Crash and then Ninja 250, 300, or 600+?

[Ninja Rob]

So last night I got hit (from behind) at a stop (not a traffic light stop but exiting a parking lot) by some van because the driver thought I was already moving. I am fine. Glad I was wearing my gear because my foot somehow got a little injured but nothing bad. It's amazing how many people stopped to check if I was ok. I felt better after one of the people who stopped to check on me was also an older rider and told me that he had gotten hit before as well. I was fine. Just that I dropped my bike and I guess the impact of the van somehow caused my gas tank to get a puncture because it leaked gas for a while. My license plate is bent and all the reflectors on the license plate broke off except one.

So on to the topic of this thread. I am thinking about upgrading to a 300 because I just love the style and it's not too big (I am a short person) and I am graduating from college so it is like a reward for myself. However, after yesterday's incident, I feel that being heard can be a safety advantage. I know there are many other things that can help with safety such as bright lights, reflective vests, and a loud engine (and of course a high sense of awareness on my part). My ninja 250 can't be heard if your car windows are up. Since I am planning on upgrading in about 3 weeks, I don't want to invest all these bright lights on my bike. I would rather put them on my next bike. Which brings the question of the thread title. The 300 is not much louder than the 250 right? Is there a way to make it louder? I can equally put all the bright lights on all bikes, however, can I make the 300 as equally loud or almost as loud as a 600?
Give me tips, thoughts, ideas.
Thank you.

[ninjamunky85]

Loud pipes save lives is just a myth that is often put out there by the cruiser crowd. Situational awareness is a much more effective means of preventing accidents.

[allanoue]

If you crashed on your 250 then you have to get an R6. I think that is the law.

Originally Posted by ninjamunky85

Loud pipes save lives is just a myth that is often put out there by the cruiser crowd. Situational awareness is a much more effective means of preventing accidents.

[Sirref]

How much experience did you get on your pregen?

Really you should get what you want. There are plenty of bikes with a low seat height. Off the top of my head, the N650 and SV650 both have low seats as well as the triumph street triple R 675 I3. The N300 obviously has a nice low seat height, though for me it feels too low at times but I like sitting up higher while riding aggressively.

As for sound, obviously you never put aftermarket cans on your 250 if you're worried about it being too quiet. Our bikes can get properly loud with aftermarket headers and exhaust. I have a 2bros exhaust on my pregen and it's loud as hell to me, though I've heard the statement "that's the first time I've ever heard a 2bros that wasn't obnoxiously loud"

[ninjamunky85]

Yep, with aftermarket pipes the 250 can be just as loud as the 300. With no pipes they are even louder. The newer 600cc bikes are surprisingly quiet with the stock exhausts, easily quieter than my 300 with a full AreaP exhaust.

That being said, do cagers notice me more with an aftermarket exhaust vs stock? Nope

[Sirref]

Nothing beats the triumph STR with aftermarket cans to my ears though

love that I3 sound

[kxpower?]

Originally Posted by ninjamunky85

Loud pipes save lives is just a myth that is often put out there by the cruiser crowd. Situational awareness is a much more effective means of preventing accidents.

Exactly.

But, if you still want it louder I'll be the first to point out that switching to the K&N single pod R-0990 air filter makes it a much louder machine without becoming another crotch rocket with an obnoxious exhaust. And costs a fraction of what a muffler does.

But be prepared to futz around with the carbs if you do the filter or exhaust.

[LittleRedNinjette]

If you're looking for something to make you more noticeable when stopped go with better lights. I have a LED integrated tail light that strobes 3 times when you hit the brake. I have also seen lights you can put on the back that flash continuously when you are stopped.


All a loud pipe realy does is sound good.

fwiw, i have a 2bros on my 300 and it sound awesome.

[Ninja Rob]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

If you're looking for something to make you more noticeable when stopped go with better lights. I have a LED integrated tail light that strobes 3 times when you hit the brake. I have also seen lights you can put on the back that flash continuously when you are stopped.


