Excellent advice from Sendler, who is an accomplished motorcycle hypermiler in his own right. It's been great to see him on this forum, even though he jumped ship to the Honda CBR250 camp, he continues to share his knowledge and experience with others interested in maximizing their fuel economy.
When I first got my Ninja I had assumed that it would get around 70 mpg pretty consistently. After my baseline testing in stock configuration I found that was not the case; with some effort I broke 70 mpg and my lowest tankfill was 59 mpg. I agree with Sendler that average fuel economy in the
60+mpg is a realistic goal with efficient riding techniques. With my streamlining and gearing mods I'm now averaging over 80 mpg with a best tankfill of 104 mpg. While the Ninja 250 is not the absolute best starting point for a Vetter Challenge bike it offers great performance at low price due to their large numbers in the used market. Where else could you get a $700 motorcycle, spend another $30 and some sweat equity and have a 100mpg + bike that can go 70 mph into a 30 mph wind, carry 4 bags of groceries and still be a blast to ride?
