First ride -- questions and observations

[evi1joe]

Rode about 29 miles today. First time on a bike in 15 years; first time on a semi-sports type road bike ever (dirt-biker as a kid).

Questions I have from first day:
1) Will this chipmunk-effect the cheek-pads are creating subside with use? I can't take trying to ride while being squeezed in a headlock (and the sinus congestion and infection aren't helping). Should I stuff pillows in the helmet to try to break the pads in? Let them spend the night under heavy ammo-cans?
2) How much sea-foam to pour in a tank? I just want to fill her up and give her a good cleanin' (or whatever that stuff does).
3) Throttle-response is choppy down low--how do I smooth that out? Also, what's the most economical way to get a bit more oomph down low? 1st gear seems to max out at 10-15mph...is exhaust, shims/re-jet, and snorkel removal the way to go? Anyone dyno the dan-moto or other sub-$100 slip-ons with shims and snorkel removal?

Things I learned not to do at my current experience level:
1) DON'T change my mind about taking a turn or try to go a different way (changing course takes time and pavement).
2) Riding in the cold without a helmet (it got delivered at 6pm) will make my eyes water and make it hard to see.
3) don't forget to downshift at the light...otherwise you'll stall and the cars ("cages") behind you will be annoyed.
4) warm up bike longer than 30 seconds before taking off and make sure the choke is set right to give you power or you'll roll into the road, give it gas, and cut off the engine.
5) the fairing doesn't move--stays straight--during turns (kinda threw me off from all the dirt bike days, where everything turns with the handlebars).
6) don't brake during turns when leaning...it causes a bad, unstable feeling, and I just end up gunning it to get my lift/mojo back.

[akima]

My only comment is that my helmet did shrink in size slightly and become more comfortable after I'd been wearing it for a couple of months.

As for the warm up thing. This guy made a good video on warming up the carb'd Ninjetted:

Link to original page on YouTube.

I've seen videos of people stalling cold-engine bikes mid turn and then tipping over.

[evi1joe]

Interesting. Thanks. It was like 50 degrees out, and I didn't let it warm up 5 minutes...it was dying with no warm-up, so I let it sit for a minute or just left the choke on a bit (I can't remember now). 5 minutes seems a bit long for anything over freezing.

"I've seen videos of people stalling cold-engine bikes mid turn and then tipping over." <-- this reminded me to add my #6 thing I noticed.

[Boom King]

1) Cheek pads will break in a bit over time from normal wear. They should not create too much pressure though that you feel like you're in a head-lock.

2) 1 oz. per every gallon of gas

3) The bike runs pretty lean from factory, some more than others, and thus, there's not much torque down low. Easiest and cheapest way to help remedy this is to shim the needles.

[evi1joe]

Will def look into needle shimming--where do I get the shims (they're just washers right?)? I keep hearing about people TURNING something 2.5 turns or whatever...what are they adjusting? Should I fool with it? )

[ForceofWill]

Originally Posted by evi1joe

Will def look into needle shimming--where do I get the shims (they're just washers right?)? I keep hearing about people TURNING something 2.5 turns or whatever...what are they adjusting? Should I fool with it? )

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9465

[akima]

As for your number 6 point. My motorcycle instructors told me that it's best to do all your braking before the turn. If you do need to brake mid turn then it's far safer to touch the back brake a bit than to touch the front. If you really need the stopping power of the front brake during a turn then you need to stand the bike up first and then apply your heavy braking. I've only once accidentally [and stupidly] applied my front brake during a turn. I felt the front wheel immediately start to loose traction. Thankfully I let go of the brake quick enough to avoid a crash. Scary moment though and I've had the good sense not to repeat my mistake.

[Alex]

I hope the creator of that video isn't on this site. But whether they are or not, the point of the video is completely off-base. You don't need to sit with the bike idling for 5 minutes (or even close) before riding away, and it's not helping the engine a bit. The engine will warm up much quicker while under a light load, which means rolling away as soon as it's not stalling. Leave the choke on for a minute or two while first starting out if it needs it, but soon it can put turned all the way off while you're still riding.

How do you warm up your ninjette?

[greg737]

Here's what they're doing with the "2.5 turns": http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/How_do_...dle_mixture%3F

It's worth doing, makes the bike idle better. Downside is that the idle mixture screw heads are capped off to prevent you from adjusting them. Thank the EPA for that. So you have to remove the carbs then drill and pop out the plasic plugs. http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Removin...re_screw_plugs

If your bike is used there's a chance the prior owner already did this. You can take a look at the carbs to see if the plastic plugs have been removed.

[akima]

Originally Posted by Alex

I hope the creator of that video isn't on this site. But whether they are or not, the point of the video is completely off-base. You don't need to sit with the bike idling for 5 minutes (or even close) before riding away, and it's not helping the engine a bit. The engine will warm up much quicker while under a light load, which means rolling away as soon as it's not stalling. Leave the choke on for a minute or two while first starting out if it needs it, but soon it can put turned all the way off while you're still riding.

