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frozenphil posted:Really I'm just a squid at heart. It's not that the little Ninja can't do my highway commute just fine, it's that I want to pass people at warp 5. Everyone's a squid at heart to some degree. And yeah, weight loss is a super effective form of increasing performance, but that poo poo is hard and buying a more powerful bike is easy. Duh. And honestly, if I bought a 250, there'd be no reason to ever try and build the engine up...it'd be like squeezing blood from a rock. Just doesn't happen.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2010 20:33 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 20:08 |
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Z3n posted:And yeah, weight loss is a super effective form of increasing performance, but that poo poo is hard and buying a more powerful bike is easy. Duh. I finally tried on a Ninja 250 for size, I had this all picked out to be my starter bike... but that's an awkward fit. I'm a bit over 6' and only weigh 170, but drat that's a pretty small bike. Oh well, if I can be comfortable in a Miata one of these should be fine.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2010 20:37 |
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Weinertron posted:I finally tried on a Ninja 250 for size, I had this all picked out to be my starter bike... but that's an awkward fit. I'm a bit over 6' and only weigh 170, but drat that's a pretty small bike. I've been sort of tracking your progress. And I know where I am, and far be it from me to say anything about anything. Ever. But I'm 6'6", and a suzuki bandit was much more comfortable for me than any of the normal sportbike pack. No matter what you shouldn't get a bike just because you think you should, or because it's cheap, or because you like the idea of it. You need to get a bike because it's comfortable for you to ride and operate. If it's not comfortable, don't get it. Get a scooter before you try to operate a bike that doesn't fit you.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2010 23:06 |
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Weinertron posted:I finally tried on a Ninja 250 for size, I had this all picked out to be my starter bike... but that's an awkward fit. I'm a bit over 6' and only weigh 170, but drat that's a pretty small bike. I'm 5'11 and was ~170 when I bought my 250, and I was perfectly comfortable on it. But I also have a short inseam and a long torso, so my legs fit ok into the tank inserts. The bike feeling small isn't a bad thing, in fact, it's about ideal for a new rider because it'll boost your comfort on the bike.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2010 23:15 |
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I'm 6'5 and 240ish on mine. It's fine.Z3n posted:The bike feeling small isn't a bad thing, in fact, it's about ideal for a new rider because it'll boost your comfort on the bike. Yeah, this is true. I feel like I'm on a bicycle now, when I got it I felt a lot less comfortable. Riding a bigger bike doesn't sound scary at all anymore. Largely due to the fact that I've been able to get comfortable with the clutch/throttle and cornering having been able to manhandle the bike with my girth.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2010 23:18 |
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Out with the old... BT-45's were faithful to me for over 10,500 miles, but with a new season comes new tires...   Brand new set of BT-090's. These things are absolutely ridiculous. The rubber is so soft that when I was able to completely mount the tires by hand. They literally just slid on. The difference between these and the BT-45's is completely night and day. The 45's essentially come squared off from the factory (seriously, go look at a new BT-45 rear); they're heavy and were designed for cruisers, not this bike. With the 090's it literally feels like a completely new motorcycle. The 250 is flickable as it is, but with these tires the bike actually wants to be on its side with practically no effort. The first ride I took after I put them on I was in absolute awe..I was yelling "holy poo poo!" for a good 5 miles. Dunno how long they'll last, I'm estimating about 4000-5000 miles right now but we'll see. But yeah, anyone looking for a performance street tire go with the 090's, no contest. The tread extends all the way to the side so they should be acceptable in the rain too, though I haven't tested that yet. The rears are also a 140 as opposed to the stock 130 on the 250. The bike actually feels way more flickable with the 140 BT-090's than it did with the 130 BT-45's. No clearance issues, though I might trim the chain guard down a slight bit just so it doesn't rub if it vibrates during riding (it was a little close to the tire). I think the bigger tires improves on the aesthetics of the bike too.   This season is gonna rock.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2010 02:29 |
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frozenphil posted:Wear a helmet in the parking lot, Corky. Ahh, fair enough.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2010 03:52 |
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How long are these blocks and top ends good for? Looks like the asking price for an old-gen bike in good condition is $1500 locally. There's a 2002 with 95,000 miles that looks to be incredibly well maintained, and with new tires on it. Are motorcycle engines really good for that long?
