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If the bag lands on my faceshield, I’d up flip up my faceshield to see. Dealing with it would come when I get to.

Personally, I wouldn’t even pay attention to it floating around. It’s a plastic bag that weighs less than an ounce, it’s not a hazard worth losing focus over.

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That’s awful!

I never want to wear anything less than full-face.

All the best to her!

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That’s a shame. We had breaks after an exercise or two. It was hot!
I went through 2.5 bottles of Poweraid alone on Sunday and had a headache for most of the night.

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Cool, I grew up in the sticks (back then) of New Hudson/South Lyon, then moved to Novi.
Got a few college buddies of mine living in Lansing, I know that city a bit.

Getting on the exit ramp of memory lane, someone on here went through the trouble of doing all those calculations. The big deal with the I4’s is the HP/weight figures. A run of the mill 600cc sportbike has as more HP/weight than a top-of-the-line sports car.

As for taking off the fairings… I actually had so little faith in myself at first, I was thinking of doing that on my 250. But I left them on, and decided that taking them off was just writing myself a blank check in the back of my mind to drop it.

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Oops, sorry for misunderstanding what you were sayin’.

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LOL, to the last part. What’s up squid?

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Although it might be annoying not being able to easily find neutral on a range bike, on the road, it’s a very good thing. When I took BRC the first time, I rode a Nighthawk for parts of the class. Eventually, I got so sick of tinkering around finding neutral, I just cut the engine and tinkered with finding neutral with it off. That’s some advice to you folks taking BRC– if you want to keep your rider coaches happy, when they give the cut-it signal, use the engine cut-off switch. You can figure out getting it into neutral with the engine off.

I’ve hit neutral a few times riding on the 250. Hasn’t happened in a while. It’s not a big deal, just don’t panic. Give it more boot next time.

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Great post!

The LEO picture made me crack up.

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You are correct with #2. The rider coach in the BRC class did a great demo on that. He had me be part of the demo. He had me sit on the bike, adjust the mirrors to where I’d set them. Then he stood in my blind spot, and asked me to see if I could see him in my mirrors. I told him I couldn’t. He slapped the side of the bike. The point is, unless your head is turned around all the way to your shoulder, you can’t check your blind spot. And unlike in a car where swapping some paint involves both of you exchanging insurance info, going on with your day, and a trip to the body shop in the next few days, having that happen on a motorcycle involves you getting hurt and your bike getting messed up.

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Hey, welcome to the madness!

Nice to see someone on here from my old stomping grounds of Michigan. I grew up in metro Detroit, and spent time at school in the center of the state.

The 600cc debate is on-going. I’ve gotten crap from guys on 600cc sports bikes before for the 250, whatever. Maybe they learned fine on a 600 I4, but that’s not me. I still believe that when I first started riding, I literally would have dropped an I4 in no time. I think it’s cooler to have a bike you can control without learning things the hard way through banged up knees.

My first car was a Toyota Tercel 5-speed, and that thing was a hoot to try and milk the power out of. Small, mildly aggressive engine, light weight. Just like my Ninja 250.

For a bigger bike, maybe a Suzuki SV650S, Ninja 650 (which is parallel-twin like the 250, so it’ll ‘sound’ about the same to you), or maybe an older 600 I4 sportsbike which can be had for decent money. I can tell you one thing, if I make the jump to the latter, I’d keep the 250 around. I like that thing too much, and it’s a classic of late 80’s sportsbike design. Also to give myself an out if I realize I bit off more than I can chew.

But for now, I’ll stick with the 250. It can keep up with any other bike on the road, provided the bikes your riding with are going a sane speed. If they aren’t, probably not worth chasing anyway, if you get what I mean.

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For a larger beginner, the Ninja 500 would be fine. The Ninja 650 would probably be a better idea since it’s FI and is only about, what, 40 pounds heavier than my 03 250, which is very acceptable considering it has 2.6 times the displacement.

The Katana is air cooled, which is a bummer. I don’t know if anyone has had problems with overheating. It’s also an I-4, so it could scare a newb if the throttle hand gets greedy.

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Say, what? The 250 is def. not made for low-speeds. It can handle any legal speed (including going over to the point of wreckless driving on the highway in most states) without a problem. If you’re callin’ it slow, then thems fightin’ words.

I don’t know what Kawi did when they messed with the 250 for 08, but if I remember correctly, it was a little tweak in gear ratios.

The bike revs high yes, but it should never be more than about 11K, which is about 3K short of redline. If you find yourself getting above 11K, then you should have already shifted up, because you’re getting outside the powerband as the engine speed goes past that.

Keep it between 8-10K while riding around and you’ll get all the power it can give you.

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Good job Jammer!

Looks like we both had a lil’ trouble on the right U-turn. I noticed in practice I could do the left-hand one just fine, but I kept having a heck of a time with the right one. I asked the rider coach what was up with that. She said it’s because the right side is where the throttle is, and my right side is trying to press down while coaxing the throttle. That could also be why the state on-cycle test only has a single U-turn in a box to the right. Evil.

Capt Crash or anyone, got advice?

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I almost did that when someone was taking their sweet old time to make a right-hand turn into a driveway. Luckily I remembered I was in the cage, not on the bike.

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Very true, Rab.

I had a a piece of metal coming out of my tire, and the only reason I noticed it was lubing my chain and noticing it on the rear tire. It gave me a good excuse to get a set of Pirelli Sport Demons. (BTW, those are really good tires for the Ninja 250 if you care to spend the ~$300 on getting them. The reviews are right — they have a lot more traction than the stock Dunlaps and I’m actually glad I had to replace them to be completely honest.) If I hadn’t have lubed the chain, I wouldn’t have had a clue the tire was bad!

Check that tire pressure as much as you can before riding. Low tire pressure is a major cause of most tire problems, and when you only have two wheels, you want to keep them both working while you’re riding. 28 front / 32 rear is the lowest you should see. Again, measure it cold. The Ninja 250 FAQ website goes into the debate over what pressure to use.

Checking the oil level on the 250 is going to be something new for you. There’s no dipstick, just a little window that gazes into the engine. If you park outside, on a hot day baking in the direct sun it should show a good level. If it’s not baking hot outside, you should see at least some oil, even if it’s below the low line. After you’ve rode a bit and it’s nice and warm, you can check it more accurately. Now, the trick is to look at it while the engine is upright, not on the kickstand. The 08 and newer don’t have a centerstand, so you’re gonna need a stand or a buddy to hold the bike up for you while you look.

Most of this stuff and more is covered on the Ninja 250 FAQ site: http://faq.ninja250.org

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