Ninja 250 Highway Driving/Top Speed?

[Old Lemon]

ive topped out at 109 throttle pinned in 6th i think like 11.5k rpms. the only performance mod is a full yoshi but i dont know if it has been jetted or not since i bought it with the exhaust and he didnt say anything about jetting

[menikmati]

Originally Posted by Old Lemon

ive topped out at 109 throttle pinned in 6th i think like 11.5k rpms. the only performance mod is a full yoshi but i dont know if it has been jetted or not since i bought it with the exhaust and he didnt say anything about jetting

I'd suggest either talking to the previous owner or opening up your carbs to see what you have, or just do a spark plug check.

[gallardo73]

I am 5 "7 and 235 lbs (overweight I know) and my ninja does not go over 90 mph no matter how hard I try downshift to 5th gear at 70 mph and try to go to 12000 rpm before shift to 6th gear but no matter what i do it will not go over 90 mph please help!!

[gallardo73]

hello guys! please help I am 238 lbs and 5 7" height (fat i know ) and my bike (stock) wont go over 90 mph no matter what I do to it I try to go almost to redline upshifting but no matter what i do it wont go over 90 mph..
guys any ideas? thank you

[gallardo73]

hello guys! please help I am 238 lbs and 5 7" height (fat i know ) and my bike (stock) wont go over 90 mph no matter what I do to it I try to go almost to redline upshifting but no matter what i do it wont go over 90 mph..
guys any ideas? thank you

[Jiggles]

Woah, you gained 3lbs in 19 minutes?

[gallardo73]

noooo jiggles i meant 235 lbs any ideas??
no need to be cruel either

[Jiggles]

Ideas? I think your speedo may be too accurate

[gallardo73]

?????

[thomason2wheels]

Originally Posted by Yakaru

I'm a tiny thing @ 100 lbs, but I can run at ~85MPH at 11k RPMs when I go between Vegas and LA on weekends; this is with stock sprockets -- from what I've read swapping my front out will lose about 1k RPMs at the same speed.

Yes... i strongly recommend the one tooth change on the countershaft. With that one change you can cruise at an indicated 57 at 6k rpms. The bike feels so much happier on the highway. I bet it will make a big difference in engine life too.

[thomason2wheels]

Originally Posted by gallardo73

hello guys! please help I am 238 lbs and 5 7" height (fat i know ) and my bike (stock) wont go over 90 mph no matter what I do to it I try to go almost to redline upshifting but no matter what i do it wont go over 90 mph..
guys any ideas? thank you

Go for a taller windscreen, that probably has less drag than your aerodynamically 'dirty' body. My guess is you might pick up 5 or more mph. Hey i am 6ft4in and about your weight and with stock gears an indicated 90 was pretty easy with some throttle left. Try dyno tune with a good exhaust and i bet u breakthe ton easy. Anybody else agree?

[Asspire]

Originally Posted by gallardo73

hello guys! please help I am 238 lbs and 5 7" height (fat i know ) and my bike (stock) wont go over 90 mph no matter what I do to it I try to go almost to redline upshifting but no matter what i do it wont go over 90 mph..
guys any ideas? thank you

lose weight, drive speed limit, upgrade to a supersport like gixxer..........

I had same issue, would not go over 130 kph, then I got my areap, pod filters and rejetted. Now, no problems. Also, tucking helps.

[gallardo73]

I just think my bike should go to at least 100 mph I know weight is an issue but 90 mph top speed seems abnormal

[Little Green Machine]

Stock sprockets keep the bike at 90-95 mph tops, you will need to upgrade them to get more mph.

[gallardo73]

so bill if that is the case what sprocket you recommended front/rear
name brand also type?? thanks

[gallardo73]

also when i am doing 90mph my rpm's are like 13000 in 6th gear. Is that normal??

[Alex]

A true 90 - 95 mph is about what a stock 250 is good for with a reasonably-sized rider. In many cases, the speedo is reading much higher than that, so people get the idea that their bike can go 105 or even 110 mph, but in almost all cases, it's an optimistic speedometer rather than a true representation of the bike's performance.

But - if your speedo is hitting 90, and the true speed is closer to 80, then that does sound a wee bit low for top speed. Are you tucking down at all? I'd check the usual things before going too deep. Is the gas fresh, have you tried some gas treatment, is the air filter clean, is the chain lubed and adjusted properly, is the rear wheel aligned right, etc. After all those, then start looking at the spark plugs, and eventually it might mean that you're due for a valve adjustment.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by gallardo73

also when i am doing 90mph my rpm's are like 13000 in 6th gear. Is that normal??

Are you 100% sure that you're in 6th?

