a short anecdote about the ninja 250r

[psiphre]

ladies and gentlemen of the kawasaki motorcycle forums:

only too often is the question asked, "what would be a good bike to start with?" and all too often the answer, "A NINJA 250R!!" is swept aside for something bigger, more expensive, and deadlier in the hands of an amateur.

My purpose here is to share the testimony of a rider, fellow Marine and very good friend of mine.
I'm sure that he would share his story himself, except a) he isn't big on this "in-tar-web thingy", and b) he rides hondas.

the good-natured competition between riders of kawasakis, riders of hondas, riders of suzukis, riders of yamahas, riders of... well you get my point is well documented -- how many of you would give up your precious kawasaki for a suzuki?

keeping that in mind, let me share also that he has been riding motorcycles of various make and model since he was old enough to walk -- all told about 17 years' worth of motorcycles, starting with a lowly honda zr60 and moving up through the ranks to the cbr600 that he rides now, and is preparing to wire up and put on the track, and replace with a cbr1000f for the road.

I was riding down to chula vista (southern california) with him a couple of weeks ago to pick up a pair of miniature dirtbikes (one yamaha and one honda, I forget the models) when I mentioned that a friend of mine (female and very short) was thinking about leraning to ride and had commented that she liked the suzuki gz250 and the kawasaki zxr 250. Being that I am originally a cruiser fellow, and my buddy is a sportbike man through and through, we figured that either way she decided to lean, there would be some guidance. not knowing that i have read myself up on kawasakis during his absence (he just returned from deployment about a month ago) he went into a short sermon about the glory and wonder that is the ninja 250 as a learner bike. Not surprised, having heard the same thing since I perked my ears up about motorcycles about two years ago, I was about to silence him, when he said:

"the 250 ninja is a fun little sport bike. if I could find one around here cheap, i would ****** it up and ride the hell out of it."

ladies and gentlemen, if a Marine Honda enthusiast, wannabe track racer, and successful rider of seventeen years can see the merit and fun in riding a 250cc ninja, then so can a newbie who just finished his MSF course.

[1Adam12]

Thats one of the reasons I got one as a second bike and to just tinker around as a project.....

It is fun to ride and easy to throw from side to side do to it light weight. I'm still looking into a nice Honda NSR250 that puts out 80 HP on a 300 pound setup....uhhh thats mega fast or an Aprillia RS250 or Zuki TZ250 to race on.

[routine8]

Man I love these bikes too. I found an abandoned '94 250r at my brothers place (from a previous tennant) and hotwired the *******. I started it by spraying fuel into the airbox the first time. Unfortunately the tank was rusted and it siezed after 5 miles.

I was lucky enough to find another '94 250r for $940, which runs good. So now ive got two '94 250r's, the same color and everything, and I could not be happier. Im gonna keep this thing alive for as long as I can stand it.

Amen