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I thought I had a problem

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The Ninja 250 is NOT a 2-person bike. I’ve done my fair share of putting around with two people with that thing, and it’s no fun. The weight of even a 115lb woman will completely upset the bike. Even my lighter, taller DR-Z handles passengers better.

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Alright, well as soon as I find out what team I’m on, I’ll get this straight with my manager.

…or should I just follow Christophe Bisciglia’s advice and ask for forgiveness rather than permission?

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I still stand by my assertion that the Suzuki DR-Z400sm is the greatest city bike ever, especially for a tall person (I’m 6’4″). It’s quick in the legal speed range; you’ll have a hard time finding a car that can beat you to 60mph, mostly because all of those cars cost several hundred thousand dollars. At the same time, it won’t go much over 90mph, so if you’re looking to break the law and end up with your head in a railing, this isn’t the bike for you. It also has no wind protection at all, so it’s not a very good highway cruising bike, but then again, if you’re the type of rider that’s looking at this type of bike to begin with, you’ll be bored out of your mind on the super slab, so no matter.

On the other hand, the DR-Z makes everything that’s hard about motorcycling very easy, provided you’re tall enough to tame it (which you are). It is super light, has very friendly and predictable steering geometry and handling characteristics, and thanks to its 400cc single-cylinder engine and strong but not overpowering front brakes, you’ll find that you won’t be at risk for rocketing yourself into a telephone poll when you accidentally twitch the throttle or flipping the bike when you grab too much brake. If you do drop it, you can lift it yourself without using any crazy tricks or leverage, and because it comes pre-equiped with axle and peg sliders, you can drop it plenty without scratching it a bit. If you do, the bodywork is minimal and cheap, so you have no fancy $2,500 fairings to replace. More than anything, it’s just a fun bike that makes you want to ride the crap out of it. Honestly, it’s as easy as riding a bicycle, but you don’t have to pedal and you can do everything a lot faster/harder

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Aye.

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The whole air-cooled thing really kills the GS500 for me. On the other hand, a GS500 is probably about as cheap as a Ninja 250R if you find the right dealer, so…

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You know of any track-day bike rental services?

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The weekend could work. I’ve been through orientation week before, so I know it’s a bit pointless, but I’m not sure it’d be appreciated if I just went off to a track day on day one.

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It’s definitely true though: I look around the pit at the track and all of the really competitive racers have fully-tuned, $50,000 race bikes. Definitely wouldn’t want to pay that price for entry into the world of racing. I can see how something like a CB160 would be a lot of fun, but I don’t know how I feel about that particular bike…looks a bit scary.

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I start again August 23rd, so I’ll be in the bay area for that week…but I scoped out the websites of the track day providers down there and it doesn’t look like there are any trackdays any time around then. Am I wrong? Cause I would TOTALLY rent a bike or even trailer mine down there to hit up a track day with a fellow BBM-er. Though I’d much prefer to fly down and rent. Trailer sucks, especially towing with a VW GTI through the Oregon-California mountain passes. Yikes.

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…but it’s cool, cause Facebook auto-stalks your progress for me

Congrats on a successful race weekend! Definitely share any insights you pick up along the way. I’d love to hear what you learn.

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I live in what is essentially a glorified greenhouse. On the hottest day last summer it was 117 degrees in my bedroom. At 10pm. Helllllll no.

I love the sun just as much as anybody (then again maybe not; I do live in the PNW), but I live in Seattle precisely so I don’t have to deal with that kind of heat.

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As long as you don’t think too much about what’ll happen if you go down.

I had a similar experience last summer. I’d vowed never to wear mesh, but a string of 105+ degree days here in Seattle changed my mind real fast. I ended up with the Shift Backdraft (which they don’t offer anymore, but it was $125), and while my commute got infinitely more comfortable, I can just tell how much less protective it is. Definitely worth it in really hot weather though…

Let us know how you like it!

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Namely that you

a) don’t need to be an expert mechanic, nor hire an expert mechanic to figure out its problems,

b) don’t need to worry about undiagnosable/unforeseeable problems that might come up because of the lunkhead that owned it before you,

c) have a warranty, and

d) you can break the bike in.

If you can get a new bike on the cheap, there’s nothing wrong with that. The only reason for buying a bike used is to save money, and that only holds water if there is a big price difference (which there usually is, especially with bigger, fancier bikes). However, I bought my ’09 DR-Z400sm for $5,000 (used prices were about $4,500-$5,000 at the time) and my ’08 GSX-R600 for $7,400 (two years later it’s not much cheaper: used ’08 GSX-R600 for $6,995), and I don’t regret either of those decisions.

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Not knowing how to drive stick is one thing, but if you go into the MSF class not even understanding the concept of a clutch and gears, you’re in big trouble. I’ve actually seen this quite a bit, and it really gets in the way of instinctively understanding what to do.

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