[ddollar]

Been lurking the fourm for about a month finally bought my bike today so i figured i would post. I bought an 08 250 ninja only 256 miles on it the old owner couldnt afford payments on it so he had to give it up. Been saving up for the bike all summer (im only 18) bought a Scorpion XDR assault jacket, Icon air frame helmet and a pair of gloves from shift. I only have an old pair of boots right now for riding when i get some money i going to buy some riding boots and pants as for now my jeans will have to do. Can you guys recommended a good pair of pants that i can either wear comfortably off the bike or that will go over my pants and come on and off easily.
*edit should probably mention that i did infact already take the motorcycle saftey course

[Munch]

Congrats…and good job, included pics first post!

[eternal05]

That red 250R seems a popular choice among our new members. Three in, what, a week or two?

Welcome, and hope you get thousands of miles of fun outta that thing!

As far as pants go, what’s the weather like where you live?

[ddollar]

Well i originally wanted the blue one actually but no dealer around me had a used blue ninja so it was either spend $1.5k more for the blue 2010 or get the red with 256 miles on it was a pretty easy choice lol plus i figured the red would be more visible to other drivers. I was actually surprised by how nice the red looked in person i didnt really like in the pictures i saw of it. I live in NYC so its going to be getting cold here pretty soon i was looking at Shift Torque street jeans do you think they would provide enough protection?

[eternal05]

And to be honest, I was pretty disappointed with them. I don’t really wear them anymore, so it’s $100 just sitting on the shelf. In particular, they aren’t really any better than normal jeans: only a bit thicker, with a few impact-area reinforcements. The fit was also horrible for me.

One thing to realize, especially in NYC (my girlfriend went to NYU for a while, so I have my fair share of year-round experience there), is that it gets COLD. Riding a motorcycle makes cold worse by up to 15 degrees, so on those days when it’s 45, you will freeze your ass off on a motorcycle. I recommend overpants rather than riding jeans for that reason: they’re warmer, waterproof, and offer more protection. In that case there’s lots of variety available in the $70-$150 range, so I’d just check out your local dealers’ selections and see what fits your body and riding style.

[ddollar]

Alright i will do that then I am going to have to find a place then cause where i bought the bike I wasnt to crazy about the gear they were selling there. Anyone in nyc area know a good place to buy gear? What do you think about buying the pants online i bought my jacket online and it ended up fitting fine I just followed the measurements they said to perform on the site.

[Tara]

Congrats on your new motorcycle, it’s freakin’ beautiful

I want one really bad. How much did you get it for OTD? Straight up cash or credit?

[ddollar]

Thanks I bought at a dealership here it was $2999 but after NY state taxes and a bunch of other crap it was a little over $4000 so now I am broke after saving for 6 months lol. Went on my first ride today I had the bike shipped since I live an hour drive on the highway from where i bought it and was to nervous to ride on the highway my first time. Turns out it was a good choice i definitely didnt feel very comfortable my first ride, and i already realized that I am in fact invisible 2 people just straight up walked in front of me in the middle of the road wtf, I am gonna ride around my house for a week or so till i feel comfortable and then start to branch out from there.

[LuxMundi]

Hey, I picked up a black ’09 last month and just hit 1,000 miles.

I got the Joe Rocket Phoenix 2.0 pants. I wish I had bought online, because I really need the “short” but the dealers here all had weak selections, so I basically took the best fit available. I love the pants, but they offer basically zero warmth/ rain protection. I wish I had bought some with a zip-in liner.

Good luck with it! JM

[labellavienna]

That is a good choice…ive been thinking about the 500 myself…gah! i am jealous

[ddollar]

Well I was riding today it had rained early in the morning but I needed to take my bike to insurance office to get pictures taken of it. Anyway everything was fine starting to feel really comfortable on the bike i go to make a turn i slowed down, started looking through the turn giving it a little gas and I went down idk what i did wrong i am thinking maybe i looked down because the last thing i remember saying to myself is my knee feels close to the ground or maybe i was going to fast in to the turn. The damage wasnt to bad i was wearing all my gear despite it being a short ride my shoulder hurts but other than that I am ok. The bike is still running my left front blinker fell off, scratched the paint and in the process of picking it up I actually dropped it on the other side breaking the front right blinker aswell some how the paint was fine on that side i think i was more pissed about doing this than anything. I was pretty shaken up by the whole incident but eventually i got on the bike and rode it home.
Obviously you guys werent there but why do you think i went down did i go in to fast or was it the damp pavement causing my bike to lose traction on the turn.

[eon]

Hard to say why you fell but damp roads can be incredibly slippy. Soaking wet roads offer only slightly less grip than dry (allegedly, I’m not out there testing this you understand), but damp roads can be like ice. I live in downtown Seattle and every time the roads are damp it looks like the Exxon Valdez crashed out there. Does not appear to matter how much it has been raining in the days before. At this time of year you also have wet leaves adding to the fun. In short, try to keep the bike as upright as you can in corners. Better safe than sorry, especially at this point in your learning curve.

[SantaCruzRider]

Your hunch that this was caused by a slick road surface sounds probable. Too much speed is the other side of that coin, the faster you’re traveling, the more lean and traction are required to carve through the turn.
Wet pavement can have very inconsistent traction. Wet asphalt can be very rideable, but then you hit one of those big fat painted arrows and it’s another world.
Glad to hear you came through OK (as well as the bike avoiding major damage). Hang in there and take it slow while you get used to what the bike is capable of.

[ddollar]

Yeah I pretty sure it was the wet road but the fact that I am not a 100% sure is making me a little nervous that i will make the same mistake again I cant tell you how furious I am with myself for dumping the bike/hurting my shoulder

[Tara]

Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s a common statistic that every new rider drops his bike within the first year. The only thing I would suggest is getting frame sliders! It could/should have prevented your paint getting scratched and your blinkers. They’re totally worth the price in comparison to a fairing & blinker repair. Or spend an extra bit of money and get a full crash kit.

But as for the actual accident, I’d say it was a combination of a wet road and too much lean. But then again, I wasn’t there (like you said). You just have to be extra careful on road conditions from now on.

[Author]

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