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Old August 12th, 2020, 08:46 AM   #1
Gearbox Paul
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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.
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Old August 12th, 2020, 09:40 AM   #2
CC Cowboy
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As far as the seat and mirror problem most people just eat more pizza and try to get a bigger ass at the same time don't do any arm exercises and your arms should shrink enough to see in the mirrors. Kawasaki intentionally made the storage area tiny in an effort to get people to stop smoking. The loud exhaust is an excellent choice because Harley riders will think you're one of them when you pass them on the highway.
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Old August 12th, 2020, 01:25 PM   #3
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Yeah, not much storage compared to earlier pre-gen models. I just have toolbox and registration papers in there and that's it. I actually used that toolkit once on group-ride when I had to remove fairing-panel to tighten radiator hose-clamp. Search for rack or cargo-box here and it may bring up some options. My wife's been bugging me to install top-box for while, might make custom-rack for that soon.

I've got 2008 commuter and 2009 race-bike. Seat on racer has thinner and harder foam. Not sure I notice difference in comfort. But then again, I sat on bare carbon-fibre seat on for 15-years while racing bicycles.

Might want to try padded cycling shorts to see if that's more comfortable. Also all sorts of shorts with gel-inserts and padding. Maybe double it up with gel-seat cover too! I'm pretty sure after month of riding, you won't notice it any more.
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Old August 12th, 2020, 01:50 PM   #4
rstnick
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Welcome Paul.

The seat and mirror issues I can relate to.
I've bought an AirHawk seat cusion for my ZRX, and have just ordered another for the 250R.
Worked well on the 750 km ride the wife and I took to Sudbury and back.
Now Lisa thinks she would like to try an AirHawk on the 250R.

Have also bought mirror extenders off ebay.
They will have to wait until maybe Winter, as I see now the fairing all have to come off to take the mirrors off!

Post up some pictures of your 250R.

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Old August 13th, 2020, 10:20 PM   #5
Gearbox Paul
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Thanks for the replies. Here’s a pic of my Ninja
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Old August 14th, 2020, 04:13 AM   #6
csmith12
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Old August 14th, 2020, 06:09 PM   #7
BoBO
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Welcome, a red 250 sure looks good!
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Old August 17th, 2020, 11:46 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoBO View Post
Welcome, a red 250 sure looks good!
Yeah! Red really looks good! And red rim-stripe adds some good detail!

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Old August 18th, 2020, 05:05 PM   #9
Gearbox Paul
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Thanks, I think so too!
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Old August 20th, 2020, 09:42 AM   #10
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I put a tailpack on mine, and it works really well. I bought a Kriega pack and can change out the bag depending on what I need. Usually I keep the 10L on it but we also have a 30L.
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Old October 13th, 2020, 12:56 PM   #11
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I too am new to the Ninja world. I have a 2011 with 1980 miles on it. It has sat almost a year--my sister gave it to me. I just had the carbs done and it runs like a charm. In the process of going LED and a fender eliminator kit. this is my first bike and im still learning.

Its a quick little bike no doubt!
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Old October 13th, 2020, 03:27 PM   #12
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Hi Nigel and welcome to Ninjette!

You're gonna have so much fun on this bike!
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Old October 13th, 2020, 05:11 PM   #13
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Welcome, Nigel!
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