I’ll be honest I was scratching my head when I considered how to answer How fast can 250cc Motorcycle Go?
Years ago, I did fiddle with tiny 250cc motorcycles in parking lots to get my license…
But, these small cc bikes were a mostly mystery to me.
So to get a proper answer like a responsible adult, here’s what I did…
I bought the first random 250cc bike on Craiglist, no question asked, because why not.
I know, I could have googled How Fast Can A 250cc Motorcycle Go… but where is the fun in that?
So I got myself a beat-up 2008 Honda Rebel 250cc to experiment.
Let ride for science!
The first thing that hit me was how slower that 250cc motorcycle is than my other bikes.
But how slow is it?
Meh… long story short, it’s fast enough to be viable…but barely.
But…
That is not the case with all 250cc motorcycles; some are surprisingly fast.
What’s The Top Speed On A 250cc Motorcycle?
Most 250cc motorcycles hit a top speed around 70 to 90 mph, while some faster 250cc can go up to 150mph. These numbers greatly vary depending on the model and year of the motorcycle in question.
There can be a significant top-speed difference between a 250cc motorcycle to another.
For example, let compare the Honda Rebel I got to another popular 250cc bike; the Kawasaki Ninja 250.
| Rebel 250 | Ninja 250 |
Top speed
| 70 mph | 120 mph |
0 to 60mph
| 11.86 sec | 5.75 sec |
With the slow Rebel, I would get my butt handed to me if I challenged a Ninja 250 to a drag race.
Yet they both are 250cc, but the ninja’s acceleration and top speed are almost twice as fast!
It’s not a fair fight.
It’s like making a race between a turtle vs a rabbit on cocaine.
The Rebel and the Ninja both have a 250cc engine.
How come these speed specs are so different?
The engine design and power output are the most critical factor that affects a 250cc bike’s top speed and acceleration.
Horsepower, torque, and power-to-weight ratio can widely range from a motorcycle to another even if they have the same cc numbers.
If you are confused about motorcycle’s cc numbers, I got a dedicated article on the subject you can get by Clicking here.
As usual in the motorcycle world, sportbikes such as the Ninja leave most other types of motorcycles in the dust.
This Honda CRB250RR is another excellent example to bust the myth that 250cc bikes are slow.
This ridder reached a Top speed of 110 mph in a respectable 7-8 seconds 0 to 60 time.
On the other side of the spectrum, you got cruiser motorcycles such as my Honda Rebel…
…
Let me tell you; I won’t break any speed records with that bike. XD
Is A 250cc Motorcycle Safe To Ride On The Highway?
It is argued that 250cc motorcycles are not fast enough to ride on highways, compromising a rider’s safety. Yet 250cc motorcycles are perfectly capable of reaching and maintaining appropriate speeds for safe freeway travels.
It is a hot topic.
I often hear that 250cc got no business being on the highways.
While riding the Honda Rebel 250, I now know why some peoples haves concerns about it…
Yet it is far from that bad of what I heard.
Yet, the allegations that 250cc won’t be able to keep up on the highway are outdated.
Most pre 1990 old 250cc bikes might have lacked enough power kick for highways travels, I agree.
But that is not the case with today’s 250cc motorcycles
Their engine and power output are way better optimized.
Riding a 250cc on highways is totally doable, and it is no more dangerous than riding with a larger cc.
Yet, there are things to be aware.
Acceleration Issues
Excluding some dirt bikes, 250cc motorcycles have enough top speed for highways.
The problem is acceleration, not top speed.
Some small engine motorcycles can struggle to get up to 60mph or faster in a reasonable amount of time.
It can be an issue to properly make a highways insertion and mix in with traffic flow.
As mentioned, I own a Rebel 250, and it is one of the slowest bikes in the 250cc category.
With a 0 to 60 mph time of almost 12 seconds, that Rebel 250 feels like I am riding a snail on tranquilizers.
Sometimes, I can’t quite reach 60mph before the acceleration lane end.
I have to clock my entrance carefully on the highways.
Would I say this bike is dangerous for highway riding tough?
No, the 250cc Rebel is safe on the freeways.
I simply have to adjust and remember that I am riding a mechanical turtle, and all will be well.
It is part of developing proper riding skills.
Once you are in your lane and you start cruising, there aren’t more safety issues than ridding bigger cc bikes.
Short Highway Entry Lanes
The safety issue of getting on freeways while riding a 250cc motorcycle is strongly related to where I live.
In Quebec, Canada, we have stupidly short highways entry lanes to accelerate compared to the rest of North America.
Yet, as a former truck driver that has seen most of Canada and USA highways, here is my comparison;
For riding on the rest of the freeways roads networks, a 250cc motorcycle is perfectly safe.
Most freeway entry lanes designs give slower vehicles a chance to speed up and reach a reasonable pace.
Slow accelerating vehicles such as the 80,000-pound semi-truck I drove are considered when building proper roads.
