Suzuki Inazuma 250 - real world opinions?

[NorthernSky]

My friend is keen to get one of these as a commuter bike. Looking around, they come up for sale for as little as £1,000-£1400ish, sometimes with sub 10,000 miles.

I'm excited for him as it means the two of us can mess around on bikes again, but both of mine are 800cc so whilst obviously I'm going to enjoy leaving him behind to eat my dust, it's going to mean he won't have much pace. The Inazuma has only 24hp.

The fact these cost so little to buy second hand & the assumed 75mpg (ish) is great as it fits his brief perfectly for getting to work and back, a 20ish mile trip. He LOVES to get the best possible MPG.

Has anyone here ridden one, or owned one to commute? I suspect he'd get a lot more benefit from a bike of 500+cc, because a little 250cc isn't going to open up touring options for him, realistically. And if you're in the market for a motorbike, surely choosing one that can do more for you as the rider is a good way to justify any extra spend? I'm trying to break through his resolve for the Inazuma but getting nowhere, perhaps he simply doesn't want to tour or race.

It's his preference at the end of the day but would appreciate anyone's real world experience of these bikes, cheers.

[Ilikemotorbikes]

Can't comment directly on the inazuma but it's totally possible to tour on 250cc (or less)

I've done 3 or 4 tours with my CG125 (Europe, Scotland twice and a long weekend away in devon).
Also it totally depends HOW you ride with him as to whether he'll keep up or not.

A Honda CB500 may fit the brief of commuting at circa 60mpg whilst having a bit more umph behind it to supposedly keep up and could tempt him as they're available for about the same price if not less

[A500leroy]

I had the honda version for 2 years ands its perfectly acceptable, you will easily see 90+mph (on a track), easily keep up with car traffic but you cant keep up with 600cc+ bikes if they really want to get away.

[hiccy18]

No experience of the Inazuma but if it's an economical commuter he wants I can heartily recommend an SV650: you could pick one up for a similar price, I have never seen less than 60mpg.

[Rubin215]

Ilikemotorbikes said:

Can't comment directly on the inazuma but it's totally possible to tour on 250cc (or less)

I've done 3 or 4 tours with my CG125 (Europe, Scotland twice and a long weekend away in devon).
Also it totally depends HOW you ride with him as to whether he'll keep up or not.

Very much this.

A tourer is the bike you have in your garage, not some full blown Goldwing or Ewan and Charlie BMW.

I have done some ridiculous mileages on some ridiculous bikes (almost 500 miles in one day on a Honda H100s back in the 80's) and enjoyed it all.

[Deranged Granny]

I have one of these as a run about. It's a great little thing. Yes it has fk all power but that is kinda the point - the first time I got on it and went WOT I just laughed out loud as nothing happened, but if he is after a cheap as chips runabout with a bit more go than a 125, then they are great.

Weak spots are the exhaust rusting and the brake calipers sticking. Both a question of when not if. An aftermarket exhaust would be preferable, Delkevic being the most popular. And both of which I had to sort on my low mileage example - it is definitely built down to a price. But it uses fk all fuel and is great fun to ride flat out up and down the 6 gears as you never hit the speed limit. It has a gear indicator too, which is a nice touch. Mine has a death wobble from the front wheel above 40 which is really exciting but I should probably sort that out. Not an intrinsic fault though. The engine is SOHC so it's very basic and technically needs frequent valve checks albeit I am sure they won't need adjusting.

He will struggle to find anything cheaper to run. But I agree an SV would be barely less economical, a better real world proposition (I bloody loved mine) and tyres will be the only thing that will cost materially more. See also NC700 etc although they seem super dull. But it does show you how comparatively advanced their engines are given they get similar MPG from three times the capacity.

I can't see any issues touring on it, if he is that way inclined. It will do about 85 flat out so can cope with motorways if necessary. Later ones came with topboxes as standard I think.

I would recommend. Just check the exhaust collector box for corrosion.

Edited by Deranged Granny on Friday 30th April 09:58

[TwigtheWonderkid]

I had a Honda Fireblade, but if I'm honest, 90% of the time I probably could have had a bike just like this and it would have done exactly the same job.

[NorthernSky]

Thanks guys, I'll pass the useful information on to him.

I do wonder how he'll cope, being a taller gent, but not fat. He might get away with it.

Also... I can see how touring on a smaller CC bike, even a 125 can be fun as I got 20,000 fun miles out of my Grom back in the day, half of those being for weekends away. But surely. SURELY. Being able to twist the throttle and be shoved forward by a load of horsepower & torque is more fun than desperately ragging a little engine to the redline to get any kind of speed.

I did sent the guy an outstanding SV650s, in a lovely bronze with barely 5,000 miles & immaculate from a sensible owner - this was £1800ish IIRC last year, but prices seem to be holding and rising for low value motors at the minute, cars included. (!)