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Heads up to tall-ish guys looking at the 2008+ Ninja 250R
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February 17, 2009 at 4:37 am #2545eternal05Participant
As a 6’4″ dude who rides one of the redesigned Ninja 250Rs, I wanted to let other potential buyers know of one small hitch for us larger folk. Note right away that the issue here is height, not weight. The 250R could probably handle riders up to about 250lbs without problems.
When I was first starting out I got a 250R for three reasons:
– I love sport bikes and think the 250R looks fantastic.
– It’s got most of what it’s bigger-bore cousins (ZX-6R, R6, GSX-R600, etc.) have in terms of being nimble, stable, etc. without having lethal amounts of HP for a newbie; I mean, this bike got nothing but rave reviews.
– The price (for a new bike of that caliber) is unbeatable at ~$4,000.Prior to getting on my 250R, the only bikes I’d ridden were the more standard/cruiser-style bikes used in my MSF course (a Honda Nighthawk and a Yamaha Virago), and I hadn’t really figured out the whole “knees-in” thing. Due to my height and the relatively small size of the Ninja, I’m completely unstable if I don’t have my knees locked into the sides of the bike. That’s good. It forces me to maintain good habits. But it does create a problem.
If you look at the side-contours of the 250R and, say, the Suzuki GSX-R600, they don’t look radically different:
Ninja 250R:
GSX-R600:
What you will notice, especially if you see them in-person, is that the larger-bore sport bikes have a radically different tank shapes. While the Ninja 250R’s tank is somewhat mushroom shaped, with grooves for your knees topped with a rough hemisphere, the larger sport bikes look more like this:
If you look back at the 250R, you can see a piece of black plastic running from under the seat forward to the main fairings. That piece of plastic is meant to be where your knees go. Notice that it barely comes to the bottom of the gas tank. On the Suzuki, the “groove” for your knees goes almost all the way to the top of the tank. To top that off, the bigger-displacement bikes are also made for bigger people to begin with.
The result is that there is not enough room in the knee groove for me to go from toes on the pegs to toe on the brake/shifter without releasing inward pressure from my knees. The lower segment of my legs are too tall. Since the knee-groove ends and the tank gets thick, I have to open my legs to go around the bottom of the mushroom portion of the tank, which is both somewhat uncomfortable and less stable. Without being able to squeeze the tank hard enough with my knees, I have to put more weight on my hands and my arms stiffen up, which in turn makes it harder to steer or keep a loose grip on the throttle. It’s not so bad if I only need to shift OR brake, but when coming to an emergency stop, for instance, I have to release my squeeze on the tank with BOTH knees at the same time.
This is also a bummer for slow-speed maneuvering. Most of you probably use the rear brake for stability when doing full-lock, barely-moving turns. Left turns are fine, because I can keep my left toe on the peg, lowering my left knee. My right foot, however, is forward on the peg so as to cover the brake, causing my right knee to come up, getting in the way of a full-lock right-turn and throttle control.
The bottom line? Make sure that you get on one of these bikes BEFORE you buy one and ensure that it will fit you. I still ride my Ninja for small commutes without problems, but I can’t take it to the track or on backroad twisties as I had originally intended. Instead, I ride my GSX-R whenever I can anticipate more technical riding. The Ninja has mostly become my lady’s ride.
It’s a shame, because the latest Ninja 250 is A FANTASTIC BIKE!!. I had to prematurely jump to a bigger-bore bike after only about a year because of ergonomics. If you fit on a 250R, absolutely get one! They’re zippy, really nimble and flickable, insanely fuel-efficient (I routinely get 50+ in the city!), and an absolute pleasure to ride. Just make sure you don’t have my problem before you spend $4K, only to find out you’ll need to drop another $11K+.
P.S.
Note 1: If anybody doesn’t understand my physical description of things, please let me know. I can photoshop some pictures together to illustrate exactly what I mean.
Note 2: If you DO find yourself in my predicament, the latest GSX-Rs have a fantastic feature which, if you want to spend the money, makes the 600 a reasonable beginner bike for somebody who’s really into good form and practice (as opposed to all the competing 600cc models from Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, etc.). All the new GSX-R 600, 750, and 1000 (I think starting in 2008, not sure) have a variable-power engine switch. You can have full power, 80% power, or 60% power. If you turn it all the way down to 60%, you’re dealing with around 65 hp instead of 105hp (with the GSX-R600 anyway). While it still will be zippy as hell and very sporty, 65hp is manageable for a diligent and responsible new rider. The biggest reasons not to jump for a brand new $11,000 bike are:
1) There’s a good change you’ll bang it up. Better to do that with a used Rebel than with a brand new gixxer.
2) …duh, it’s $11,000.
3) The GSX-R takes MUCH more practice to ride well, especially with respect to low-speed, low-space maneuvers. I went from complete newb to riding full-lock figure-8s and u-turns easily a few practice sessions. More than a year later I’m still struggling to get the same level of confidence on the GSX-R.February 17, 2009 at 4:49 am #16554MedicParticipantMan, those 250 Ninjas sure are sweet looking bikes though. I almost wish I was into that kind of bike just so I could have one. But I’m just not a ‘sporty’ guy. I think I’d be fine too, at 5’8.
Good post though, I’m sure it’ll help some potential buyers out alot. Very well put together.
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