Almost all freeways entry lanes are long enough for any 250cc bike to accelerate and make a safe insertion without concern.
If you still have anxieties about a 250cc motorcycle acceleration power, here is what to do.
Go on Google and type the model of your bike that interests you, followed by 0 to 60mps time.
If it is under 9 seconds, you won’t have acceleration issues to get on the highway.
You wouldn’t have an excuse if I managed to get the job done with the 0 to 60 of 12 seconds of the 250 Rebel.
My Honda Rebel 250cc Is Not The Best Example
My old Honda Rebel is one of the slowest 250cc bikes.
It is not the best example to represent smaller engine motorcycles these days.
This motorcycle model barely changed and didn’t receive any significant upgrade in over 30 years…
It is also true of similar motorcycles with old, carburated, and underpowered engine designs.
That is where most misconceptions of 250cc motorcycles came from.
Old small cc motorcycle’s, power outputs were not optimized, and some bikes ran like crap.
Fortunately, modern and fuel-injected small cc motorcycles can be quite fast.
Take the Yamaha R3 for example.
That small 300cc motorcycle can reach 60mps in 5 seconds in third gear.
That is faster than most performance cars.
How Fast Can A 250cc Motorcycle Go? Too Slow and Boring?
Many riders consider 250cc motorcycles too slow. Yet most of these bikes speed up as fast, if not more quickly, than your everyday car.
Most modern 250cc bikes can do 0 to 60mph in about 8 seconds.
That is plenty enough speed to keep up in traffic.
Yet, that is not true of every 250cc motorcycle. Some bikes are faster; some are slower.
For example, My Honda Rebel 250 is slower than most cars. There is no question about it.
But it is powerful enough to ride anywhere and reach a reasonable traveling speed on any road.
Going all the way back to 250cc was a shock for me since I rode 1000cc for some time now.
But are 250cc motorcycles too slow?
No.
250cc motorcycles these days are plenty fast enough to give you loads of enjoyment.
For rural, backcountry, and scenic roads riding at moderate speed, I had a blast with that tiny 250cc Rebel.
It was absolutely worth it, and it was fast enough to ride around without issues.
A small cc motorcycle can give you many happy memories and develop strong ridings skills; I can guarantee that.
How Fast Can A 250cc Motorcycle Go? Too Slow For A Beginner Rider?
If you are a beginner rider and wish to start on a 250cc you are doing the right thing.
In your early riding days, a 250cc motorcycle is NOT going to be too slow.
You need a balanced and nimble bike.
Do not get a bulky and outrageously too powerful motorcycle.
In my experience, 200 to 400cc is the perfect balanced range to get into motorcycle riding in North America.
250cc are lights, and the engine output is gentle; it will forgive the many mistakes a beginner will make.
It allows newcomer riders to learn from inadequate maneuvers quickly.
Making the same mistakes on a bigger cc and more unstable motorcycle could be disastrous.
You will become a better rider by starting on a small bike.
A 250cc has enough power to teach you the most about riding, and you can ride them anywhere.
Plus, they are cheap to buy and maintain, and they keep most of their value when you are ready to sell.
That right, you will sell your first low cc motorcycle.
As you rack up riding experience, you will most likely outgrow your small motorcycle.
Eventually, you will wish for a machine with more power.
After six months to two years, you will sell your starter bike and get something else, depending on how much you ride.
That is normal, and this is the right path to choose to ride motorcycles.
You Do Not Need A Fast Bike To Begin Riding
A 250cc is perfectly fine.
Contrary to popular beliefs, you don’t need a 1000cc bike with monster horsepowers numbers to enjoy riding.
People that tell you otherwise are flat-out lying and compensating for something… or are complete idiots.
They generally are the type of rider that only take out their bike once or twice a year anyways.
They don’t often ride because they don’t have the riding skill to handle their over-powerful machine correctly, and it secretly scares them.
Those dudes will discreetly quit motorcycle riding without a word one day.
I would not take any riding advice or bullying from these clowns if I were you.
Be the smarter person, don’t allow your ego or need to impress to be in your head while riding.
Start small, build up the skills, then grow up in bike size.
Don’t start with a high cc bike then get scared of a near-death experience trying to keep control of too big a bike for you.
Then get afraid of riding, quit for a year or more, neglect your motorcycle in storage and then regret everything…
Ask me how I know…
Start with a low cc motorcycle that my genuine advice, they are fast and powerful enough, to begin with.
Push yourself to learn, lean lower in a road curve, put your name up for a track day, etc.
Do that, and you will have tons of fun on a small bike; they are ‘’very mistake forgiving’’, and you will learn to ride fast!
How Fast Can a 250cc MotorcYcle Go by Modifying It?
Yes, there are mechanical modifications to increase the top speed and acceleration of a small cc motorcycle.
I will eventually link a dedicated and in-depth post on how to modify a motorcycle to go faster.
Yet, I will overview how you can make your 250cc bike go faster.