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| # ? Mar 31, 2010 04:26 |
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They will make it that long with good maintenance and in order to make it that long they basically have to have been maintained. I'd buy it, ride for 10k, and then sell it as a bike with 5k on it  Only kidding. In high mileage situations, I want to either be able to easily make back my money and profit off of selling off only the big, easy to sell items, although 250s can be kind of a pain in the rear end to part (prices are low because there are a LOT of them out there), or you want to be able to swap in a low mileage engine + it being cheap enough for it to be worth your time. I'd say 500$ for the motor, so if the average price of one in good working order is 1500$, I'd probably say ~200-400$ is what my time is worth to swap an engine. That's if it's absolutely pristine, I hate buying high mileage bikes if they're not pristine because it means they've had a really hard life. tl;dr: 600-800$ is what I'd pay for it.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2010 04:38 |
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I just tried to install the front fairing for my Ninjette, and found it difficult to do so from the fairing stay being bent on the left side from a crash the previous owner didn't tell me about. I can't screw in the mirrors and fairing bolts without warping the fairing. I don't know how he managed to get the fairing on. Thanks, PO. Looks like this bike is destined to be a streetfighter, which my girlfriend is totally cool with. I just helped another friend buy a Kawasaki-green '99 250 with 9k miles for $1,100. His front fairing is cracked on the left side. So when he gets his "new-rider" bugs out, I'll be selling him my equally green fairing.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2010 17:50 |
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Just bend the fairing stay back into place, usually it'll only need to be tweaked a bit so you don't have to worry about it cracking or anything.
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| # ? Mar 31, 2010 18:41 |
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Today, I finally solved my revving issue. I hit up a new local shop here in Rochester that I found through a friend, and the mechanic there looked at my bike, riding it around, and recommended to me a fix. I went home and fixed it, and in turn hooked him up with my friend who just got a '99 250 today that had been parked since April. I u-hauled the bike to that shop which just so happened to be next to the DMV, so it's a perfect combo for registration->ridin'. Anyway, the fix was simply cleaning my air filter. I followed the instructions on ninja250.org and bingo. The idle rev level stayed static. And when I gave it throttle, it was much, much, much smoother. I took the gf on a spin and she's drat excited to get her license soon to take up that bike for her daily use.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2010 07:00 |
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-Inu- posted:
Is your chain rusty?
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| # ? Apr 2, 2010 17:01 |
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What spools have you folks found that work on the new gen 250? I got a set for Christmas and they just don't fit right, even after chasing the threads.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2010 17:26 |
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I have these(http://www.yanashiki.com/product_p/sas301bu.htm) and aside from having to strip a bit of paint off the threads they fit pretty nicely.
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| # ? Apr 2, 2010 21:05 |
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Chill_Bebop posted:Is your chain rusty? frozenphil posted:What spools have you folks found that work on the new gen 250? I got a set for Christmas and they just don't fit right, even after chasing the threads.
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| # ? Apr 3, 2010 01:32 |
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-Inu- posted:Out with the old... You had those BT-45s for 10500 miles? they still look decent, they don't seem to be showing any wear bars, pretty impressive. I can't be certain but I think my GS had it's original BT-45s for about 15k miles and the front was bald all over and the rear was down to its bars.
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| # ? Apr 3, 2010 01:51 |
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infraboy posted:You had those BT-45s for 10500 miles? they still look decent, they don't seem to be showing any wear bars, pretty impressive. I can't be certain but I think my GS had it's original BT-45s for about 15k miles and the front was bald all over and the rear was down to its bars.
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| # ? Apr 7, 2010 02:37 |
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I've really liked the Metzeler ME-88.
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| # ? Apr 7, 2010 02:45 |
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God I want to paint my bike white after seeing this. Edit: Why can't we get this, Kawasaki? WHY?!  Click here for the full 1280x960 image. frozenphil fucked around with this message at Apr 9, 2010 around 02:22 |
| # ? Apr 9, 2010 02:18 |
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That Pearl White 250R has been my iphone's wallpaper for a month now. White has always been my fave color on cars, and on a bike it's just too 
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| # ? Apr 9, 2010 14:51 |
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frozenphil posted:
More info please 
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| # ? Apr 9, 2010 15:13 |
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Looks like a naked Ninjette. Which is pretty awesome and really makes more sense for beginners than full fairings.
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| # ? Apr 9, 2010 17:57 |
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Cabledude posted:More info please It's apparently a photoshop of ZX750/1000 parts onto a 250. 
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| # ? Apr 10, 2010 20:48 |
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Are any of you hoisting Cobra F1/F1r slip-ons?
