Suzuki Gn250
SUZUKI GN250
RIDING IMPRESSION
A deal on wheels
I COULDN’T TEST THIS MOTORCYCLE. AS A 32-YEAR old with two decades of riding experience, about all I can tell you about Suzuki's GN250 is that it's the lowest-priced real streetbike sold in America, and that it's too small and too slow.
Yet, 17 years ago, I would have loved this Suzuki. Then I was 1 5 years old, and idling away the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school. A Navy man down the block was shipping out to Vietnam and needed to sell his year-old Honda CB175. The $400 asking price was out of my league, but we worked out a deal: With a $200 down payment (borrowed from my folks) and the promise to deliver $50 a month (from my Washington Post paper route) to his wife, the orange-and-white beauty was mine. A helmet (metalflake-blue, as I remember) was included in the deal and, in a final act of kindness, the guy even left the license plate on the bike. So, six months before I was street legal, Fd tell my Mom, ”Goin’ trail riding,” push the Honda around the corner and then spend the rest of the day exploring some of rural Maryland’s best backroads. What a great summer.
Actually, the GN250 looks a lot like my old CB 175, and if you want to call that outdated, well, so be it. But I’ve always liked a motorcycle with spoked wheels, a nicely shaped gas tank, two chromed fenders and its engine in plain sight; and at least the GN doesn't resemble a Smurf-sized Harley or a Ninja that’s been left in the dryer too long. And technology has left its imprint on the Suzuki, in the form of a disc front brake, decent suspension and electronic ignition.
Neither is the bike’s powerplant—a 249cc, aircooled Single-ready to be put in a museum. With four valves doing stalwart duty in its cylinder head, the GN pulls with surprising oomph up to 50 miles per hour, where it then runs out of poop and into vibration. Admittedly, not the kind of performance that will set an experienced motorcyclist’s heart aflutter, but for someone trading up from a 10-speed, a skateboard or a pair of Reeboks, this is pretty exhilarating stuff.
And despite its low asking price, the GN250 is no stripper. It comes with an electric starter, a gear indicator, a centerstand and oodles of chrome.
There isn't any room in my garage for the GN250 today, but back in the summer of '72 we could’ve had some great adventures. I'm glad the new riders of 1988 have the same chance. -David Edwards
