I think it’s a combo of three bikes in one.
The older Ninja 250 has four nice fold-out hooks for tieing down your stuff. Bungie cord your backpack or whatever down. When I have my tail bag on it, it doesn’t look out of place. Add in 65 MPG city easily, try getting that in your Focus. Combined with decent city and highway power, and very reasonable riding position and comfort for a average commute length, do I smell a good commuter bike? Keep in mind, there are people who commute on 125s and can make it on the highway in rush-hour. My 250 can haul-ass faster than my 2.2L I-4 car can merging on the highway, simply because of less weight.
Sports bike. OK, so it’s not as trick as that GSX-R eternal05 rides, or that CBR600 whizzing by, but I have yet to not get a wave back from a guy on a bonafide sportsbike passing me. (Same can’t be said for cruisers or standards) Rich old men in sports cars might try to race you from time to time, for some strange reason. I broke myself of the mistake to look over and make eye contact at a light. It’s only a twin-banger 250, but you can’t call it slow 250. The engine loves to rev high and rewards you when you milk it for all it’s power. Still isn’t enough power to keep the squids from ripping on it, but most non-squid sports bike guys find the 250 kinda cool, because they probably rode something like that back in the day. Keeping up isn’t too much an issue with bigger bikes unless they’re on a racetrack or going squidly fast on the road. And it has a pillion for a passenger when the babe-magnet Ninja attracts the fairer gender, (LOL) but I’m not sure I’d think of hitting the interstate with them behind you. My roommate in college had a bumpersticker on his car that said “No Fat Chicks” that I thought was in poor taste. But, the same goes for the passenger on the 250.
Beginner bike. The older 250s are light. Lighter than the new 250s. More powerful than the new 250s, too, by a bit. Not as slick looking as the newer 250’s, though, which look a lot like their bigger brothers. They’re cheap used, and were cheap new. Keep in mind, for them to be cheap, Kawasaki cheaped out on a lot of things, including, but not limited to tires, suspension, and two taillight pods that didn’t come populated with sockets. If the day comes when parts or new plastics are needed, they can be had easily — the design has been the same for about a decade. Fancy mods are available (AsianCycle.com) for the non-stock look. Not as much custom stuff out there as the bigger sports bikes, but enough to keep your tinker whistle wet while you’re on it.
Does my assessment sound about right?
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