BenFantastic points SuperMotoRider, I would also like to ad that the breaks on the 08 ninja 250 are vastly improved over the old version. The ninja 250 is going to beat most cars off the line, and the excuse that they aren’t fast enough to get out of trouble is ridiculous. I’ve ridden 250’s, 500’s, 600’s and even 1000cc motorcycles and I don’t think i’ve ever needed to open up the throttle and jet out of a situation at top speed. A good rider will see and anticipate problems before they even arrise.
The only situations I can think of where speeding up might be a viable escape plane is if someone is road raging on you and trying to knock you down (VERY unlikely unless you are an asshole rider), or if someone were to merge into you. Even the merging one is a big stretch for me, whenever someone has not seen me and started to pull into my lane I usually brake/check/swerve. I brake first (because its not safe to swerve while you brake) and as I’m doing so I’m checking the lane next to me for any cars (although usually i’m in the fast lane, so I would be checking the shoulder for obsticals), and then I swerve out of the way of the car. I do this because its MUCH quicker to slow down in a motorcycle than speed up, even if you ride a 600cc+.
If I were to try and speed up to avoid the merging car then I would have to Drop it a gear (normally I cruise in 6th), rev the engine and hope to make it out before the car can run into me. I can speak from experience, even though my bike still pulls at triple digits, it is much faster to make room at 75mph by braking than by trying to speed up.
Ben
~Best Beginner Motorcycles Admin
