(AKA Squid Videos!)
I don't really care what people think about how I ride. I try to be safe and considerate when I remember :D I also try to use common sense somewhat.
In other words, don't try to copy anything I show here. I cannot be held responsible.

I'm sure no matter how I ride I'll take heat from someone for being too wimpy or not man enough or just plain stupid. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

So here's some video of me on my 250. Camera is that mounted iPhone I was talking about. I'll add more videos when I can. At least gives you a sense of what it's like to be on a new gen 250.

Heading up the famous GMR/GRR (gets a little more intense as I go)
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Caught up to an older model Ninja 250 on my 250R. One lane road action on Glendale Ridge Road
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Got smoked by a GSXR 1000 when he merged up with me
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Tried a few clutch wheelies on the way home.
Had to have an empty tank, sit all the way back in the seat, go 10mph in first gear, pull in the clutch, rev to 10,000rpm with the throttle all the way open and let the clutch all the way out. Last attempt at :47 seconds I finally got the wheel off the ground 10" or so. You'd never know it from the angle on the camera for some reason but it got up a little bit :D The little ninja that could! Watch in the mirror shows it a lil better.

I'll do better ones next time, getting better every time I try. Used to be so much easier on my old bike.
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Bounce the front end before you dump the clutch. It'll stand up. I'd recommend practicing in a parking lot though.

the only squids i saw where on the shoulder of the road at about 0:25, and etc.

LOL I kid, I kid

Yeah I think the times I actually do get it up there I bounce it some at the clutch.

I might try second gear standing on the passenger pegs. Looks a little easier anyways.

I used to do them power wheelie style on my ol' 600.

One of the reasons I like this bike is I can learn clutch control better without worrying about killing myself so easily. :D You really gotta try to make it work on this one. Not gonna loop out on accident.

I'll admit that wasn't the best place for practice..

Looks like a great ride !
On the other hand using the whole width of the pavement should be reserved for the track.
You never know when someone is pushing it driving or riding from the other direction.
Great vids from an camara phone :thumbup:

Funny thing about that..

I have the other ten videos from today and never crossed the line once.
Only until a bike that was faster than me got in front of me did I lose focus and cross it twice in a row :eek: (either that or I was going around bicyclists)
It was not intentional.. or rather it was from me trying to keep up.

Something to learn from. I did see that mistake and stopped myself from going further.

You'll notice I pulled over and stopped tape shortly after to calm myself a bit. :o It seems to look slower on tape than it did in person.

The rest of the stuff that may look over the line might just be close. The camera is sort of off center line of the bike, being between the mirror and windscreen.

edit:
Also, would never push any blind corners. ;)

Thanks for pointing that out. Good for me to look back on this kind of stuff and learn from it. I like having the camera on the bike like that :D

Decent quality iPhone video!
Looks like a fun ride. Is it pretty crowded on the weekends?

I guess so!
You'll see the spot where I merge up with the gsxr.
Lots of bikes and cars parked right there chatting it up.
The weather was a perfect 75-80* down town today so was probably 65-70* up at 4,000' where all those bikes were!

Looks like we might be going back soon. Just gotta be careful up there. I don't even try to go (too) fast on the one lane part and leave clearance. Just fun cruise through the twisties. =)

wow.. love the scenery out there! Nice to live through the vids a bit while I stay inside away from our temps in the teens right now.. :(

Great videos. Thanks for sharing. :thumbup:

Not crossing the double yellow means living long enough to talk about the ride

I agree completely. Not something I make a normal habit of.
I think I just got frustrated cause I got my but kicked lol and lost control of the situation. I pulled off and stopped myself. Definitely bad to go over the yellows on purpose like that.

Pretty sure that rider was fairly dailed in on his bike. He's been up there before, riding that fast. I usually can keep up but he was on it for sure. Video can't tell much for depth perception and speed.

Thanks for the input guys. I got a few more from the 18/138 today I'm uploading. will post tonight or tomorrow. :thumbup:

Looks like a nice road..
Need to work on your lines a bit, work on getting the apex in the right place, and it will be alot more fun and you wont have to swing wide on some of those corners.

Yeah I'm used to cars at the moment. Breaking back into the bike.

