OMG The Ninja 250 is Fun!

[Charlief]

I have one, in black, in my garage.  It belongs to a friend who just got her license.  I'm storing it for a couple of weeks till she gets shelter for it.

I've...ahem... kept the battery charged for her........

[CMDRDAVE]

I test rode a ninja 250 when I was looking for a bike for my wife.  It was a fun but short ride.  Good deal too, but we ended up with a rebel.  I wish she had liked the Ninja better.  But I still take the rebel out once a week and thrash it on my way to work 

[Bladecutter]

Ninja 250's can be a bunch of fun.
Doesn't matter if you're new to riding, want to commute to work on the cheap, or you've been riding forever, and you want something completely different than the other 13 bikes in your garage.

I have a slight confession to make.
I am Ian, and I'm one of the admins on www.ninja250.org, and have been since before there was dirt.
Well, since like, 2002, or something like that.

Anyway, I've owned both generations of bikes.
My first one was a bright yellow '02 that I bought new back in '01.
My second was a blue '08 that I bought in April of '08.

Now, this is just my personal opinion, but I owned the '02 for 4 years, and put 28k miles on it.
I owned the '08 for about 5 months, and put, maybe, 2800 miles on it.

I was done with the '08 after that much time.
I just never liked it.

Yes, the New Generation looks nicer, and it has better ground clearance, so you can really get your lean on, but they sacrificed the little bit of power that the Ninja 250 came with, and stripped away the personality of a little engine that would rev to the moon, and give you everything it's got in order to make you happy.

I really wanted to like it, but it was not to be.
Don't even get me started on the factory carb setting issues.

And this was 2 years ago when the bike was $3500.
Now the same bike costs you $4000.
Still no fuel injection. Still no restoration of the fun, lively little engine that could.

But, both are great bikes in their own right.

BC.

[zenjim]

Ninja 250's can be a bunch of fun.
Doesn't matter if you're new to riding, want to commute to work on the cheap, or you've been riding forever, and you want something completely different than the other 13 bikes in your garage.

I have a slight confession to make.
I am Ian, and I'm one of the admins on www.ninja250.org, and have been since before there was dirt.
Well, since like, 2002, or something like that.

Anyway, I've owned both generations of bikes.
My first one was a bright yellow '02 that I bought new back in '01.
My second was a blue '08 that I bought in April of '08.

Now, this is just my personal opinion, but I owned the '02 for 4 years, and put 28k miles on it.
I owned the '08 for about 5 months, and put, maybe, 2800 miles on it.

I was done with the '08 after that much time.
I just never liked it.

Yes, the New Generation looks nicer, and it has better ground clearance, so you can really get your lean on, but they sacrificed the little bit of power that the Ninja 250 came with, and stripped away the personality of a little engine that would rev to the moon, and give you everything it's got in order to make you happy.

I really wanted to like it, but it was not to be.
Don't even get me started on the factory carb setting issues.

And this was 2 years ago when the bike was $3500.
Now the same bike costs you $4000.
Still no fuel injection. Still no restoration of the fun, lively little engine that could.

But, both are great bikes in their own right.

BC.

Hi Ian!

[RetroSBK]

I LOVE the Ninjette!! I rode one at Streets of Willow last year and had a BLAST! All stock, right down to the tires, and you could slide it around and drag parts and make sparks... You should have seen the look on the guy on the 1098's face  (wish I did) when my buddy Gary PUSHED me by him on the front straight... Yeah, you read that right.. PUSHED me by.. AWESOME

I still think that a lil Ninja might be the perfect street bike... for anyone. But it IS damn hard to wheelie!

[bulldogs2k]

I friend let me use his 250 back a couple of years, and since that ride, I'm a firm believer that smaller bikes can-do!  When I get bored of my crf230l, I'll most likely find an older model since they can be had for CHEAP! 

[Goat_Herder]

Since I sold my M620, I have been toying with the idea of getting a small displacement bike (good MPG) for commuting.  The more I research, the more I realize that there just aren't that many options in the US.  Everything keeps on leading me back to Ninja 250.

Maybe I should save some for a new thread on commuter bike but it's good to know that pretty much everyone has good things to say about this little bike that could. 

[zenjim]

I friend let me use his 250 back a couple of years, and since that ride, I'm a firm believer that smaller bikes can-do!  When I get bored of my crf230l, I'll most likely find an older model since they can be had for CHEAP! 

We got a 2007 that had been taken care of meticulously (except for some requisite newbie scrapes on the fairing)  for $1600. You can't beat that.

[darkduke]

We just picked up a used 08 in red for my wife. Guess who got to ride it home for her? 

That little bike is a lot of fun, I've ridden it twice and I'm already looking for an excuse to take it to a track day.