Word of advice, though, if you feel that your beginner 250cc motorcycle is now too slow for you, here is the better option;
Sell your small bike for something more powerful.
It is going to be cheaper than buying and applying all these mods.
And even if you were to get all these modifications, your 250cc bike’s power increase would not be THAT impressive.
You might get 2-5 more horsepowers and an increase of 10% -+ for your top speed and acceleration.
That it.
And all this will cost a couple of hundred or thousand dollars.
Not the best deal.
That said, motorcycle parts and components wear out.
When it happens, it is a perfect opportunity to replace them with something that going to make your bike faster.
A good example is when it is time to change worn-out chains and sprockets.
You can replace them with aftermarket parts that will give your bike more bite than the original parts.
Let look at what you can do to make your small bike go faster.
Tire Pressure
Buy a precise and reliable pressure gauge and pump and inflate your tires to the proper amount.
Under-inflated tires are a huge source of loss of power for a small motorcycle, and most riders don’t check it enough.
Check your pressure often or at least every week.
Sprocket Size
Full disclaimer, changing the chain sprocket size on your bike will trade power, not increase it.
Depending on what you do, you will increase your bike acceleration but decrease its top speed or vice versa.
Front Sprocket
More teeth = More Top Speed
Fewer teeth = More Acceleration
Rear Sprocket
More teeth = More Acceleration
Fewer teeth = More Top Speed
WARNING
If you change the sprocket ratio on your bike, this will mess with your speedometer and odometer.
The speed on your dash will be out of sync and give you too fast or too slow readings.
To remedy that, you will need a SpeedoHealer or have a bike shop retune your bike.
High flow exhaust, High Airflow Filter, Ecu Mapping
A high flow filter and exhaust will increase the amount of air your engine can goggle up and increase its potential power output.
But your onboard computer won’t know how to run now that your installed aftermarket parts, and your bike could run like crap instead.
That is where you will need to have a power commander our ECU mapping done to retune your bike to the new setup.
Low Friction or High Grips Tires
Again that is a part that you will trade a type of performance of your bike for another.
By using a low friction tire, your bike will go ever so slightly faster but at the trade-off of less grip in corners.
Personally, I don’t care about going fast in a straight line.
I have way more fun in the twisties, so high grip tire it is for me.
Also, by attacking a curve more aggressively, you are going faster down the roads. 🙂
Better Brake Pads
Brake pads to go faster? Say what now?
This is similar to the more grippy tires.
If you can come in ways faster in the corner, your overall speed or lap time will be faster.
More effective brake pads will allow you to slow down more heavily and later in your maneuver and waste less speed in corners.
Aluminum Rear Sprocket
Your engine applies power to two things, your rear sprocket and your rear wheel.
By reducing the weight of both these components your engine will keep extra power to go faster.
Aluminum sprockets are lighter but less durable.
There are yet newer and brilliant sprockets that combine the best of both worlds of aluminum and steel.
The core of the sprocket is aluminum to shed the most weight but with steel, teeth to maximize durability.
Lighter Wheel
Same principle here: your bike will go faster by having lesser weight for your engine to turn against.
By trading your stock wheels made of steel for aluminum or carbon parts, your bike engine will have less weight to work against.
Yet lighter wheels come with the drawback of being less sturdy.
A direct impact on a decent-sized pothole could bend your new wheel out of shape.
Get In Shape
Lastly, in the department of less weight equal a faster motorcycle, you, the rider, could shed some fat.
If you are out of shape and you lose a significant amount of pounds, it will make a difference on your bike.
All these fancy mods parts are exciting but costly, going on a diet can be a WAY better financial decision to make your small bike go faster.
Put Flames Sticker On Your Bike
Everybody knows that anything with a cheesy flames sticker will go faster.
What did you expect? I haven’t been sarcastic in a while; I had to say something.
Happy to waste your time reading this garbage detail. So glad to help you, buddy 🙂
Final Words, How Fast Can A 250cc Motorcycle Go?
Yes, Absolutely mate, I love small engine displacement bikes and they deserve the attention.
If your first bike is a 250cc, it might start to feel ‘’slow’’ as you pick up riding skills.
That normal, but remember, 250cc is fast enough.
Anybody can go fast in a straight line with a big cc motorcycle; that is not impressive.
What is impressive about a motorcycle rider is going aggressively in corners without breaking a sweat.
A small cc bike will get you there faster over time.
The same is true for making emergency maneuvers on a dime and swerving out of the way of danger.
A 250cc motorcycle will teach you WAY faster and better than starting and sticking to bigger motorcycle engines.
That was the case for me, and I now realize what I have been missing by buying that small Honda Rebel 250.
I am now seriously considering buying a small sportbike for track use and a small dual sport to get into adventure riding.
A small 250cc is fast enough to teach you everything you need and they can go anywhere.
They are not too slow and worth your attention until you get good enough to get something bigger if you feel like it.
Take care. Ride Safe.