All a loud pipe realy does is sound good.

fwiw, i have a 2bros on my 300 and it sound awesome.

Yeah, that's what I am thinking of getting. BRIGHT LED's on my bike and possibly my back that spells out "STOP" or something like that. I REALLY want to make as certain as possible that they know that I am there. I have not put an after market mods on my 250 since I am going to sell it to a co-worker, after repairing the gas tank puncture. Since you have a 300 and you might know about this, is it possible to put double mufflers on a 300? I like the look of two mufflers and when I get my 300, I will put two on it.

[kxpower?]

Originally Posted by Ninja Rob

Yeah, that's what I am thinking of getting. BRIGHT LED's on my bike and possibly my back that spells out "STOP" or something like that. I REALLY want to make as certain as possible that they know that I am there. I have not put an after market mods on my 250 since I am going to sell it to a co-worker, after repairing the gas tank puncture. Since you have a 300, can you put double mufflers? I like the look of two mufflers.

I have one of these in my garage, may go ahead and put it on after reading your story. http://www.dx.com/p/2-4ghz-waterproo...p-black-138191

It might be good for you too since all you do is wire the transmitter in, should be easy to move to your new bike.

[LittleRedNinjette]

Originally Posted by Ninja Rob

Yeah, that's what I am thinking of getting. BRIGHT LED's on my bike and possibly my back that spells out "STOP" or something like that. I REALLY want to make as certain as possible that they know that I am there. I have not put an after market mods on my 250 since I am going to sell it to a co-worker, after repairing the gas tank puncture. Since you have a 300, can you put double mufflers? I like the look of two mufflers.

If you can fabricate anything is possible. I've never see that myself but i don't doubt that it could be done. I would just imagine it would be a lot of work.

[Ninja Rob]

Originally Posted by kxpower?

I have one of these in my garage, may go ahead and put it on after reading your story. http://www.dx.com/p/2-4ghz-waterproo...p-black-138191

It might be good for you too since all you do is wire the transmitter in, should be easy to move to your new bike.

Looks awesome.

[LittleRedNinjette]

Originally Posted by kxpower?

I have one of these in my garage, may go ahead and put it on after reading your story. http://www.dx.com/p/2-4ghz-waterproo...p-black-138191

It might be good for you too since all you do is wire the transmitter in, should be easy to move to your new bike.

It looks like you're looking at robocop!

Good idea though, never seen one of them before.

[Ninja Rob]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

It looks like you're looking at robocop!

Good idea though, never seen one of them before.

Could also use my own traffic light on my back.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by allanoue

If you crashed on your 250 then you have to get an R6. I think that is the law.

As much as I love the R6 I'm not even sure if I would follow that route if anything happened to my 300. FZ6 is close enough though

[csmith12]

Ummmm... no, it aint.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Ummmm... no, it aint.

for the street, I know the difference between those bikes. I only really need/want a supersport for track use

[250rr]

Lots of options for louder pipes, as has been mentioned.

As the exhaust aims backwards, most of the sound goes behind you. With the average driver having tunes turned on, they won't hear you until you are even with them most of the time anyway.

That said, I find my loud pipes do work well in one circumstance: On the freeway after they have noticed me. If there is traffic it's harder to avoid staying out of people's blind spot. Not impossible, just harder. In the few moments I am in a blind spot drivers seem much less likely to pull into me when I am running loud exhaust. But that is a very narrow niche of time when I am quite close to the car in the lane next to me. Most of the time, loud pipes don't help you safety-wise.

[JohnnyBravo]

You wanna 300 get one... An go with area p for pipes

[ally99]

Originally Posted by Ninja Rob

Yeah, that's what I am thinking of getting. BRIGHT LED's on my bike and possibly my back that spells out "STOP" or something like that. I REALLY want to make as certain as possible that they know that I am there. I have not put an after market mods on my 250 since I am going to sell it to a co-worker, after repairing the gas tank puncture. Since you have a 300 and you might know about this, is it possible to put double mufflers on a 300? I like the look of two mufflers and when I get my 300, I will put two on it.

