Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
The Ninja sucks (mileagewise) compared to the CBR, I have owned both, sold both. I like my $650 04 GZ250 which gets mileage better than the Ninja and it's simplicity defined.
I also like the TU 250X Suzuki (owned one of those). Air cooled, EFI,02 sensor (Ninja does not have one Federal version).
regards
Mech
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Well here in the US market the Ninja 250 was always a carb bike (even the new 300 is carbed here.), so you'd have to convert it to EFI to get the mileage out of it. Second its a twin, so its going to be less efficient but more powerful than a single (the GZ250 is a single). The 2011-on cbr250 single has always been EFI, so of course right from the start it's going to be better than the baby ninja.
Now as far as simplicity the GZ rear suspension is prehistoric. Dual shocks without progressive linkage and a drum brake, yeah that's going to be great fun trying upgrade that system to ride nice with two people on board, never mind stop worth a hoot from 60mph...
Add in that your going to have to do a ton of work routing enough cooling air to the GZ250, as opposed to the water cooled ninja and cbr where you just have to mount a radiator near the front of the vehicle.
Building a reverse trike from a GZ250 is going to take a lot more work in a lot more areas than starting with the baby ninja or the cbr250r.
If I was going to build a reverse trike, I'd look for a narrow middle capacity motorcycle, like a Suzuki SV650, Honda Deauville or some other 600-700ccc water cooled V-twin.
Another useful configuration would be smallish boxer engined machine.
I'd look for a shaft drive. Shaft drive would be useful for maintenance as I'm sure that no one wants to have to take the rear body off the trike to change out a chain and sprockets every 3rd or 4th oil change.
You'll need a wider rear wheel and tire, to handle the load. The gz250 specs a 66 index tire - maximum load for that tire is 694 lbs, Curb weight of the gz is 330lbs, so minus the front forks its maybe 270, add two average sized passengers and its right up on the tires max load. That's before you add trike frame (with its safety cage), front suspension, front brakes, upgrade the rear brakes, add a larger gas tank, all the bodywork, etc...
it would be way easier to work with a little bit larger bike.