[Little Green Machine]

Originally Posted by Alex

A true 90 - 95 mph is about what a stock 250 is good for with a reasonably-sized rider. In many cases, the speedo is reading much higher than that, so people get the idea that their bike can go 105 or even 110 mph, but in almost all cases, it's an optimistic speedometer rather than a true representation of the bike's performance.

But - if your speedo is hitting 90, and the true speed is closer to 80, then that does sound a wee bit low for top speed. Are you tucking down at all? I'd check the usual things before going too deep. Is the gas fresh, have you tried some gas treatment, is the air filter clean, is the chain lubed and adjusted properly, is the rear wheel aligned right, etc. After all those, then start looking at the spark plugs, and eventually it might mean that you're due for a valve adjustment.

Originally Posted by Alex

Are you 100% sure that you're in 6th?

Alex is right of course, you really need to make sure you have all those things checked off as being good to go, tire pressure makes a huge difference too! If the pressure is not up to spec, the bike will be dragging and not able to reach maximum speed.

As for gearing, I changed mine from the 15/45 stock sprockets to 14/43 and increased my MPG by 30 miles per tank. This will take away from the torque you had before when starting to move, but it helps a lot on the top end. I used the Sunstar gears, they sold them right from the Kawasaki dealer and claim they are the same as the stock sprocket for wearability. You will want to take it to the dealer or a good shop for that, all the bolts are torqued down and loctited in place, they will retorque everything and it will keep you from tossing your gears if you don't get them tight!

[gallardo73]

well alex thank you for asking me that question I am a new rider and my ninja is only 6 months old so according to the pattern 1st gear is down and the rest is up 2,3,4,5,6 so they only way I know that I am on 6th is because i cant up shift no more so there is my worry been on 6th gear only topping 90 mph and rpm's that high

[gallardo73]

maybe to go to 6th gear should i apply more force to the foot gear lever (up of course)???

[Alex]

No additional force. Clicking into 6th is as easy as every other gear, if it doesn't click any higher, you're in 6th. One common issue on some of these bikes is a CDI box that overheats, and causes a few things to happen. One is that the tach can read higher than the engine is really turning. But in more severe cases, it can cause poor fuel mileage, poor running, and even some power problems. It's hard to jump straight to the CDI issue, but if you are really in 6th and the tach is reading 13000, it is one of the possibilities.

http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/Ignitor_problem

[gallardo73]

oh oh i am in trouble thank you for the input by the way what is the cdi box??

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by gallardo73

also when i am doing 90mph my rpm's are like 13000 in 6th gear. Is that normal??

Originally Posted by Alex

Are you 100% sure that you're in 6th?

Answer:

Originally Posted by Jiggles

Ideas? I think your speedo may be too accurate

[thomason2wheels]

Originally Posted by sombo

Well for starters the heat dissipation on bikes is vastly better thanks to the rotors being completely out in the open with 100% of the wind flowing over them. That alone is a major advantage over cars. Also we have vastly less mass to put stress on the brakes creating less heat. You'll find that the rotors on modern cars even when taken care of properly and not pushed too hard don't last very long anymore (a few thousand miles if you're lucky). However, on a bike if properly taken care of, the rotors seem to last dang near forever (at least compared to car rotors lol).

Secondly, she wanted to know about slowing down/maintaining speed on a downhill curve. Now, in MSF they showed how bad it is to use your brakes in that sort of situation. Because your traction is reduced in a curve due to the lean of the bike, it is unsafe to use your brakes. If you accidentally brake too much you will cause the tires to brake free while in a lean (very bad for you and bike). This however does not apply to cars which don't lean and don't have reduced traction in downhill curves (like highway off ramps) and can safely apply brakes at that time. When in a turn and the need to brake comes up you should straighten the bike and apply the brakes.

Hope I'm not boring anyone to death and making sense to people.

Cars have to obey the same laws of physics as bikes. Simply put if you are turning there is less than 100 percent of your available traction left for braking because some of it is being used to turn, and the reverse is just as true. It is safe to use brakes while turning providing you are not using 100% of tire traction available going around the turn. The trick is learning how to balance braking, acceleration, and cornering forces and stay within the traction limits of your tires. If you can master that youll be a better rider than most of us ever will be. Down hill turns can be a pain, especially if the turn in question tightens up after you have already set your entry speed and have rolled on a little throttle. Gravity is working against you and now you have to decide what to do to survive the corner. My approach, given this street riding and not on the track is to brush the brakes while easing off the throttle gently and lean the bike more to make the turn. The combination of leaning the bike over more, easing off the throttle, and just easing the brakes on a little will slow you down surprisingly quickly, and if you are riding so quickly you dont have a little traction left over for brakes you are riding too aggressively for conditions. Any of you other guys feel free to chime in.....:-)

[gallardo73]

Well my speedo reads 90 mph how do i know that is my actually TRUE SPEED
Some people say use the gps ?? Not a clue

[Alex]

Yes. Mount a GPS on the bars, or on a tankbag that you can see while riding. While at a constant speed on the highway, look at your speedometer. Look at GPS. Profit.