How do you warm up your ninjette?

Ooops! Sorry for the bad link

Personally I just give my bike about 30 seconds to warm up, though it's EFI, so I guess it's different. When I first turn my bike on it revs up to about 2200RPM by itself. I can hear it lowering the revs as it gets warmer. It tends to idle at about 1800 when it's nice and toasty!

[HKr1]

What kinda helmet? If its a Shoei, you can change the cheek pads out for smaller/thinner ones. I had to on both mine, the ones that come with are too fat for my big head.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by akima

If you do need to brake mid turn then it's far safer to touch the back brake a bit than to touch the front.

I'm not sure I'm fully on board with this. There are a few problems with braking while turning, regardless of front or rear. While leaned over, there is less traction available for braking, and when we do apply the brakes while leaned over, it affects the geometry of the bike as it pitches forward a bit, making it more challenging for the bike to hold the intended line. In most cases it will cause a bike to run wider than it would have otherwise, but not all.

Applying rear brake for the first time while leaned over isn't going to do much to help the rider make the turn. If you apply enough to slow the bike at all, you're getting close to the traction limit of the rear anyway. Once it hits that limit the rear will start to slide, and the rider instinctively picks the bike up and slides straight. If you're not approaching the traction limit, you're barely braking at all, so it was unlikely to be necessary in the first place.

Applying the front brake allows for harder braking, but does affect the geometry of the bike a bit more as the front end dives, and doesn't allow for truly hard braking until the bike is lifted up out of the turn.

Safest and most reliable way on the street is what you described as well, set your speed before the turn, and apply moderate power throughout the turn. If you do need to brake while in the turn due to an unavoidable obstacle, then do so very smoothly and carefully, whether using front, rear, or both. But if you feel you need to brake because you're already in the turn and it feels like you're going too fast, braking is probably the worst option, when simply leaning more and being smooth on the controls will likely be more than enough to take you safely through.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by akima

Personally I just give my bike about 30 seconds to warm up, though it's EFI, so I guess it's different. When I first turn my bike on it revs up to about 2200RPM by itself. I can hear it lowering the revs as it gets warmer. It tends to idle at about 1800 when it's nice and toasty!

Yup. One of the advantages of FI is that the bike is going to behave much better when it is cold, prior to getting everything up to operating temp compared to a cold-blooded carbed engine. But in practice, the right thing to do to warm up either is pretty much the same thing, except you can use the choke on the carbed bike to give it a bit more fuel manually while it's still cold (the FI bike handles it automatically).

[akima]

Originally Posted by Alex

I'm not sure I'm fully on board with this. There are a few problems with braking while turning, regardless of front or rear. While leaned over, there is less traction available for braking, and when we do apply the brakes while leaned over, it affects the geometry of the bike as it pitches forward a bit, making it more challenging for the bike to hold the intended line. In most cases it will cause a bike to run wider than it would have otherwise, but not all.

Applying rear brake for the first time while leaned over isn't going to do much to help the rider make the turn. If you apply enough to slow the bike at all, you're getting close to the traction limit of the rear anyway. Once it hits that limit the rear will start to slide, and the rider instinctively picks the bike up and slides straight. If you're not approaching the traction limit, you're barely braking at all, so it was unlikely to be necessary in the first place.

Applying the front brake allows for harder braking, but does affect the geometry of the bike a bit more as the front end dives, and doesn't allow for truly hard braking until the bike is lifted up out of the turn.

Safest and most reliable way on the street is what you described as well, set your speed before the turn, and apply moderate power throughout the turn. If you do need to brake while in the turn due to an unavoidable obstacle, then do so very smoothly and carefully, whether using front, rear, or both. But if you feel you need to brake because you're already in the turn and it feels like you're going too fast, braking is probably the worst option, when simply leaning more and being smooth on the controls will likely be more than enough to take you safely through.

Everything you've just said echos what I've learnt from reading Keith Code's book and what my instructors have said. Keith Code does say though that it's ok to use the rear brake a little during a turn. When I mentioned mid-turn rear braking, I was only doing so to point out that it was a possibility not that it's usually a sensible thing to do. I myself (and you too based on what you just stated) would much prefer to resolve a mid-turn problem through steering, not through braking.

Originally Posted by Alex

(the FI bike handles it automagically).

Fixed that for you

[greg737]

cold-blooded carbed engine

You can't blame it all on the carbs. The EX-250 cooling system is pretty rudimentary. And this makes the EX-250 cold-natured.

That's what the guy (Bill) who developed the Thermo Bob was trying to correct on the Kawasaki's KLX, KLR and Versys motorcycles. The EX-250 cooling system is the same as these other Kawasaki products. http://members.cox.net/watt-man/TB%20Testing1.htm

[Numbersix]

True on 4 wheels, probably more so on 2: Slow in, fast out.