[eternal05]

Track riding DID make me a much more confident street rider. I feel like I have reflexes and subtle control over input that I would not have had otherwise. This makes me very confident on, say, a sunny day on a nice windy well-maintained road, the super-slab, cruisin’ around town. But I live in Seattle. We haven’t had a day without rain in what feels like weeks. The roads were utterly destroyed by our last winter (idiots using chains on snow-free pavement for a week). And it’s fall. There are leaves, especially wet leaves, everywhere.

And again, I’m not sitting in traffic quaking in my boots. It’s more that if I have ANY reason to doubt full traction (wet road, cool tires, debris on road surface), I turn into the world’s biggest whimp. Like I’ve said, I’ve done track days in the rain, but at the track falling is an option. That’s not to say you WANT to fall, but you have to avoid focusing on NOT falling or you’ll waste valuable attention that is better spent on other things. Moreover, a lowside because of failed grip in the rain is no big. Just $$$. Yeah, hurts the wallet, but you don’t get run over by a pickup or slide into a sharp and heavy object. The problem is that on the street the consequences are severe, so I’m not willing to risk my reflexes recovering from a slide, so instead I go 3mph Not literally of course, but like I said, I’ll take a corner that can be reasonably safely taken in the given conditions at 30mph at 20mph, just because I have no confidence in my traction.

As far as my background, I used to race road bikes (i.e. bicycles) and did a lot of mountain biking as well, and on those I’m definitely comfortable slipping and sliding. The main difference, and part of the reason I’d really like to have a go at MX or Supermoto, is that with the added weight of my sportbikes I no longer have the confidence to test my luck. Also those pretty body plastics are bloody spendy! Again, this is something I’m looking to fix with a light, low-power bike that I don’t care about falling off of

[eternal05]

You guys know I’m a fan of the track, and I personally have spent TONS of time in parking lots. My problem is that I tend to psyche myself out when I’m no longer in controlled environments. Tight u-turns that are cake in a parking lot suddenly make my heart pound when there are cars to hit if I get it wrong. Corners that most other riders will take at 35-40mph I take at 25 in 1st because I’m worried about gravel or sand or oil. I wouldn’t really have a problem with calling this prudence, but the truth is that I sometimes go into “scared” mode in situations where a better street rider would just be careful. Know what I mean? It’s not that I outwardly do the wrong thing, but rather that I loose mental clarity and leave everything to my muscle memory and reflexes.

Anyway, I’ve gotten a lot better about this since I first started riding. When I first started I’d puss out and put my foot down in a u-turn, despite the fact that I had plenty of room to finish it out. Now I might get worried a bit, but I’ll force myself to crank my head harder and muscle it out. Ultimately though, developing better mental discipline and control is my next big step, both on the street and the track.

[eternal05]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=3000+us+dollars+to+canadian+dollars&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Just sayin’ $4400 CAN seems pretty darn steep to me.

[eternal05]

Smart move starting with the MSF! I’m sure you’ll be cruising the foothills in no time. Good luck!

[eternal05]

…despite what Gary says, a modern bike with electronic fuel injection will handle changes in ambient temperature and pressure much better than a carburetor will. Adjusting to different environments is precisely where FI has advantages over carbs.

[eternal05]

Believe me, everybody here knows how badly you want a bike. We’ve all been in your shoes! But don’t screw yourself over because you’re so desperate to get on a bike that you make really bad choices. Rebuilding a salvaged bike or building a bike from scratch WILL NOT BE CHEAP, and may not even work. If you find yourself to be less than capable of complex mechanical work, if you lack the proper tools, if you lack a good workspace, if you find that many parts of a salvaged vehicle need to be replaced, if you find fundamental flaws in core components (e.g. the chassis), etc. you will be in WAAAAY worse shape than if you just saved up for a while a bought yourself a used $250.

And listen dude, I’m not that far from your shoes. I’m in my early twenties and my parents would NEVER have condoned or financially supported my getting a motorcycle. But when I went to college, I bought myself one anyway using my own money. Where did I get my own money? I worked! You don’t have to walk peoples’ dogs, babysit their kids, dig ditches, fold envelopes, or do any of those mundane things to make money. If you’re 17, go find a cool shop or other business that sells a product or service that interests you and harass (ok, not literally) them until they give you a job. I did this starting at 15, and by the time I graduated from undergrad I’d worked in bicycle shops, guitar stores, as a barista, as a waiter, a soccer referee, a kids basketball coach, a guitar instructor, a web designer, a TA, a research assistant, etc. You just have to start looking!

Right now you think that the $3000-4500 (seem high? it’s cause you forgot gear) it would take to get yourself on a used Ninja is a lot of money. But here’s the beauty of it: you’re a kid living in your parents’ house, eating your parents’ food. Every dollar you earn goes straight towards your bike! Even with a crappy minimum wage job, you’re going to be riding a bike after a summer of work.