Here's one from between Silverwood Lake and the 15 Freeway today on Highway 138..
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I think this bike dives a lot easier than my old bikes so getting used to that a bit too.

Up Highway 18 from the Waterman Canyon rd side street entrance..
(good video, if it's not uploaded yet, check back I'll be sure to fix it)
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Here's some pics from a few recent rides.
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I think this dead bush wants to ride my bike. It's all creepin' over the controls.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides001.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides003.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides006.jpg

Dig the contrast against the tree
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides010.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides011.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides013.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/tacklejunkie/todaysrides016.jpg

I wish we had the temps and the roads that you got there. My ride today was much more uneventful. I just ripped down the highway, and down some city surface streets, at 27°f. I HATE the cold, I get absolutely no pleasure from riding when its this cold, just transportation.

btw, that was some pretty good riding, sans the line crossing. How do like going from a 600 to a 250?

It would appear I need to learn more novice to intermediate control, so it doesn't bug me going down in size much.

The physical size of the bike feels about like my 2002 R6 did. About as squirrely too. lol

I could have went out and bought a used 600 or 1000.

Nope.. I wanted a brand new bike that I can learn to do everything to, and modify the crap out of for the money I have comfortably while paying for it. Even if it meant less power. I've ridden two used bikes already and they scare me enough without regards to my riding style.

I can't lie when I say I'd rather just smack open the throttle and do a power wheelie like nothing.. but I'd also rather learn more precision clutch control so being forced to clutch wheelie does exactly that.

No way this thing will power wheelie :D

The more power I have the more power I can be irresponsible with. I'm sure once I put a pipe and a few more mods on this thing it'll be a hair more powerful and I'll get used to popping it up and keeping it in one lane under pressure. No hurries.

My dream bike is a spankin new GSXR 750 to be honest. Little out of my budget range right now as far as brand new goes.. so I'm happy and thankful to have the little ninja I do have.

When it comes down to it..

This is the first bike I'm doing everything to.
When I look at the swing arm bolts and go "I wonder if those are tight"..
I don't get on the bike and keep riding it and wondering. I throw it up on the stands, grab the truck and head to the auto parts store for the sockets to fit the swing arm bolts. Grab the service manual and find the torque specs and any info about tightening the swing arm and do it.

My old bikes I did some mods to here and there but nothing more than electrical or asthetics. The rest the shop did or the previous owners did, and it would seem I had issues while riding it that could have been from things like bent rims I didn't notice when I bought it and play in the steering etc.

Scary stuff man. I gotta be making sure all that is good on any bike I ride from now on so had to buy new.

I have an excellent mechanical ability from other aspects of my life so I have no doubt I can adjust this entire bike from head to toe besides balancing the tires, in a manner that is correct with common mechanical sense or a service manual, forum or a combination of all three. :) Besides all that, I like to tinker. :rolleyes:

There is that peace of mind when buying new, but there is that extra charge that comes along with that.

The car im driving now, I paid 6k for, the last car I had I paid $500 for. Guess which one has broken down more. I drove the crap out of the $500 Toyota Corolla threw my senior year of high school, I put about 30k miles on it, and it never, not even once broke down on me, or left me stranded. The Ford Focus im driving now, has been towed more times than a track car, and I've spent at least 3k in repairs, some performed by a shop, some by me, and right now it is sitting immobilized in the front yard still needing thousands of dollars in repairs. My point is that buying a used vehicle is a complete mystery bag, especially if you don't inspect it well. I imagine riding a super sport bike with "character" would probably scare me into only buying new as well. end long somewhat OT rant.:o

Here's a few more wheelie attempts on video, although I don't have it down yet. Still just bumping the front tire up a foot or so. These vids a few days old already.

If you don't do everything right to get the wheel up, it don't come up. lol
For instance, if you leave out dumping the clutch all the way it won't come up and revs funny. If you don't sit all the way back in the seat and lean back it doesn't come up. If you don't rev it high enough it won't come up and if you don't bounce it won't come up. All while covering the brake and forgetting about the Oh sh*t factor of learning to clutch it up. :D

Give me some time. I will get this puppy to stand up :cool:
Of course, all my best attempts have been off video.

