ninjette.org - View Single Post - First Impressions

Gearbox Paul · August 12th, 2020, 08:46 AM

I just purchased a 2010 Ninja 250r a couple weeks ago. I wanted to share my first impressions of the bike. The bike has about 20000 km (about 12K mikes), it has a Yoshimura TRC slip on exhaust, fender eliminator, Lightech frames sliders, flush mount front turn signals, and handle bar end caps. As far as I can tell, the rest of the bike is stock. The bike also has cracked fairings on both sides, one side repaired, the other still cracked.

The good:
- Bike appears to be mechanically sound as best I can tell. I have no idea on the maintenance history of the bike, as the previous owner was clueless as to what maintenance had been done and what had not.
- It starts beautifully and it idles well (after I reduced the idle speed to spec).
- The shifts are very smooth and consistent.
- The bike has good power pretty well throughout the RPM range, obviously with 9-11K being the sweet spot.
- I've had the bike up to 100 mph for a minute or so on a flat highway with little wind. At that speed, it ran smooth. It vibrated but not excessively. I was riding upright, and at that speed, it pretty well ran out of juice. Had I been riding in a racing tuck, I think the bike would easily do 105 maybe 110.
- Braking is good on both front and rear. Neither disk appears to be warped.
- I haven't pushed the bike through curves or riding on twisty roads so I can't comment yet on handling.
- The Yoshimura pipe has a beautiful sound. It's quite loud, likely illegal for street use, but no worse than many of the Harleys on the road.
- The bike looks really good, even with some cracks in the fairings (which I plan to repair in the off season). The red colour is brilliant, the fender eliminator cleans up the rear very nicely, and one of the previous owners put some red detailing tape on the rims which makes these stand out nicely. I've had a few comments from strangers about how good the bike looks.

The not so good:
- The seat is not that comfortable, at least not for long rides. It's pretty hard and lacking some padding in my opinion.
- The mirrors don't extend far enough. I'm not a big guy but can see always my arms and shoulders on the inner 1/3 to 1/2 of the mirrors, no matter how wide I try to adjust them. It's livable but unfortunate that Kawasaki didn't make these a couple inches wider.
- Rear seat storage is pretty well non-existent - a pack of cigarettes maybe. I can't really fault the bike for that, especially for sport bike.
- Fuel economy is not great, but not terrible. I got 60 mpg Imperial or 50 mpg US on my first tank. This was mostly highway driving at about 75 mph. I thought it would do a little better than that but I'm not concerned with it. I bought the bike for fun riding, so I'm not concerned about the fuel economy.

All in all, after 2-3 weeks, I'm very pleased with the bike. I didn't pay much for it and it has exceeded my expectations. Not hard to see why this bike was such a large seller and has such a following.

August 12th, 2020, 08:46 AM	#1
Gearbox Paul ninjette.org member Name: Paul Location: Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada Join Date: Jul 2020 Motorcycle(s): 2010 Ninja 250R, 2007 CBR 125R (sold) Posts: 57	First Impressions - Ninja 250r I just purchased a 2010 Ninja 250r a couple weeks ago. I wanted to share my first impressions of the bike. The bike has about 20000 km (about 12K mikes), it has a Yoshimura TRC slip on exhaust, fender eliminator, Lightech frames sliders, flush mount front turn signals, and handle bar end caps. As far as I can tell, the rest of the bike is stock. The bike also has cracked fairings on both sides, one side repaired, the other still cracked. The good: - Bike appears to be mechanically sound as best I can tell. I have no idea on the maintenance history of the bike, as the previous owner was clueless as to what maintenance had been done and what had not. - It starts beautifully and it idles well (after I reduced the idle speed to spec). - The shifts are very smooth and consistent. - The bike has good power pretty well throughout the RPM range, obviously with 9-11K being the sweet spot. - I've had the bike up to 100 mph for a minute or so on a flat highway with little wind. At that speed, it ran smooth. It vibrated but not excessively. I was riding upright, and at that speed, it pretty well ran out of juice. Had I been riding in a racing tuck, I think the bike would easily do 105 maybe 110. - Braking is good on both front and rear. Neither disk appears to be warped. - I haven't pushed the bike through curves or riding on twisty roads so I can't comment yet on handling. - The Yoshimura pipe has a beautiful sound. It's quite loud, likely illegal for street use, but no worse than many of the Harleys on the road. - The bike looks really good, even with some cracks in the fairings (which I plan to repair in the off season). The red colour is brilliant, the fender eliminator cleans up the rear very nicely, and one of the previous owners put some red detailing tape on the rims which makes these stand out nicely. I've had a few comments from strangers about how good the bike looks. The not so good: - The seat is not that comfortable, at least not for long rides. It's pretty hard and lacking some padding in my opinion. - The mirrors don't extend far enough. I'm not a big guy but can see always my arms and shoulders on the inner 1/3 to 1/2 of the mirrors, no matter how wide I try to adjust them. It's livable but unfortunate that Kawasaki didn't make these a couple inches wider. - Rear seat storage is pretty well non-existent - a pack of cigarettes maybe. I can't really fault the bike for that, especially for sport bike. - Fuel economy is not great, but not terrible. I got 60 mpg Imperial or 50 mpg US on my first tank. This was mostly highway driving at about 75 mph. I thought it would do a little better than that but I'm not concerned with it. I bought the bike for fun riding, so I'm not concerned about the fuel economy. All in all, after 2-3 weeks, I'm very pleased with the bike. I didn't pay much for it and it has exceeded my expectations. Not hard to see why this bike was such a large seller and has such a following.