[mpfef]

So,

I went to a dealer today (Honda/Suzuki) and talked to a salesman about a starter bike. He took me right over to the S40, TU250X and Rebel. He said that any of them would be good, recommended the S40 if I was going to do a little more freeway riding, but he said for around town the TU250X was about as good as you could get.

After sitting on it and sizing it up, I have to say, I love it. I didn’t buy it, but man, I really like the styling, size and the fact that it’s fuel injected.

Anyone have any experience with one of these, I realize they’re brand new.

–Matt

[Rab]

No experience of them but they look so retro cool (like a Honda Nighthawk 250 but with fuel injection and disk brakes).

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/7594/roadtest-tu250x.htm

I think you’ve found a good dealer as his recommendations are spot-on and he didn’t try to steer you to a more expensive and unsuitable bike.

[Matt]

No experience with them (not sold in Canada), but the bike has been around a long time in other markets. I think it is a really great little retro bike.

[greencountry]

I’m still kind of a beginner, been riding one year, about 4k miles…

My question is re: the tires on the TU250x — are they tubed? I’ve heard that spoked wheels mean tubed tires, which are more prone to blowouts (as opposed to slow deflation). Does anyone know what type of tires are on the TU?

[WeaponZero]

Yes spoked wheels do always mean tubed tires. The spokes have to be able to rotate in the wheel for cleaning & disassembly purposes which means its not possible to have an air tight seal, which necessitates a tube.

[Spool]

That’s not necessarily true. Some spoke wheels are built in such a way that they do not require tubes. The Honda Rebel 450 for example. However I don’t think this type of wheel is real common.

[eon]

What are the pro/cons of wheels with spokes and inner tubes?
Can you patch a puncture on a tubed tire without removing the tire from the wheel?

Don’t mean to thread hijack here but this could be relevant to making a decision on which bike to get. I love the look of that TU250 myself.

[greencountry]

From what I have heard, tubed tires are more dangerous because if e.g. a nail goes into a tubed tire, it’s much more likely to cause violent decompression and you may suddenly have a flat going at 45-50mph or more and that’s why cars stopped using them. With a tubeless tire, a nail is much more likely to just cause a slow leak.

As an aside, is there any way on this forum to get email notifications of new posts?

[eon]

I think it must make a difference to the handling. The new BMW F650GS and F800GS are in some ways the same bike. The smaller 650 is aimed at road users and the larger, more expensive 800 is aimed at off road use. The 650 has alum rims with tubeless tires, the 800 has spoked wheels with inner tubes. Presumably the extra flex the spoked wheels give is an advantage off road.

Not sure if the rigidity of alum wheels is an advantage for road use but it would seem they are more practical. Spokes sure look good on those retro bike though.

[Capt Crash]

Idaho STAR bought some for training bikes and baby–I LOVE IT! They are comfortable, moderately peppy and BRAKE like a son of a gun. I tell ya, a quarter fairing, clip ons, rig up some rearsets and it would be BOSS!

Did I mention I like them a lot?

I’m not a Rebel fan so don’t ask what I think of them.

[owlie]

No email notifications. However when you log in, threads that have new posts since your last login are tagged.

[greencountry]

Does that mean that almost all cruiser bikes with spoked wheels are tubed? If that’s true, that’s a lot of tubed tires; I thought they were much less common than that.

[Author]

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