Faults:

The seat has started to wear and is ripped in a couple of places.

General Comments:

This bike amazed me that I can get BOTH feet flat on the floor (I'm a lady rider and have an inside leg measurement of about 27 inches). This has made it an ideal first bike, as not only is it nippy and looks like a much bigger bike, my confidence has been boosted because I don't feel like I'm about to drop it every time I stop.

The acceleration isn't great on this bike until you hit quite high revs, so don't try and take anyone on at lights! But what do you expect from a little engine?

That said, once it starts going it's got quite a lot to give up to about 75mph, which for town riding and the odd longer trip is ideal.

This bike has been abused by the previous owners, but still runs really well and the handling is great.

The ZZR250 is also very cheap to run and you can nick parts off other, non-imported bikes.

Faults:

Several days after buying the bike, the speedometer started giving incorrect readings in damp weather. However, the mileometer continued to record the distance. Therefore no repair necessary.

Also, the engine started lacking power

intermittently due to running on only one cylinder. Changing the spark plugs made no difference, and whacking the throttle open due to frustration, cleared the blockage in the carburettor main jet. It was trouble free after that.

A bit of metal from one of the camshaft bearing caps broke off and got caught between the crankshaft sprocket and timing chain, thus knocking out the valve timing. This resulted in one of the rockers being shattered and two bent valves. New cylinder head (second hand off a GPX250R) and hours of labour was required. Cost approximately £600.

This failure was due to my inexperience and not poor motorcycle manufacture.

Please note when fitting the rocker cover to these machines, make sure it is seated properly, and then carefully tighten up the four shoulder bolts lightly (10NM is all is needed).

After having this repair done, the timing chain started to rattle on idle.

Easy enough to cure. Remove the tensioner, reset it, install it on the crankcase and the release it (ping).

The engine sounded sweet after that.

Apart from this, nothing really went wrong with this bike. Only consumables (tyres, chains, pads etc) and a couple of wheel bearings were replaced.

General Comments:

This little baby ZZR was quite pokey (35BHP at 12500RPM) through the gears and would do 100mph. The engine had more mid range than top end.

The handling was impressive.

The action of the front brake was worrying in the wet. I thought it was not going to stop.

I use to thrash this engine hard, and it never complained.

The rear tyre use to wear too fast for my liking and at nearly a hundred quid a time I had to sell the bike and ended up with a granny machine (Yamaha T80 Townmate). However, the ZZR was good on fuel (60mpg urban)

I would recommend this bike, but if you are not the one for DIY mechanics, then get something basic. Doing the simple things such as changing plugs, balancing carbs etc is quite a task.