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250cc's No more?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:17 pm
by Drago
Well as the title says where have the 250's gone?

Piaggio group, Taiwanese and Japanese no longer have them available here any more!
When I got my SYM GTS 250 in 2008 there were several 250's to choose from, SYM, Piaggio
corp, yamaha etc.

Now I know the 250 seem to have been displaced by 300's but even now some of the 300 have been
dropped!

Now all it seems to be is 125 maxis's or large capacity scooters or Auto bikes - BMW maxi's, t-max(imum price), auto bike/scooter 'thing' Honda integra etc...

All I need is a 250 for my commute and yet no one makes them any more! The '300's' are too expensive and offer
little over a 250 especially the SYM GTS 300 'evo' really 263cc and £900 more than the 250 :evil: Then the 125's are
now going for 250 money plus!!! :evil:

What annoys me the most is there are several 250's sold abroad but not here - Honda Faze, Yamaha morphous & Majesty
etc. Please import them here!

Rant over.

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:54 pm
by scorpakid
ARE YOU after an auto..? yam xmax250...bit expensive but nice.... yam also do a yb250 naked sngle cyl normal bike...(gears tho).. cb 250 zzr 250

piaggio gts250...

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:20 pm
by Drago
scorpakid wrote:ARE YOU after an auto..? yam xmax250...bit expensive but nice.... yam also do a yb250 naked sngle cyl normal bike...(gears tho).. cb 250 zzr 250

piaggio gts250...
Auto License only. Thing is I would like another brand new 250 maxi if possible soon. Nothing wrong with the SYM GTS, I just would like something different (had it four years) but there's no Maxi that i'm interested in. The only options i've got is keep the GTS, buy an SYM joyride 200i (170cc) thats £3000 or get a 125 'normal' scooter - don't want a 125 maxi.

But apart the yamaha X-max at £4500 (they can take a hike!!) and Aprilia sport city there's nothing else out there.
The Piaggio GTS300 is an auto, but not a maxi and it's not cheap either £4000!

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:47 pm
by gn2
I remember reading on a thread here that someone had been offerred a new X-Max 250 for the same price as a Sym GTS300
Yamaha don't sell many so I reckon you could probably haggle them down.
Kymco Downtown 300i is well worth a look at £4000 which is only a couple of hundred more than an S-Wing or X-Max 125.
Prices of everything is up, have you seen what small cars cost these days?

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:56 pm
by martb4632
WK bikes do that weird looking Jetmax 250 thing which is cheap enough but I dont think I could live with the looks and I would be worried about frightening small children whilst riding it :o

Then there is the new CPI X Large also available soon for less than £3000 and although not Honda or even Piaggio quality it does look fairly ok ( a lot better than the Jetmax anyway ) and has a 3 year warranty.

But yes overall the choice of new 250's is a bit limited which is a shame as they probably offer the best compromise between performance and economy.

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:49 am
by StephenC
I'm a 250 fan too. Piaggio stretched their 250 to 300 (well, 278) to compensate for tighter emissions a few years back but otherwise companies are going to high power lumps which attract a premium price. Now my Sat is back to normal, I'm really happy with 22hp or so and I really do not want to go any bigger.

But it looks like my next scoot will be 2nd hand anyway, so I will probably try out a 500 just to see.

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 5:21 am
by barryG
gn2 wrote:I remember reading on a thread here that someone had been offerred a new X-Max 250 for the same price as a Sym GTS300
Yamaha don't sell many so I reckon you could probably haggle them down.
Kymco Downtown 300i is well worth a look at £4000 which is only a couple of hundred more than an S-Wing or X-Max 125.
Prices of everything is up, have you seen what small cars cost these days?
Not really mate, the new VW Up will go on sale soon at £7995... back in 1997 I had to pay £7344 for a Fiat Cinquecento! Prices now are cheaper mainly than the late 90s.

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:42 am
by MrGrumpy
You could consider a Burgman 200 - it makes 18bhp which is equivalent to many 250s (though newer ones make a bit more). Reaches a top speed of 75+ on the speedo, 75mpg, huge underseat space, comfy, not sporty handling though. Bet its pricy though.....

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:14 am
by R1K SU
It Was me that said my local "raceways" yam dealer had offered me the xmax at £3800 to match the sym gts price :) typically 250's have about 18-22 bhp and 300's 26-30 bhp a bit extra :)

Re: 250cc's No more?

Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:06 pm
by gn2
A new X-Max 250 for £3800 is a seriously good deal imo.

The current Fiat Cinquecento is £9960, that's for the lowest end model available.
Last time I looked £9960 was more than £7344.