[strickcharles5]

Originally Posted by Racer x

The little ninja that went to Maxton has gone 117 on a record I set at 109 mph in April .They also went 119 on nitrous. These bikes are very specialized for racing the mile .
But given enough room like 2 miles and a tail wind or down hill grade. A slightly modified Ninja could hit 113mph and that would pin the speedo.

Gps is good but a timing slip is the only thing that counts . Or maybe a speeding ticket

It is amazing how hard it is to get REAL speed improvements over stock .

I went 105 downhill on my stock 07 250r according to the speedo

[Triple Jim]

Trying to find top speed with a stock speedometer is useless. You can use a smart phone ap to display GPS speed and tape the phone to the handlebar or the top of the tank for a test run. Just don't glue your eyes to the display during the run!

[JohnnyBravo]

I clocked 134 on the butt dyno, but that was drunk in the driveway and I lost my voice making the vroom vroom sounds

[Triple Jim]

Johnny, If you had a video of that, it would be worth some money.

[Racer x]

The new top speed for a ninja 250 with minor mods is 116 mph. TLN Motorsport did this last year. He was at the three mile track in Loring Maine. That is 1.5 miles perfectly flat acceleration

He had a good tail wind. Without the wind the bike runs about 109.

But the bike is basically stock except for the fuel the ignition the exhaust and the gearing. He has a land speed front fender and a cut down tank. No Speedo cable and ceramic bearings also reduced some drag.

[JohnnyBravo]

LSR sure is somethin

[JohnnyBravo]

Originally Posted by Triple Jim

Johnny, If you had a video of that, it would be worth some money.

I try not to leave much evidence

[IcyMaxx]

Okay ninjettes, my 08 250j is my first bike and I've had it since late January, and I've kept noticing at about 60mph, the bike is riding at about 73-7500 RPMs in 6th gear. I'm not sure if this is normal or to high, I think it's a little to high, if so, HOW do I fix it?? It's actually kinda annoying. Please help lol.

[Triple Jim]

Originally Posted by IcyMaxx

Okay ninjettes, my 08 250j is my first bike and I've had it since late January, and I've kept noticing at about 60mph, the bike is riding at about 73-7500 RPMs in 6th gear. I'm not sure if this is normal or to high, I think it's a little to high, if so, HOW do I fix it?? It's actually kinda annoying. Please help lol.

Your bike is normal, that's only a little over 1/2 of maximum RPM. You can change your sprockets to alter your RPM. Here's an article about that:

https://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/I_want...nge_my_gearing

[jkv45]

Originally Posted by IcyMaxx

Okay ninjettes, my 08 250j is my first bike and I've had it since late January, and I've kept noticing at about 60mph, the bike is riding at about 73-7500 RPMs in 6th gear. I'm not sure if this is normal or to high, I think it's a little to high, if so, HOW do I fix it?? It's actually kinda annoying. Please help lol.

That's not even close to the powerband for the little Ninja. You need to get used to having an engine that NEEDS to be revved to be happy.

Your Ninja ('08) has been tuned to produce a bit more mid-range power than the previous Gen, but it still needs to be heading towards 10,000 to really make power.

Depending on your size and weight, you could gear it "up" to get the RPMs to drop. You would cruise at a lower RPM but would lose some acceleration and "snap".

If you are running about 60 MPH most of the time, gearing "up" might drop you to a point that's too low for acceptable acceleration and may even reduce the mileage.

[IcyMaxx]

Well, I'm about 185 average build. So these engines can handle 10k without problems?

[Lazarus]

^ let's put it this way. I'm the same weight (+/- a couple lbs) as you with only a couple mods and I ride 99% highway to work (50miles round trip) my ninja doesn't see below 9.5k (until im about 2 min from work or my apt) and regularly slaps 12.5-13k and I've had 0 problems with my engine. These engines are tanks if you treat them right. I rode 12,000 miles without a valve check or adjustment (i dont condone that service interval for the valves, im just lazy af and kept putting off doing the adjustment) and only my exhaust valves were tight.

[Ralgha]

I did a valve adjustment at 7500 and ALL of my valves were tight. It varies widely, some don't have any valves out of spec, but it really should get checked at the intervals.