Byebye Chinese bike! Calculating optimal suburb fuel saver.  By  prodigit (Read 4,641 times)

Well, I started This thread, not to complain about my broken bike,but also to contribute to what is the best possible bike for my situation. For those are interested a Honda Rebel 250, or a Suzuki tu 250 X, are about the closest products available, that give optimal gas mileage.
All they need is a sprocket change, and you could be riding 100mpg on those 250s.

my personal preference goes to the Honda Rebel, because of the twin cylinder which gives a little higher performance, while at the same time the cylinder content is only 234CC, which is not the full 249 CC which you get with the Suzuki.

It is as close to a 200cc as you can get.
Why is 200cc so important?
Because it produces the HP needed to go 40-45mph (4bhp) at ~2000-2500rpm.
For a 300 lbs 50cc scooter to go 45, you'll have to run it in the torque band (7500 rpm). A 200cc would maintain this speed at the bottom of it's revs.
For a 125cc, I only found with 4 gears, it really is missing a 5th gear, cruising 40mph at ~4k rpm.
The 150s have only 1 motorcycle, an ugly chinese sports bike, that is sold in usa, all the rest have cvt. A cvt set up to do 8k rpm at 60mph, or 4k rpm at 30mph.
I presume you could gear a 150cc to run 3k rpm at 40mph without lugging the engine, but any lower, and the bike will have trouble departing from a dead stop.

I'm not willing to go Chinese anymore. Only engine and transmission parts available. Most body parts are not available online.
200cc the same as 150cc Chinese bikes, no body parts anywhere.
Most Japanese bikes start with 250cc, so there's not a lot of choice on the market to choose from if you want dealer support.

Kawasaki ninja 250 (carb), and ninja 300 (fuel injected), as well as the the older Honda CBR250R get ~60mpg in real life. With a sprocket change, you could get 80mpg, but seats are uncomfortable, suspension hard, not the type of cruiser bike you have in mind to relax either.
The newer CBR250R s have fuel injection, 80mpg, better performance, but their suspension is rock hard, and everything about it screams 'cheaply made' and 'plastic'.

Honda Rebel 250 and Suzuki TU250X get stock 80+mpg. With sprocket change you can get close to 100 mpg.
The Rebel being the faster one due to it's parallel twin engine, the tu250 having most low end torque, which makes most sense to mod to an mpg monster. It also has fuel injection, which the rebel does not have.
However riding comfort is only slightly better than the sports bikes, while the Rebel is head and tails above with it's softer suspension, and it's most comfy air cushion seat.

The only con on the rebel is that the handlebars hit my knees, 35 inseam, 6'3" height.
Easily solveable by either putting in handlebar riser pieces, or rotating the handlebars a bit more upward, which is possible with just 4 screws.
The rebel was the only bike with that problem, seemingly made for people upto 33 inseam, or most people of upto ~6' tall.

The Suzuki GW250 was a lot heavier, lower mpg, suspension similar to the 300 and tu250 (pretty hard), and the point of gravity was significantly higher as well.
The handlebars where ridiculously low compared to the higher seat height compared to the other bikes.
For me the handlebars needed to be raised by almost 10 inch for my comfort (6in up, 4in backwards), which is just ridiculous!
There's a reason this bike is priced the lowest, despite it's good looks.

The Yamaha Vstar had the best seating position for me, partly due to the more upright seating (foot pegs are more forward than with other bikes) handlebars almost perfect where I needed them.
but suspension was in the likes of the gw250, 300,and tu250. Gas mileage is in the 60s of mpgs, because it's equipped with a vtwin engine, tweaked for performance, not fuel economy.
The vtwin has about the same low end torque of the TU250x, and a lot more high end torque than the Rebel. It's not as fast as the short stroke engine sports bikes, but it's definitely the fastest 250cc cruiser bike, and pearl white is pretty too. Costs more than the rest as well.
The vtwin gives a nicer exhaust tone, but that's nothing I worry about.


So overall, if best mpg is your goal, nothing beats the TU250x. But it's pretty much the slowest, and imho the ugliest bike, barely getting 75mph.

Second best mpg and best riding comfort, the rebel wins hands down.
It is also the bike of my choice, but only comes in red or black.

Price: the GW250 has the lowest sales price, but also lowest comfort level. It is about as fast as the vstar, but in a more modern jacket (naked/street fighter style bike)

The Ninja 300 outperforms all sports bikes, except in gas mileage, as the 2014 CBR250s are now equipped with fuel injection as well. The cbr has about 75mpg, vs the 60mpg on the 300, however the cbrs suspension feels stiffer, and the ride feels cheaper than the ninja 300.

The vstar is somewhat a loner. It is interstate ready, able to almost go 90mph, but much more expensive. It's the 250cc bike for those with money, who want best performance, nicest looks, best seating ergonomics on a 250cc cruiser, and who don't care about mpg.
Imho, for the price, yamaha should have equipped this bike with an air cushion, like the rebel, and made the suspension like the rebel as well..


That pretty much sums up my research in modern 250s, and experience on sitting on it at the dealerships. No actual ride experience though.