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 00:31 |
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I'm considering buying a Ninja once I get home from Iraq, but I have a few questions on the MSF. Generally, is it bring your own bike or do they have some there to learn on? Also has anyone kicked around the thought of slapping vinyl on their bike instead of having it repainted? There was a thread about vinyl in AI a few weeks ago, and if it's relatively inexpensive on a whole car, it's gotta be super cheap for a bike, not to mention easy to repair after a slam or something. I'm on board with those in love with the frost white bikes, and this seems like a worthy option.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 11:50 |
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MSF courses supply the bikes. The ones sponsored by the military *may* ask you to use your own, but I'm not sure.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 13:54 |
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That would be sorta jacked up if they had you bring your own bike to MSF, considering that in order to ride in the military, it is required that you have already taken the MSF. I haven't gotten around to asking anyone this (since it's going to be at least next riding season by the time I'll be some place where it will be semi-convenient to have a bike) but it might be worth asking if they consider the 250 to be a 'sport bike.' Depending on your branch, you might get stuck taking another course on top of the MSF to truly master your high performance steed. It's not really that big of a deal, but it is another step between you and being within regs. Edit: they used to consider the 250 to be a Standard, so no MSRC, but now with the new look, they might have freaked out an Admiral and reclassed it. Manawski fucked around with this message at Apr 11, 2010 around 14:51 |
| # ? Apr 11, 2010 14:48 |
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I must be thinking of the MSRC. I'm not in the military so I just read a thing or two.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 17:49 |
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-Inu- posted:Not rusty but it needs to be replaced in a hurry.   And yeah, I love white bikes/cars. The 2010 SE 675 is making me water at the mouth. The gixxer exhaust really fits that 250 well too.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 20:32 |
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-Inu- posted:And now it doesn't Good lookin chain, details?
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 20:37 |
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I saw that you're looking for a new chain. It's an RK GB520GXW. It's their top of the line chain, and it's X-ring which I prefer to O-ring (in reality for street riding there's not much of a difference though). The design of X-rings gives them multiple seals and less friction supposedly. Though I honestly just grabbed it because it was the only 520 we had in stock and I needed it that day. You would be fine with anything from DID, or RK if you want to spend a couple extra bucks. It has 120 links though, so you will have to break it down to what you need (106 links for an '08 with stock gearing, not sure about others).
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 20:57 |
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What kind of master link does it have? I'm looking for a rivet type, and dennis kirk isn't telling me what I need to know.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 21:04 |
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Girlfriends 250 has a very unstable idle. Bumps around .5 to 4k. Messing with the idle screw helps but its a constant fiddling practice. The bike sat for ~3 months outdoors before we bought it. It's ridable but not proper. What is to be done, please dont say clean the carbs because I am not up for disassembling, cleaning, reassembling carbs
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 21:11 |
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It's a rivet master link.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 21:11 |
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Endless Mike posted:I must be thinking of the MSRC. I'm not in the military so I just read a thing or two. Yeah, probably. You most certainly DO need to have your own bike there if you are going to be doing the MSRC (which is still hilarious because successful completion of the MSRC is required to ride a sportbike, which you have to ride to MSRC) 
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 21:19 |
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Ammanas posted:Girlfriends 250 has a very unstable idle. Bumps around .5 to 4k. Messing with the idle screw helps but its a constant fiddling practice. I like this sentiment. "What do I have to do? Don't tell me a likely solution because I don't want to do that." Was the gas stabilized at all when it was stored? Was it prepped for sitting for a while at all?
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 21:50 |
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yeah i know. i just want to hear want i want to hear and not what i dont want to hear, okay. nope! just sat with a full tank of gas.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 22:06 |
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Ammanas posted:yeah i know. i just want to hear want i want to hear and not what i dont want to hear, okay. Toss some seafoam in the gas tank and run the hell out of it. As much redline as you can do, get as much gas flowing through the carbs as possible. If that doesn't work, then you'll have to tear down the carbs.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 22:19 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 20:08 |
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Another tip I've heard is to get up to a higher rpm (like on the highway) and close the throttle quickly for a few seconds, repeating this a few times. Closing the throttle with all that vacuum sucks a bunch of gas through the smallest bits of the carb, the pilot jet. Combined with seafoam, that might help clean everything out enough to run better. I was just kinda making fun before. Cleaning the carbs isn't as bad as it sounds, Nerobro's thread is a nice resource if you've never done it before.
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| # ? Apr 11, 2010 22:33 |
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