Here's three little weak ones..
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Here I get the wheel up pretty good on the second try but I forget to hold the throttle wide open and it comes right back down again.
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Another weak one from a stop sign
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Don't think of these videos as me showing off, think of them as me showing my progress. (obviously these wimpy wheelies aren't showing off!!) Getting a little better each time..

Second attempt at a wheelie in this video you actually get to see the ground in the rear view mirror. Forgot to post this one a few days ago before I took the bike apart..
I actually had a half tank of gas in it too. I guess I must be slowly figuring it out. Before long I should be able to hold it a little bit.

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Wish we had twisties like that in Fla.

There is that peace of mind when buying new, but there is that extra charge that comes along with that.

The car im driving now, I paid 6k for, the last car I had I paid $500 for. Guess which one has broken down more. I drove the crap out of the $500 Toyota Corolla threw my senior year of high school, I put about 30k miles on it, and it never, not even once broke down on me, or left me stranded. The Ford Focus im driving now, has been towed more times than a track car, and I've spent at least 3k in repairs, some performed by a shop, some by me, and right now it is sitting immobilized in the front yard still needing thousands of dollars in repairs. My point is that buying a used vehicle is a complete mystery bag, especially if you don't inspect it well. I imagine riding a super sport bike with "character" would probably scare me into only buying new as well. end long somewhat OT rant.:o

I think this says more about Ford vs Toyota rather than new vs used.


On topic though, I like the wheelie videos and I'm wondering, how do you handle the clutch when you wheelie? Do you use all or some of your fingers?

I'm still finding out which way I like handling the clutch the best myself.
I've been using my pointer and middle finger the most successfully.
Grip with pinky, thumb and ring fingers. They won't give in and let go. Try it with the bike parked put a bunch of weight on your two little fingers. They hold on good.

All I know is if you don't dump it fully, the front end wont come up and you might do all kinds of crazy stuff trying to recover :D I have to make sure I dump the clutch all the way and then don't touch it afterward or I can mess up bad. Just my opinion though and I'm obviously a new at it. lol

I've had it up there pretty good off camera. I can never get anything to work right on film.

Try using just your index finger to pull in the clutch. This way you have most of your hand holding onto the handle bar and there is no accidental pulling the clutch in when you start to come up. Just a thought as you're still figuring out the best technique for you. This is the way I like to do them. I'm not so good yet either but I've found it to be a comfortable grip.

I'm good this way now. The other way I was doing it before (I think three fingers on the clutch lever or something, not sure) wasn't so comfortable.

I'd try to wheelie and hit the clutch like three times total throughout the process and be all over the place. lol

Pretty sure I've broken that habit. I can't do one finger on the clutch for some reason.

I want to learn them standing in second soon but want to ride one in first sitting for 20 feet or so first just to show some control.

I've heard that standing wheelies are actually easier to control than sitting. I don't know personally, but its cool that you are progressing comfortably rather than diving in over your head.

The name of the thread involves: "Squid", so please tell me : Why the hell do you run the corners like you do :P ? Get your knee down, shift 1 gear down and rev the **** out of the little bike.

That's the thing. I don't cut corners like that. I never have until I had a GSXR 1000 in front of me on a ninja 250. lol
When I started getting my butt kicked all I could think about was gaining time instead of riding properly. That's not how I'd like to ride.

I never dropped knee yet either. Just bought my puck pants last week..:p
Probably been low enough, just never had pants.

Also, revs sound kinda low on the video for some reason. I know I was revving it higher than it seems on those films. Specially for the wheelies. Notice how they don't sound like they are at 10,000rpm? They are though.

Nice!

wow, what a beautiful area you live in, in each video/picture the roads and scenery is amazing. is all of socal like that? ive been wanting to visit for years. new york is pretty interesting but the landscape and roads cant even come close to what you got there.

stay safe man, im sure you're atgatt correct?

wow, what a beautiful area you live in, in each video/picture the roads and scenery is amazing. is all of socal like that? ive been wanting to visit for years. new york is pretty interesting but the landscape and roads cant even come close to what you got there.

stay safe man, im sure you're atgatt correct?

