Our Cars: Kawasaki Z250SL

17 December 2016: Winter riding

The Details

Current mileage	1363
Costs this month	£3 (indicator bulb)

The cold, horribleness of winter has finally arrived. And I’ve decided, with a very significant amount of reluctance, to ride around in it a bit, just to see how the Z250SL copes. Fortunately, I have some half decent gear to keep myself dry and warm, so this is less a test of my own capabilities than those of the bike.

I’m especially pleased I decided to fit the Michelin Pilot Street tyres now the weather has taken a turn or the worse, since they maintain a surprising level of softness even at very low temperatures – meaning decent grip on cold tarmac. Performance isn’t bad in the wet either, but some more weather protection would be handy.

The little fairings on the tank do pretty much nothing to keep the cold away from my knees, while the lack of a screen means road dirt and salt kicked up by traffic ahead quickly make a mess of the visor on my helmet. I also get cold hands, since there is nothing to deflect the wind away from my knuckles.

All things considered, I’d rather be on a big, warm tourer in this weather. But, had I bought this bike to commute I’m sure it would stand the test of a British winter quite well. The green paint is still gleaming, the frame still shines and nothing is showing the faintest hint of corrosion. For a budget bike that lives outside 24/7 I’m impressed.

Light

The light is OK - but it's not exactly powerful

Not only is winter cold, it’s dark – so a decent headlight is handy. The light on the Z250SL isn’t bad, but it’s hard to call it anything more than adequate. On main beam it provides enough light to make sense of a familiar road, but for unfamiliar places it’d be nice to have a bit more power.

It’s fine in town though and it’s bright enough to be noticed by other motorists, so for commuters it’s up to the job. On the topic of lights, one of the indicators bulbs failed recently on a long ride, causing the rest of the indicator lights to stay on instead of blink. Changing the bulb is easy though so it wasn’t a huge problem.

And that’s not the only issue I’ve had in the winter – the digital instruments have been playing up a little. Everything is still easy to read, but occasionally some of the sections of the display become very faintly visible when they shouldn’t, a bit like when you press the screen a calculator.

Hopefully that problem will pass when Spring finally arrives. And hopefully the bike will get a bit more use then too, because at the moment I tend to look out of the window, see the sky and think to myself “I’ll just use the car today”. Bring on the sun!

« Earlier: Two-up on the Z250SL

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