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MattParticipant
Cehck out Advrider, there are a fair number of very happy ural riders out there. They take these things up and tour the north western territories, yukon, and alaska, and well, everywhere… pretty awesome.
MattParticipantThe Vulcan 500 is a pretty forgiving bike. (One of my co-workers just bought it to get back into motorcycles after 15 years away). He loves it. Because the engine is the same as the Ninja 500 it develops its power more as you climb the revs, which means it needs to be driven differently from most other cruisers (which make their power low down). But, once you get used to letting the engine yell a little bit, you’ll find it can keep up with the bigger bikes without issue (according to the owner).
The only thing to be wary of with it is that it is a big wide bike compared to the 250 cruisers (even compared to some 600/650cc cruisers). Not hard to handle, but the width of the tank between your knees can be a big negative (My mom got a Shadlow 600 for the skinnier tank) or a big positive (for my co-worker). Just saying, sit on one before you make up your mind (same advice goes for every bike).
Concerning the Ninja – Yes it can reach highway speeds and hold them all day long. I’ve done it many times now. And can it handle the mountain roads? The little ninja is more than willing to play fast in the twisties. I recently posted a link to a video of a Ninja 250 keeping up with a KTM 690 in a very tight road, well worth the watch.
MattParticipantReserve:
The reserve gas is not in separate gas tank. Just below where the normal gas exit hole is. You do not need to run into your reserve any more than you need to run your car to empty (that is, you should never need to). Pictures and added details here: http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_does_the_reserve_tank_work%3FActually, I just read something here ( http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_far_can_I_go_after_putting_the_fuel_petcock_on_%22reserve%22 ) that says you should run it into reserve every once in awhile… I’m not entirely sure about this personally… I prefer NOT putting dirt and water through my carbs… I’ll need to read up on it some more…
When you are filling up your tank you set the gas to OFF if your bike has it, or simply ON in the case of an auto-off petcock (My ZZR-250 only has ON and RESERVE. It automatically sets the petcock to OFF when I turn off the engine. I don’t know if that is the case with the Ninjas).
You do not fill your bike with the setting at RESERVE for one simple reason, if you pull away and forget to set it to ON, then you have no warning for when you are low on gas. Instead of sputtering out and switching to reserve, you’ll sputter out with no more gas to get you home!
Best way to know when to fill up:
Zero your trip odometer every time you fill up. That way you’ll know how long you’ve been running on that tank of gas. Fill up the first few times about 150 miles. I think the Ninja 250 gets between 200 and 250 miles to a tank. After you’ve done it a few times, you’ll know how much gas it takes to go 150 miles for you. Then, compare that amount of gas with your tank size (4 gallons I).Me, I fill up ever 300 Kilometers (being metric and all) and that usually has me filling up 3/4 of the tank. This is a good habit for me, since I know that as I near 300km I should start looking for a gas station, but I’m not so near empty that I have to fill up at the first one I see.
Helpful reading:
First Days Living with your new-to-you Ninja 250
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/First_days:_Living_with_a_motorcycleMattParticipantEvery year on January first some guys in my office take their bikes out for a ride, regardless of weather.
Several times this winter, when the roads were clear and skies clear, a few hardy souls rode thier bikes into work. We are talking -10C days here… Nutters, the lot of them.
June 27, 2008 at 7:44 pm in reply to: What to do with all the confilicting theories on new bike break in????? #7972MattParticipantIf you follow the factory recommended break-in and something goes wrong, you can rest assured that it wasn’t your fault.
Similarily, warranty claims are easy when you cna put hand on heart and say you followed the rules.Granted, staying below 4000rpm on the ninja 250 is a pretty difficult thing to do.
MattParticipantKeep a look out on sites like craigslist and kijiji.
While the really popular starter bikes (Ninja 250) tend to be “expensive” there are many other, lesser known, bikes that pop up.
What you need to look at is: how old is it and how long was that make sold?The Honda VTR250 is an excellent 250 sport bike, but it was only sold for a year or two in North America. So parts are going to be really hard to get. Other bigger Universal Japanese Motorcycles (UJMs) were still very easy to live with bikes but had production runs much much longer, so they have lots of parts.
Around here GS450s, 440LTDs, and Maxims all sell for half the price of a Ninja 250. But, you’ll pay for it with the extra leg work to get parts. Unfortunately I can’t think of any mid 90s equivilants… the only ones that come to mind are all 600s (SecaII, Bandit). But keep your eyes open, especially come september and october. You can get really good deals on bikes come then.
