Opinions on gear and other things that a beginner needs to do or know.

[R250R]

Im waiting until February when the 2012 250r comes out in England and I want to get a £1000 or £2000 saved up just in case I lose my job.

I want some decent gear especially a helmet, Its got to be a Shoei.
I also want some leathers that will go with the ninja color scheme candy lime green. Ive looked at the official Kawa ninja gear but seems pricey in my country.

Also will be replacing the spark plugs, exhaust and the obvious seat cowl and fender eliminator and windscreen etc...

I will fit a sound system if I find a decent one for a reasonable price.

Is there anything you would definitely recommend to a new rider?

[CynicalC]

I use a SHOEI but there are a lot of quality helmet manufacturers. More important than brand name is using one that fits your head shape properly. Check the gear forum here for more info on gear.

No reason to replace spark plugs unless you have a problem, or it's part of scheduled maintenance. It's always good to have an extra pair on hand though for when you do need them.

[Lil_Green_Demon]

Buy deathproof insurance. It's required across the globe. Also, be careful of wild hitchhikers trying to hitch a hike on your bike.
You're in the UK? I bet @akima can warn you of a million things.

Oh! Don't forget to change the rear tire with the front and the front tire with the rear. It makes the bike more flickable in the corners!

[Jono]

[WhiteRice]

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[Havok]

Originally Posted by R250R

Im waiting until February when the 2012 250r comes out in England and I want to get a £1000 or £2000 saved up just in case I lose my job.

I want some decent gear especially a helmet, Its got to be a Shoei. brand names are nice and all but with helmets fit and comfort are way more important then the name. try a bunch on and see how the fit and feel. check web bike world for revies on noise/airflow and weight.
I also want some leathers that will go with the ninja color scheme candy lime green. Ive looked at the official Kawa ninja gear but seems pricey in my country. If you are getting leathers i would go with either Black or preferably white. Green wont match the candy lime green of the bike and with the bike being only one color a bit of contrast would make it stand out more. I say look at Dainese leathers, I am a total slut for Dainese gear though lol.

Also will be replacing the spark plugs, exhaust and the obvious seat cowl and fender eliminator and windscreen etc...No need to do anything with the spark plugs, Oil filters and oil need to be on that list.

I will fit a sound system if I find a decent one for a reasonable price. Earphones and an ipod FTW. to fit an external sound sytstem would be silly, you would never hear it at speed and at low speeds all you will do is annoy everyone around you. With you being new to riding you need to skip this one for a while and learn your bike and develop your skills first.

Is there anything you would definitely recommend to a new rider?

[akima]

lol at "Dainese slut"

Hmm... recommendations for a new rider... I can't think of anything really British specific. Oh! The police here do a really cheap advanced motorcycle day-course called bike safe. It's like £50, which is soooo worth it. I haven't been to it yet, but I'm definitely going along to one. It's a day event and you get to have a highly trained and experienced rider following you and helping you improve your riding.

I recommend you spend some time in the crash section of this website reading about other peoples accidents and the various assessments of what they could have done differently to avoid the accident: it's best to learn from other people's mistakes rather than learn first hand. Only today someone has made a post stating that they destroyed their new 2012 Ninja. We haven't got the details yet, but I imagine it was avoidable.

I recommend you stick to the Kawasaki-advised break-in procedure if only for the reason that it causes you to ride slow for your first 1000 miles.

ATGATT! All the gear all the time... no exceptions! It's worth it.

Learn how to confidently steer the bike using counter-steering, looking through turns and other things. Hammer this knowledge into your head. I've got into trouble 3 times already. The first time I got into trouble, I hadn't hammered those two key steering concepts into my head and as such I ended up in a ditch. The 2nd and 3rd times I got into trouble I looked right through the turn, confidently counter-steered, stayed off the breaks, stayed loose on the bars and... made it through just fine! I even got a kick out of it!

Riding is amazing: enjoy it. I'm sure you'll love your Ninjette.

[Error_mage]

May have misread, but a word of caution:
Well living in Germany and suffering some similar weather conditions, I’d recommend waiting until end of March before actually picking up the bike. Reasons being that the riding conditions are usually just bad/dangerous before that and doubly so for new riders. So waiting until the worse of the salt has washed off the road and temps back to where your tires can warm up within a reasonable time may be difficult, but the first ride will be much more enjoyable

Other than that, leathers look awesome and offer great protection, but textile may be easier for day to day and commuting purposes. So go with whatever fits your needs best and remember to actually wear all that expensive gear when riding

[R250R]

Originally Posted by WhiteRice

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[R250R]

Thanks for all your answers people

Will definitely wear all my gear all the time

I will take error_mage 's advice and wait until the weather cheers up, never fancied aquaplaning anyway

I'm going to consider doing as many courses as I can mostly to get my insurance premiums down

Going to check out Dainese and see whats cracking

Might put the stereo on hold for a bit, just thought it might be cool.

[ninjaprof]

Originally Posted by R250R

Thanks for all your answers people

Will definitely wear all my gear all the time

I will take error_mage 's advice and wait until the weather cheers up, never fancied aquaplaning anyway

I'm going to consider doing as many courses as I can mostly to get my insurance premiums down

Going to check out Dainese and see whats cracking

Might put the stereo on hold for a bit, just thought it might be cool.

I have had two Shoei's, but I am now 100% Scorpion. For me, they fit much better and are a lot quieter also. You should definitely consider Scorpion. Much cheaper too.

[R250R]

Ahh yes I love the graphics on Scorpion lids and the price is amazing!