Now go get to it.

[eternal05]

They’ve built and rebuilt their bikes many times and they know what’s up. Moreover, if anything does go wrong and they crash, the racetrack is a (relatively) safe place to go down. For you, a 17-year-old without a lot of spare change, buying a salvaged bike is a terrrrrrible idea. A bike like that can work out for you, but more than likely it will just turn into a huge money sink, not to mention most likely be rather unsafe.

Alright, as the resident 6’4″ Ninja 250R rider (among other things), I will reassure you that size is not going to be a problem for you as long as you make one crucial $120-150 mod: adjustable footpegs. I still have my Ninja despite having upgraded to a GSX-R. It’s a super fun bike to ride around the city, and while I am looking to sell it this year, it’s only because I want to try riding some different types of bikes and don’t have a huge garage. If I could I’d keep that bike forever.

[eternal05]

…this is how it starts

[eternal05]

Yeah, I’m not going to pretend they’re less comfortable than other alternatives, but the specific wrist issue you’re experiencing is probably due to your lack of familiarity with sportbike body positioning. You figure out how to keep weight off your hands very quickly once you start riding.

That said, I’m looking to get a more upright-positioned bike for riding around town myself, so I can absolutely sympathize with your feelings about comfort, etc.

[eternal05]

Success! Congratulations.

Grab some frame sliders while you’re learning, or maybe learn to take the fairings off and ride around streetfightered for a bit. Just until you’re comfortable with the weight and have learned your slow-speed maneuvers.

Man I’m excited for you! Def. post pictures when you have them.

[eternal05]

You will find people are very split on this issue. Some insist that its bad for you to idle your bike for a long time to warm it up (my camp). Others insist that its bad to ride your bike at all before its fully warmed up. Not being an expert, and only able to evaluate the reasons people give for each argument, I’ve generally tried to avoid idling my bike for longer than about 30 seconds to a minute before getting on my way. This has consequences, however.

When it’s cold, you need to use some amount of choke to start up a carbureted bike. That means that for me to get going that quickly, I have to get moving with some choke still on, which some people don’t like. However, almost as soon as I get moving, I can safely turn the choke all the way off, AS LONG AS I can keep the bike moving for the next minute or so. As soon as the bike is moving and under load, it warms up VERY fast (much faster than at idle), so you’ll be ready to ride normally after a minute or so of riding around. During that moving warm-up, however, you need to keep engine revs down and throttle application low, so make sure you ride around the block a few times if your commute normally takes you onto fast roads right away.

[eternal05]

Mandatory reading for any rider

[eternal05]

Your times keep coming down. I’m amazed by your consistency as well…that’s one of my big problems. My lap times tend to fluctuate by around 4-5 seconds throughout the course of the day (ignoring when a train of slowtards gets in the way), but you’re right on the mark every time. So why aren’t you racing again?

[eternal05]

Which is effectively “preference.” FI has many advantages over carbs from a performance standpoint (like Munch said, imperviousness to low ambient temp, changes in conditions, no warm-up time, more predictable fuel delivery, etc.), but the system is inherently more complicated.

One quick thing in case you didn’t know, since nobody’s said it before (I don’t think): carbs and FI are both different means of controlling the fuel/air mixture that enters the engine during each engine cycle. Carbs do it mechanically (i.e. using physical tricks, gas and pressure laws, vacuums, etc.) and modern electronic fuel injectors do it digitally (i.e. sensors detect the characteristics of the environment and a little gismo takes those readings along with the rider’s throttle input and measures out the appropriate amount of fuel, then squirts it into its corresponding engine cylinder).

As a 250R owner, I can tell you it’s not a problem, especially given that you live near Miami! The only time that you (as a beginner) are even going to notice you have carbs is when you live in an area that gets sub-45 degree winters and you have to use the choke a bit to get your bike moving in the morning.

Also, from the standpoint of a first bike, the Ninja 250R being carb’d is good from two standpoints: usually easier to fix if something goes wrong, and much easier to work on / tinker with if you’re into that kind of thing. I threw a jet kit on my Ninja just for a chance to take it apart and see how some things worked, and it was good fun. Can’t really do the same thing with an FI bike (everything’s digital, so all you’re doing is flashing ECUs and/or reconfiguring fuel mappings using a Power Commander). A jet kit is also an easy way to get big performance gains for under $100.

So now you’ve heard it 100 times: you’ll be fine with the 250R!

[eternal05]

Yeah…it’s just that damn single-sided swingarm. If the street triple had that I wouldn’t even think twice. It’s so darn cool! Then again the normal swingarm is probably way more practical.

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