. I can blow off V8 Commodores no hassle. Kicked the ass of a CBR 250RR recently which was fun. The Bandit has a good amount of torque before 10K rpm and is one of the rare 250s you don't NEED to rev the tits off, unlike the Honda CBR.

Cheers!