All that said: If you never leave the urban centre, 50cc scooters can be plenty amusing too.
MattParticipantit is a very standard riding position. The pegs are right below you and the bars are pretty high. Maybe a slight lean forward, not sure (some of that will depend on arm length). There is no weight on your wrists.
However, there are aftermarket bars that are lower and more forward. My friend has these and she loves them. She says it totally transforms the bike.
MattParticipantFrom a riding perspective, not bad.
From a total ownership perspective – pretty bad.You won’t be able to find parts, even simple ones, for a bike that old. I owned an ’84 Honda, and my parents each have ’83 bikes. Almost all our parts have to come from salvage yards. Brake pads, oil filters and tires are pretty much the only things you can still get “new” for these bikes. Everything else is (usually) a special order from either the dealership (long wait times, expensive) or shops specializing in your bike.
Also, there are number of significant changes to the way bikes are worked on in 30 years. Despite the bike being really simple mechanically speaking, joe-average bike mechanic won’t have a clue how to do basic work on it. My 84 VF500F was turned into a paperweight by a lazy mechanic who didn’t understand the differences between it and a modern bike.
Save yourself the heart ache, get something newer.
MattParticipantA friend has a Blast, she says she gets 60mpg.
The lowest I’ve gotten is 58. My personal best was 87mpg (for a 300km fill up).
As a general rule I get between 60 and 70mpg on my ZZR-250 (same engine as the Ninja 250, just tuned for a bit more top end power).MattParticipantYou don’t even need to go fast to “try it out for yourself” on a bicycle. Just ride along (in a soccer field if you are afriad of falling ) and give the right handlebar a quick shove to the right. Your bike will turn sharply to the left and then instantly whip to the right (and if you look at your trail in the grass you’ll see you made a right hand turn). Its pretty fun thing to do. But then, I’m easily amused
MattParticipantHappy Canada Day
Or at least, it will be in a few days!I actually felt a little akward a few times out there… I wear a bandana around my neck (keeps the wind out of my jacket). It is covered in canadian flags… Perhaps not the best choice of attire on St Jean Baptist day (a group of guys drinking beer in the back of a pick-up gave me some mighty dirty looks while I ordered my fries)… But aside from them, everyone I ran into was nice.
MattParticipantThe Katana is considered a mildly beginner friendly bike. It *is* a 600cc in-line four. It is pealy and powerful. But more than that, it is also heavy. It is close to 500 pounds with a tank of gas.
While I have never ridden a Kat, I seriously doubt it is terribly nimble compared to a much lighter sport bike.
Certainly people have learned to ride on Katanas. But that doesn’t mean it is a good idea. Just beacause a sport bike (such as the Kat or the ZX-R) are not the current crop of road going track specials does not mean they are friendly bikes to learn on. They *will* bite you when you make a mistake. For your first bike, avoid inline fours. The only exception to this is the GSXF650, which frankly is still a very heavy bike (it replaces the Katana).
The twins are much nicer engines to learn on. If you simply must have the power, then go with one of the 650 twins (SV, Ninja). I seriously question anyone who tells me that the 250 isn’t fast enough. Fast enough for what exactly? Even with a 300 pound rider the 250 will out accelerate 90% of cars on the road and reach “do not pass go, do not collect $200” speeds.
The ninja 500 is probably the single most under-rated sportbike in modern history. It can accelerate to 60mph in under 4 seconds. It can corner better than most riders can push it. Yes, the guys who spend all night looking at gixxer centre-folds will look down their nose at you. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to leave you in their dust. And more importantly, it doesn’t mean they’ll have more fun than you.
One last point, before you decide on a bike, talk to your insurance broker / agent. Depending on who you are insured with and where you live, there could be a huge difference in cost between insuring a supersport (like the gixxer), a sport-touring (like the katana), and a standard (like the Ninja 500). Especially as a new rider who need to take those things into consideration. Many places around here simply won’t insure a new rider on a supersport.
MattParticipantYou’re right, it is the “has pavement” bit I keep screwing up.
MattParticipantYup, pre-08 Ninja 250s had really soft shocks. A common trick is to replace the rear shock with one from a Ninja 500 (only certain years work as a direct replacement, you can find details in the faq at faq.ninja250.org).
As as stated, the idle screw is probably just set too low.
MattParticipantBlast never needs its valves adjusted, nor its chain oiled (since it has a belt).
If cost is the sole factor, blast is the way to go imo.But really, you can’t go wrong with either bike.
Oh, and the ninja doesn’t put weight on your wrists. Or at least, far less than a bicycle.
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