Cali is all desert until you get up into the hills or coastal valleys.
I went "back east" once to buy a car and drive it home and I should have stayed and never came back. lol
There was wild green grass and trees everywhere from Kentucky to Texas. Loved it!
I'm a big fan of green wooded or foresty areas. Hell even old towns with lots of big trees like Westlake or Simi Valley or Santa Barbera make me feel comfortable.


Always have all my gear on. 90% of all accidents will happen closest to home, so I even throw my gear on when I go to do something quick and small like grab some milk from 7-11.

First time I dropped my old bikes was at a stop sign a half mile from my house. Dropped it on my own boot cause my pants got stuck! If I didn't have my boot on would have broken my ankle! Now I am sure to put my feet down extra early to be sure they aren't stuck. Also, had several close calls right near home within a mile or two away!

ATGATT or your're asking for it. These things aren't toys, although we may treat them that way sometimes. Just spent a ton of money on riding pants I could have used elsewhere (Ahem full yosh system ahem!) but better safe than sorry.

Woohoo!
I did the K&N r-0990 mod and the Factory Pro stage 3 jet kit and the bike will stand right up now no problem. :D I scared the crap out of myself on the way home today when I revved to 10k and slipped the clutch, thing stood straight up! :D

That's all she needed was a lil more air and a lil more fuel. Now she's got enough pep to loop it easy :D

sweet more video?

sweet more video?

Yeah a new clip is in order. Major progress.
It's like a whole new bike for the third time.
I definitely got the bike to balance point yesterday. Much easier than before to where it surprised me. lol Actually had to LET OFF the throttle that time to bring it back down. Had 3/4 tank of gas too. (heavy)

I've tried quite a few wheelies on my bike. I just can't break the habit of leaning forward as soon as it comes up. I was doing well enough though, but I almost looped it when I tried a clutchless shift into second. After that I kept the bike on two wheels, except for a few times when I got bold.

Do you ever feel like what your doing is really bad for the bike when your trying to wheelie? Thats the main thing keeping me on the ground, that and the fact that I don't want to wreck it.:o

Just starting the bike is bad for it. lol
I don't want to jinx it talking about what could happen.

Just have to stay positive and safe and be as careful as you can. There's always a risk every time you ride one of these things especially doing wheelies with it. Yes, it's harder on the bike than normal use, that's for sure. Mainly the clutch, chain, transmission and engine..

I'd go so far as to say now that it's a bit more powerful it's not so hard on the bike though, too.
Although it's hard for me to try and explain that one logically.

At any rate.. I still need to tune the idle mixture and sync the carbs before I ride it anymore. (yes it gets more powerful still! without even adding any more parts!)
Wouldn't mind checking out the a/f ratio too or getting a dyno run.

I'd love to see some 3rd-person videos of your wheelies when you have a chance. Just set up your phone/camera on a curb or something and ride by!

Will do.
I'd like to see that also.

Looks odd from this view. (Until such time as to where I get good enough at it to where all the camera sees for several seconds is the sky, lol)

I'd have new footage already accept for California is undergoing one of it's biggest rain storms pretty much in the last decade. Been raining for days straight now with no sign of letting up. (And we sure need it!) Can't get out to warm up the bike and bring it home warm to adjust the idle mixture. Also I think I need a tool to adjust float height before idle mixture.

Once the rains stop and I get my carb adjusted I'll get out there and make a higher quality vid with bigger wheelies in it from a few different angles.

Also gonna order up a new mounting head for my RAM mount that will fit on my point and shoot video camera instead of the iPhone soon. Edit: Ordered. Better quality soon likely.

Also just a reminder, doing wheelies = checking all your fluids often! You'll spill coolant, oil and gas all over the bike so you'll have to clean things and inspect them more often. Just went out and bought some coolant yesterday to top off my res..

love your bike and keep on keeping on

lol
Still learning. Haven't had much practice at wheelies lately but gave it a shot really quick today.

Here's the crappy ones. Most of the time I just plain forget to depress the clutch all together. lol
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I keep popping it way the heck up but can't hang it for long.
I'll get it eventually. Could probably do it by now if I could put down the wrenches and soldering iron for 5 minutes.
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Here's a video just cruising around San Bernardino.
Check out all the snow! We got dumped on. My twistie run was cut short at the bottom of the hill.
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Great videos. I have a friend in the LA area. You have me wanting to take my bike out there.