Purchasing a used 2004 Ninja 250.

[bluemax]

I'm selling my old bike and located a 2004 Ninja EX250 for sale. The price is right but the bike only has 253 miles on it. The party selling the bike, a young woman rode as a hobby and for the most part it's been sitting. Her father winterizes it every year for her and through e-mail I'm trying to find out if the machine had the oil changed every year, was started up and run periodically and so on. I saw several current pics of the Ninja, it's spotless not a scratch on it. My biggest question is without knowing whether it was run at all, basic service by her family done is it really a good buy or would I be looking forward to engine problems down the line because it sat all of the time? Any info. would be appreciated. Thanks Mike M

[StarGate]

You might be looking at a carb cleaning depending on if and/or how much it was run during storage. Also it's probably going to need a new battery but I wouldn't expect to find much more than that.

[skewterdewd]

Those bikes are pretty bulletproof. at 253 miles it's not even broken it yet.
unless it was horribly abused for that 200 miles, you can expect it to last a long time. Can you ride the bike before you buy? If you need an expert opinion, take it to a dealer or shop and have them do a pre-sale inspection for you. It'll cost you about 75 bucks but will give you a true picture of the bikes condition.

Also- be sure it's really a good price. The new 250 is on the way, and there are good deals to be had on 07 stock right now.

Either way the EX is a great bike. Good luck!

[bluemax]

Yep the price is pretty good I think, $2,100. She bought it and her friends that ride moved away so her dad pretty much takes it out of storage every year she putts around on it for a few miles and in the fall he winterizes it for her and puts it away. Haven't seen it yet but the various pics are immaculate, never dropped, garage kept, again the only thing that I'm afraid of is that it sat most of the time. Thanks for the reply. Mike M.

[skewterdewd]

That's a good price!
Seen many of those in semi-hammered condition sold for much more around here. If you end up buying it, you'll have to post pix.

good luck!

[#1nomad]

Sounds good but if you plann on riding very far I would recomend somthing bigger. Some are afraid of the bigger size but yoy onlt have to use what you need, and some times you can need a little more to get out of the way. personel preference

[alexk243]

do you have any pictures of it? I recently purchased a 2004 ninja 250 also. I got it for around $700, but the guy said it had top end problems. I adjusted the valves and it runs great. oh and it also has slightly over 15,000 miles on it already. so yea that might be why it was so cheap but even now it runs great

let me know if you have any questions about it I would be glad to help

[antiq]

Sounds good to me. If it's anywhere near and I find it........ well you might wish you were faster.

[deacon00]

Man, I like this forum!! One person can ask a question, others reply, and us noobs can learn.

Whew, bluemax, for two minutes, I was wondering if you and I saw the same bike.

[Slo'Poke]

Originally Posted by deacon00

Man, I like this forum!! One person can ask a question, others reply, and us noobs can learn.

Whew, bluemax, for two minutes, I was wondering if you and I saw the same bike.

Better double check.

[greenmoonshine]

if it was me and i thought i was getting a pretty good deal(without actually getting to see it in person) It could be worth that.. I have a 99 ex250 i have just recently purchased myself for $1100. the guy i got it off of said it was his wifes and she hardley rode it,and i believed it because it only had 4400 miles on it, he also said this past year she rode it about 2 times,the rest of the time it was stored in his garage.. it started and ran fine....the oil was fairley new in it ....but the gas wasnt....it had that verry familiar smell of shelack...that gas gets when its almost dead....all i did was drain the tank put in new gas with the fuel aditive(sta-bil) witch you can pick up almost anywhere and after it ran for a few and got warmed up it ran just fine....That also saved me the pain of doing a carb overhaul.... good luck