ninjette.org - View Single Post - 2012 Ninja 250r SE

SuperAmp13 · March 31st, 2014, 08:49 PM

So, I think this is my first post to this site, and man has it been a long time coming. (And a lot of willpower to not post prematurely)

I bought this bike brand new in April of 2012, and to be honest always found the look of the bike to be boring and not me. It is my first street bike, and was itching for the warranty to expire so I could take a winter and make her my own.

I love old bikes. I have a soft spot for nostalgia. My first thought was to turn Ninjana into a custom cafe racer, but having never worked on a motorcycle before to that extent, I figured I would start off with an easier project and go custom street fighter. When starting to figure out my designs, I noticed that a lot of 250's that are turned into street fighters look very similar. I wanted to be as unique as I could, but used a lot of inspiration from this site and others to find what I liked and what I didn't.

After countless hours and lot's of figuring things out...I am happy to call her mine.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Here is her story.

The day I bought her.

I immediately took off those hideous decals.

After the first season, I swapped exhaust cans for a Dan-Moto Carbon GP slip on, and blacked out the windscreen.

After the second season I still was not satisfied and had an itch I couldn't scratch. I knew I needed to make her custom somehow. This is the initial teardown, before I even had an idea of what I wanted to do.

Then I started with a fender elimination, new handlebars, and a seat cowl.

Then she got naked. Really, REALLY naked. I did a rejet, Kleen Air System removal, new plugs, and a full once over just to get her purring.

This is when it got fun. While she was in this condition I took about 2 weeks and did about 5 renderings of what I could do. I ended up choosing one, and just went for it.

This is when she got a healthy coating of Plasti Dip, which...is amazing, btw.

And I ordered up some new parts.

I was itching to fire her up, so I threw on the tank and some exhaust tape to blacken the pipes and give her a consistent look. (Funny story about exhaust tape, when you first start your bike after putting it on, it smokes. Like a LOT. I thought my bike was on fire. I ended up taking it apart, checking for melting wires or anything that was on fire, only to realize that it was the tape. There is apparently an oil in the fiberglass that needs to burn off. Moral of the story is, if you use exhaust tape and it starts to billow smoke and smell like there is a cat burning alive inside your engine...don't worry...everything is fine)

I wired up the new speedo, which is a Dan-Moto 180 Digital Cockpit.

And I put her all back together. I hope you all enjoy the look, and I would love to hear from anyone/everyone what you think. I am super bias and proud of the result, but that is mostly because she was conceived in my mind and I literally put every second of work on this project on my own. Being my first automotive project like this...it's a sense of accomplishment hard to replicate. Enjoy, and if you see me riding around your neighborhood, don't forget to throw me a 2 finger wave.

(Oh, BTW. I had not finished all the wiring when I took these pics, so just...you know...act like those hideous wires are not really there)

March 31st, 2014, 08:49 PM	#1
SuperAmp13 ninjette.org newbie Name: Adam Location: Boston, MA Join Date: May 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2012 Kawasaki Ninja 250R Posts: 9	2012 Ninja 250r SE - Winter Project...Streetfighter Version. So, I think this is my first post to this site, and man has it been a long time coming. (And a lot of willpower to not post prematurely) I bought this bike brand new in April of 2012, and to be honest always found the look of the bike to be boring and not me. It is my first street bike, and was itching for the warranty to expire so I could take a winter and make her my own. I love old bikes. I have a soft spot for nostalgia. My first thought was to turn Ninjana into a custom cafe racer, but having never worked on a motorcycle before to that extent, I figured I would start off with an easier project and go custom street fighter. When starting to figure out my designs, I noticed that a lot of 250's that are turned into street fighters look very similar. I wanted to be as unique as I could, but used a lot of inspiration from this site and others to find what I liked and what I didn't. After countless hours and lot's of figuring things out...I am happy to call her mine. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Here is her story. The day I bought her. I immediately took off those hideous decals. After the first season, I swapped exhaust cans for a Dan-Moto Carbon GP slip on, and blacked out the windscreen. After the second season I still was not satisfied and had an itch I couldn't scratch. I knew I needed to make her custom somehow. This is the initial teardown, before I even had an idea of what I wanted to do. Then I started with a fender elimination, new handlebars, and a seat cowl. Then she got naked. Really, REALLY naked. I did a rejet, Kleen Air System removal, new plugs, and a full once over just to get her purring. This is when it got fun. While she was in this condition I took about 2 weeks and did about 5 renderings of what I could do. I ended up choosing one, and just went for it. This is when she got a healthy coating of Plasti Dip, which...is amazing, btw. And I ordered up some new parts. I was itching to fire her up, so I threw on the tank and some exhaust tape to blacken the pipes and give her a consistent look. (Funny story about exhaust tape, when you first start your bike after putting it on, it smokes. Like a LOT. I thought my bike was on fire. I ended up taking it apart, checking for melting wires or anything that was on fire, only to realize that it was the tape. There is apparently an oil in the fiberglass that needs to burn off. Moral of the story is, if you use exhaust tape and it starts to billow smoke and smell like there is a cat burning alive inside your engine...don't worry...everything is fine) I wired up the new speedo, which is a Dan-Moto 180 Digital Cockpit. And I put her all back together. I hope you all enjoy the look, and I would love to hear from anyone/everyone what you think. I am super bias and proud of the result, but that is mostly because she was conceived in my mind and I literally put every second of work on this project on my own. Being my first automotive project like this...it's a sense of accomplishment hard to replicate. Enjoy, and if you see me riding around your neighborhood, don't forget to throw me a 2 finger wave. (Oh, BTW. I had not finished all the wiring when I took these pics, so just...you know...act like those hideous wires are not really there)