Try using modulating brake lights (or modulate them yourself). A GSXR-600 has a low seat height and a lot of pow-ah. The 300 sounds almost as quiet as the 250, but less like a weed-eater.

[catseye]

Originally Posted by Ninja Rob

Could also use my own traffic light on my back.

I swear, I keep hearing about people gettin whacked from behind at intersections more and more. Jeez, what the **** is wrong with people!?!
Perhaps a modulating stop light would help...can't hurt.....

[Hero Danny]

The 300 stock is actually pretty loud compared to the 250's (believe me, I'd know) You can obviously increase the sound with a slip on, I got mussari carbon fiber slip on for $250 on ebay and it works fantastically.

Some people think loud pipes don't save lives, but I believe they do to an extent. When I first got my bike (the newgen 250) I let me dad ride it and I couldn't hear it at all! Later on when I was selling my bike and let the kid test ride it I could hear that thing clear as day! I think people say "loud pipes don't save lives" because you cannot simply rely on it. But I do firmly believe it helps, whether it helps by a little, or helps by a lot is the debate. I'd say it helps a little.

As for if you should get the 300, I'd definitely recommend it. You'll notice the bump in power first time you ride it. Right around the 5-6k rpms you get a bit more pull compared to the 250. Also that fuel injection, better gauges, nicer looking body style, bigger back tire, ...along with much more improvements. It's off season you can probably get the best deal right now.

[Ninja Rob]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

The 300 stock is actually pretty loud compared to the 250's (believe me, I'd know) You can obviously increase the sound with a slip on, I got mussari carbon fiber slip on for $250 on ebay and it works fantastically.

Some people think loud pipes don't save lives, but I believe they do to an extent. When I first got my bike (the newgen 250) I let me dad ride it and I couldn't hear it at all! Later on when I was selling my bike and let the kid test ride it I could hear that thing clear as day! I think people say "loud pipes don't save lives" because you cannot simply rely on it. But I do firmly believe it helps, whether it helps by a little, or helps by a lot is the debate. I'd say it helps a little.

As for if you should get the 300, I'd definitely recommend it. You'll notice the bump in power first time you ride it. Right around the 5-6k rpms you get a bit more pull compared to the 250. Also that fuel injection, better gauges, nicer looking body style, bigger back tire, ...along with much more improvements. It's off season you can probably get the best deal right now.

What do you mean by off season? And how can I go about getting that best deal? The closest Kawi store is about an hour drive from where I live and I don't mind at all taking that drive.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by Ninja Rob

What do you mean by off season? And how can I go about getting that best deal? The closest Kawi store is about an hour drive from where I live and I don't mind at all taking that drive.

Off season... well I guess it depends where you live but in the winter time bike prices go down.

"kawi store" you can try calling first ask the prices, etc. If you wanna buy new then you can look for a left over from 2014 and get about $300 off. I'd look around Craigslist, you could probably find one for less than $4,000.

[ally99]

Now is off-season.

[superflytako]

The 300 is a fun bike, it's good all around fun and overall pretty comfortable for day trips.

Brake light modulator is awesome, it definitely helps at night to differentiate from cagers braking and I think it helps during the day too since its hard to see the single brake light on a motorcycle on bright days. This is the brake light modulator I ended up doing and I plan on getting another one for my next bike

[adouglas]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

Off season... well I guess it depends where you live but in the winter time bike prices go down..

Actually prices go down when new stock arrives and they have to get rid of leftovers to make room for the new bikes. That doesn't happen until late winter/early spring, generally.

