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Ninja 250 questions
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April 10, 2009 at 6:05 pm #17665briderdtParticipant
Renton Motorcycles (south of Seattle) has two Ninja 250’s on the floor waiting for buyers… Didn’t check the price though.
April 10, 2009 at 9:19 pm #17671Jay TParticipantWas trailering what he cold get from Denver last year. Seems like no one here is getting them. I did find one of the new style (2008) in Casper Wy. on Craigslist. He must really need the money he is only asking $2800 and it has less than 1k miles on it. He did say it has some cosmetic blemishes. Even then it hasn’t been on the road enough to get mechanical problems. I had thought about going up there to check it out (about 3.5 hours) but, I got an 1976 XL350 instead.
April 13, 2009 at 5:01 am #17706ronkoreParticipantUpdate on my “get a ninja 250” objective, went to the dealer the other day to check it out.. looks just as sweet in person. No height problems, my feet reach the ground fine and all that. Wasn’t able to try the full riding position, but when I go back next time I’ll do that. Pricing.. well, I’ll break this down using the “Buying a new motorcycle” guide on here.
MSRP for 2009 ninjas: $3999
Dealer invoice price: $3589 (according to this)With those numbers in mind, the guide says to figure 10-15% onto the invoice price to get the “ready to sell” price. I’ll pick 12.5% since that’s right in the middle.
$3589 * 1.125 = $4037.625
Now, add in things like registration fees, sales tax, etc. They don’t charge any setup or freight fees. The sales guy I talked to at the dealer said the CA plate reg fee for the bike is $90.
$4037.625 * 1.0925 + $90 = $4501.11
So, it looks like a “decent” OTD price after taxes and margin for me is $4500. I didn’t have this in mind when I went into the dealer the other day, but I threw out MSRP as a starting point (yea, probably should’ve gone lower, I know). After a bit of back and fourth they offered a $4800 OTD price ($200 down from their initial offer of $4999) as well as some discounts on gear:
(numbers are before 9.25% sales tax)
TCX Performance2 SS boots: $143
Tourmaster Cortech Jett 2 Jacket: $86
Cortech Scarab RR Gloves: $62
Arai Profile Pearl black Helmet: $450From my looking around online the prices all seem at or below the lowest I could find.. so it seems they aren’t jerkin me around with that part. Sales tax is a big fee though.
They told me that heavy duty carpenter jeans protect well in falls if I wanted to save money, I’m dubious about that claim though, but I don’t get what their motivation would be in telling me that when they could sell me a $150+ pair of motorcycle pants. I’d like to find pants that are good all around, on and off the bike. Don’t want to be wearing something all day that looks like snow pants.
As far as the helmet goes, that’s a big chunk of change I was not expecting. Unfortunately, of all the helmet brands they had, that was the only kind that fit my head well without the tight spot on the forehead and/or the gap on the top. I could save a good $250 by going with a different brand, but it will have those issues. I’m kinda torn on this, is the feeling of a 2-3″ gap on top of the head a very bad thing as far as safety goes? My instinct says YES.
If I crash, I’m looking at a ton of money to replace all this gear.. it’d probably put me off the bike for a long time.
There’s another dealer around here called Advanced Kawasaki that I’ve heard good things about, I plan on going there sometime this week to see if they can get me a better deal.
So, yea that’s the latest info.. tried to break things down to be as informative as possible to any other newbies in a similar situation.
April 16, 2009 at 5:12 pm #17809ronkoreParticipantFinished up the MSF course yesterday. Learned a lot of things, definitely better off having gone through it. Now, no worries about the notorious CA DMV motorcycle driving test. The MSF is also a great place to meet others like you who are just starting out, and to find out about good dealers. One guy I spoke to gave me a name of a place who I called yesterday and they’re willing to give me a blue 250 for $4600 OTD. Gonna go down there tomorrow morning to take a look. My hunch about the helmet was right, the ridercoach said you want a helmet that fits snugly all around, pressure points and especially gaps are dangerous. Comes down to this question: Is your head worth $400+?
I did notice a lot of ppl (even the ridercoaches) saying that I (and others who were considering the ninja) would get bored pretty fast on a 250. I’m still goin for the 250 though, for skill, up-front cost, and mpg reasons. The 250 gets a good 15-20mpg more than the next step up, from what I’ve seen. Plus the 600cc range is $1-2k+ more. I think I’ll be a lot better off getting the skills figured out on the 250 in the end.
