Riders-to-be looking for good beginning motorcycles in the Cruiser flavor who are short and/or small in stature and/or young and inexperienced actually have some decent machines to choose from.  If you’d like another option besides Honda’s Rebel or the more expensive Yamaha Virago 250, take a look at this easy-on-the-eyes Suzuki GZ 250, a great looking, lightweight, affordable cruiser. Riders outside of the US of A get the 2-cylinder Marauder 250, an even meaner looking cycle that, I think, would put the Rebels and Viragos in their places.

Suzuki GZ 250
Years Available: 1984-1986
Engine Size: 249cc
Motorcycle Style: Cruiser
Good Beginner Motorcycle? Certainly!
Pros: An overlooked option for beginning motorcycle riders, Suzukis GZ 250 might be had for a great price, and it’s pretty decent looking, too.
Cons: Only a single cylinder…

Riders have complained that the wildly popular Honda Rebel is scaled down just too darn much. If you’re taller than 5’8” or just want another beginner motorcycle to swing a leg over before writing a three-grand-plus check, then check out Suzuki’s GZ 250. It’s really only drawback (and some would argue it ain’t much of a drawback) is that it’s only a single-cylinder engine. The GZ is gonna have a different engine note to it because of it. Technically, if your ride has one cylinder, one spark plug, then you’re sunk if anything happens to any part of the one cylinder. A twin or multiple-cylindered vehicle can still putt somewhere, much like a multi-engined airplane can fly if it loses one engine. It won’t be as enjoyable a flight, but you’ve got more control over your immediate fate is what I’m getting at here.

The GZ has a farther-from-the-pavement seat height of 27.8” (compared to Rebel’s butt-dragging seat height of 26.6”) and Suzuki thinks well enough of its new rider consumers to give you a pretty large gas tank of 3.7 gallons. With the mileage these quarter-liter motorcycles get, you can ride half-way to Rio de Janiero on 3.7 gallons of gas. Alas, your only color choice is Black. Well, you can give your new GZ 250 a custom paint job with the price difference (the Virago 250 by Yamaha is $300 more). And, Suzuki dealerships have a nice way of haggling to move their inventory, unlike their stoic Honda counterparts (in my experience, anyway.) Suzuki also puts a single disc brake on the front, so right away I can recommend this ten times more than the icky Honda Nighthawk 250 among beginner motorcycles. Finally, the GZ weighs a scant 302 pounds (not including the weight of any gasoline) so you less-physically threatening people need not worry about muscling your sweet little cruiser around the corners