You'll really only get significant deals on older (e.g. 2 model years old) bikes.

e.g.... I got my leftover 2011 GSX-R750, MSRP of 12K when it was new, for $9499 complete (including prep and destination) in March of 2013, plus the "use our money" zero-percent finance deal from Suzuki. One heck of a deal, that.

It was something I stumbled on just poking around the net, and it didn't last long... they had two of 'em.

[Sirref]

There's a 2012 street triple r still sitting at my local stealership that they just can't sell because everyone wants the '13/14 model after the change. I've been repeatedly tempted to trade in the 300 for it but it's not the right time in my life for me to have that bike. They also had a '12 zx6r around for forever with a 7,499$ price tag on it for the same reason.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by adouglas

Actually prices go down when new stock arrives and they have to get rid of leftovers to make room for the new bikes. That doesn't happen until late winter/early spring, generally.

Winter - late winter... you're arguing semantics. And I was more or less referring to used bike prices on craigslist. Once its time to winterize your bike people tend to just try and get rid of it instead of storing it.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

Winter - late winter... you're arguing semantics. And I was more or less referring to used bike prices on craigslist. Once its time to winterize your bike people tend to just try and get rid of it instead of storing it.

semantics matter, tax season is when dealerships want their stock gone. The issue here is that you're looking at a different market to purchase bikes from that behave differently. The craigslist market goes down across the entire winter unlike the dealership market.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by Sirref

semantics matter, tax season is when dealerships want their stock gone. The issue here is that you're looking at a different market to purchase bikes from that behave differently. The craigslist market goes down across the entire winter unlike the dealership market.

When I say "winter" i think that includes late winter... Goodness people can be such fact nazi's it's crazy.

[Sirref]

The problem is that businesses don't see seasons the same way that people do. They see the tax seasons. It's actually a fairly significant difference. Their sales in this case have nothing to do with winter it's just that they need to clear inventory for tax reasons and it happens to occur shortly before spring.

[ally99]

My local shop clears out the current years' models right now to make room for next years' stock.

[cbinker]

here is the thing, does not matter what pipes you had he would have still rear-ended you as you were stopped(idling not making much sound anyways) and he thought you were moving.

[Ninja Rob]

Originally Posted by cbinker

here is the thing, does not matter what pipes you had he would have still rear-ended you as you were stopped(idling not making much sound anyways) and he thought you were moving.

You have a point. The stop was actually a parking lot exit into a main street. The exit slopped downwards a little and she was in a van. Well now I know to be tactical when it comes to those situations.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by cbinker

here is the thing, does not matter what pipes you had he would have still rear-ended you as you were stopped(idling not making much sound anyways) and he thought you were moving.

+1 the pipe wouldn't help you in this situation, unless you were riding a Harley or something and to be honest, that probably wouldn't even work because the bottom line was the b**** wasn't paying attention and rear ended you, you could have all the reflectors and noise you want, if she's sitting there texting and driving she isn't going to realize you're there.

All that being said, sh*t happens, get the 300.

[LittleRedNinjette]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

+1 the pipe wouldn't help you in this situation, unless you were riding a Harley or something and to be honest, that probably wouldn't even work because the bottom line was the b**** wasn't paying attention and rear ended you, you could have all the reflectors and noise you want, if she's sitting there texting and driving she isn't going to realize you're there.

All that being said, sh*t happens, get the 300.

What's that got to do with it? Are you thinking size? Because i've heard some sport bike that are louder than some cruisers.

[Ninja Rob]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

All that being said, sh*t happens, get the 300.

I am, just saving up money. I found a very good one for $3,700 from a private owner
Model 2013, with 5 year warranty, under 200 miles, startdust white. I saw it in person. Beautiful bike.

[allanoue]

Originally Posted by Ninja Rob

I am, just saving up money. I found a very good one for $3,700 from a private owner
Model 2013, with 5 year warranty, under 200 miles, startdust white. I saw it in person. Beautiful bike.

jump on that

[LittleRedNinjette]

Originally Posted by allanoue

jump on that

+1!