April 16, 2009 at 7:23 pm #17813eonParticipantCongrats on passing the course and for sticking to your guns and going for a 250. If that’s what you are comfortable with then it would be silly to be pressured into something else.
As far as helmets go, yes, you want to get one that fits snugly. That does not mean a $400 lid is safer than a $200 one. It might mean it is sexier, cooler and even more comfortable but not necessarily safer. The only place I know that gives safety rating for helmets is the British SHARP website. There is some controversy over their testing methods but at least it gives you some idea of the relative merits of each.
April 17, 2009 at 4:46 pm #17826AndrewParticipantI’ve heard the bored with a “250” before and I’m not bored with mine yet. Put 1K on her before the winter break and a couple of rides since the weather cleared up.
April 18, 2009 at 2:03 am #17839ronkoreParticipantPut the money down on my blue one today! It won’t be delivered until next week because I’m waiting for the MSF paperwork so I can go to the DMV and get my MC license. Once I get the license I’ll be able to get the insurance set up on it, and therefore I’ll be able to ride. Almost there..
April 21, 2009 at 7:22 pm #17927powaywrestlingParticipantCOngrats on getting your 250! I also have 250 ninja 2008, blue. I’m in San Diego if you ever watn to go riding let me know. I am relatively new (a little over 1,000 miles) on mine.
Dale
April 21, 2009 at 8:27 pm #17937ronkoreParticipantStill waiting on the DL389 in the mail, which is the primary holdup on delivery. The State Farm rep told me it’d be best to get my MC license first in order to get the best rate. Obviously it’s not good to get it delivered before then due to the possibility of theft and my wanting to ride it..
Wasn’t in the mail today, hopefully tomorrow…
As for going riding I’m a bit far from San Diego (I live in the LA area), although I know a friend who lives in Ramona who I may visit sometime, so maybe then
April 25, 2009 at 1:48 am #18015ronkoreParticipantIt finally came today, went to the DMV and got my mc license. The dealer’s delivering my ninja tomorrow morning. Insurance is all set.. will ride tomorrow, woohoo!
April 26, 2009 at 1:12 am #18021ronkoreParticipantI’ve been spending most of the day riding it. It’s been a blast so far. Went up Glendora mtn road to get a feel for it somewhere that doesn’t have traffic (but does have a ton of twisties). Saw a lot of other riders up there, and got waved at. Nice feeling all around.. the handling, the fun factor, and camaraderie from fellow riders.
Haven’t dropped it yet thankfully, but I can see how easy that can be, even though it’s a light bike you still gotta watch it. I’ll get pics of it later.. gonna order a cover, 25mm cable lock, and disc lock for it online, that should be decent enough protection.. the 15mm cable lock I got at HD isn’t gonna cut it I don’t think.
May 3, 2009 at 7:53 am #18141ronkoreParticipantAlright, been meaning to post pics of it, but I’ve been busy riding and other things. 140 miles on it so far, and thankfully no crashes or laying it down yet. Being careful about it. Changed the oil myself around 90 miles. Anyway, here she is
May 3, 2009 at 9:23 am #18142eternal05ParticipantCongrats on your new bike! They really did a kick-ass job restyling the ’08+, didn’t they? Every once in a while I forget how sweet-looking the new Ninja is. You get so used to the way it handles and sounds that you forget that every non-motorcyclist on the street can’t tell you’re not riding a ZX-10R
Hey, one thing to watch out for (especially if you’re only 140 miles in): those tires. The stock tires are pretty crummy, but they’re especially crummy before they’ve been broken in. They usually say that it takes 50-100 miles to “break in” a street tire, but keep in mind that most of that mileage is in a straight line. The little new tire nubs were still there on the sides of my rear tire even after I had 800 or so miles on the bike thanks to all the straight up-and-down city riding I was doing. The edges of the tire will still be pretty fresh until you really get some miles in, so careful in the turns!
May 3, 2009 at 6:52 pm #18145MunchParticipantNice Color! Nice looking bike too
May 4, 2009 at 3:47 am #18147EddiepowerfmParticipantBeautiful bike man and great scenery to ride around in. Best of luck to you and welcome to the addiction.
Keep Rockin!
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