[Woolley7325]

Hmmmmm. I'm a noob so my two bobs worth probably isn't worth much, but... I'll put it in anyway from the noob perspective.

I can tell how excited you are to do this ride from your original post. I feel the same way - had my bike for a month now, and want nothing more than to put her between my legs, so to speak. The key that I've learnt after joining this ninjette.org group though, is maintenance, and diligence in doing it. If you don't know much about your bike (which your post suggests you don't) then you need to learn before riding it. Especially 500 miles. What if your chain slips off? You get a flat? Your bike won't start after a pee stop? Your clutch cable breaks? Etc etc. Without that knowledge your pretty screwed and up for a few $$$ too, probably to repair something simple you could have done in 5 mins had you taken the time to learn some basics.

My advice; keep riding round your home at point of need; but get in the shed, get some tools, get reading on this forum, get reading on ninja250.org and tinker with your bike. You will learn quickly as I have done and grow to appreciate your bike, it's capabilities and it's temperament way more. They are not cars and can't be treated as roughly as a car, nor neglected as much as you can neglect a car.

I know your keen to do the trip, but my advice - patience! Your family ain't going anywhere and would like you to be as safe as possible when riding down to visit them.

I have to keep riding round my clothesline for a few more weeks yet till I get my bike sorted!!! It sucks but I'm still having tonnes of fun and getting much satisfaction from tinkering in my free time.