New to motorcycles, not just the forums

[MrAtom]

Hey! I'm Atom. I'm from California. Just got my first bike ever. Ita's an '03 Ninja that's been laid down a few times. I'm (at least) the 3rd owner. She may be ugly but she's got personality :-)

[LittleRedNinjette]

MrAtom! Glad you found us...

[PHMCS]

welcome mr.atom!

The looks don't matter too much, especially when you're new. It hurts a whole lot less to drop an ugly bike then a shiny brand new one, and you can always fix it later.

[csmith12]

Welcome!

I foresee many wet backsides until you get that seat fixed up. If you want a super cheap fix that doesn't look sooooo terrible. Just wrap it in wide black duct tape or the likes. Keep your tape lines clean and even and you can make some cool looks, not to mention it will be more waterproof.

Good luck!

[fry1024]

Welcome MrAtom and grats on the bike. I know this is a motorcycle forum but my first car was really rough and still to this day i think about all the work, fun and experience i got from having such a rough car. Loved that machine and you're gonna love that bike in no time.

[treowryhta]

True that Fry1024. Replacing engines, slathering bondo and running parallel improvised wiring harnesses are a lost art. Character builders for sure. MrAtom, you'll make some memories for sure.

[MrAtom]

I've got a whole checklist of things I wanna do to fix this bike. Still, in its current condition, it's $600 well spent! Thanks for the warm welcome.

[psych0hans]

Welcome aboard buddy!!!

[KJohnson21]

[sumdawgtwigg]

Welcome! Nothing wrong with a rough looking bike as long as it runs great! I love bikes with personality

[snot]

welcome

[Snake]

Hello and welcome.

[EternalNewb]

Welcome, MrAtom. What part of California?
And the bike looks like fun. I've been playing with the idea of a project 250 to cafe out and what not...

[dcj13]

Welcome, Atom! Not a bad looking bike (except for the seat...), same color as my Ninjette.

Aren't you the guy that was asking about Bilt riding gear? Opinions (including mine) are like a**holes: everybody's got one.

Whether you buy leather (which you won't, and I'm OK with that), high-end textile, or Bilt, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you wear the stuff. If the textile jacket, pants, or gloves only last for one crash, that's good enough.

With respect to helmets, if it's a DOT or Snell rated full face helmet, it'll do the job as well as any other DOT or Snell rated lid. I've got a couple of Arais and they're comfy, but offer no better protection than the $69 Bilt helmet.

And lots of folk say a used helmet is no good. Two of my bikes came with used helmets (the Ninjette came with two of 'em), and the previous owners kept nice care of the bikes and the helmets appear to have been well cared for as well: I have no problem wearing any of those used helmets. (No problem with my daughter wearing one, either).

After all, none of us know if the 18 year old kid in the back room of the dealership dropped the $600 Shoei before he put in on the showroom shelf.

Enjoy your new bike, wear safety gear of your choice, and learn to ride. And have a blast!

[MrAtom]

Thank you all for the kind words. They're much appreciated.

Originally Posted by EternalNewb

Welcome, MrAtom. What part of California?
And the bike looks like fun. I've been playing with the idea of a project 250 to cafe out and what not...

I'm from the north part of California. Not Sacramento, much more north than that.

Originally Posted by sumdawgtwigg

Welcome! Nothing wrong with a rough looking bike as long as it runs great! I love bikes with personality

I named her Mildrid because it suited her so nicely.

Originally Posted by dcj13

Enjoy your new bike, wear safety gear of your choice, and learn to ride. And have a blast!

Thank you for your point of view!

[JohnnyBravo]

Welcome welcome welcome... No leather, hmmmm it's the second sexiest skin around

[Hero Danny]

$600 isn't a terrible price... how many miles are on it?

new seat: $50
Front fairing:$250

that would put your total costs to $900, so if your bike is in good running condition, then it would be worth it for sure.

[MrAtom]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

$600 isn't a terrible price... how many miles are on it?

new seat: $50
Front fairing:$250

that would put your total costs to $900, so if your bike is in good running condition, then it would be worth it for sure.

It's fully running. Dude said it was burning oil but I see no smoke coming out of the tailpipe, and I see oil building up on the cylinder, which makes me think it's just a leak instead. It idles at about 1300 rpm. It's got about 35k miles on it. I'm just gonna go with what csmith said and tape up the seat. Heck, even if the engine totally takes a crap on me, I can get a working one for about $500 and swap it and I'll only be out $1100 on the bike, which is still a considerably decent price. Oh, and the title is all clean too.

So far, I've spent $0.00 on making it ride better. It had a leaky fork seal and I made a Sealmate out of a milk jug and fixed it (found the idea in a really old thread on here), then I lubed up the clutch cable and the speedo cable with some silicone lube I had lying around, and I cleaned up the fairings a little bit.

Seriously, I passed up so many bikes that would have made great supermotos, and even considered buying a scooter at one point. I'm really glad I ended up with this bike. I'm super lucky to have it for that price.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by MrAtom

It's fully running. Dude said it was burning oil but I see no smoke coming out of the tailpipe, and I see oil building up on the cylinder, which makes me think it's just a leak instead. It idles at about 1300 rpm. It's got about 35k miles on it. I'm just gonna go with what csmith said and tape up the seat. Heck, even if the engine totally takes a crap on me, I can get a working one for about $500 and swap it and I'll only be out $1100 on the bike, which is still a considerably decent price. Oh, and the title is all clean too.

So far, I've spent $0.00 on making it ride better. It had a leaky fork seal and I made a Sealmate out of a milk jug and fixed it (found the idea in a really old thread on here), then I lubed up the clutch cable and the speedo cable with some silicone lube I had lying around, and I cleaned up the fairings a little bit.

Seriously, I passed up so many bikes that would have made great supermotos, and even considered buying a scooter at one point. I'm really glad I ended up with this bike. I'm super lucky to have it for that price.

I mean you're not that "lucky" i see deals like this all the time. The bike has ridiculous high miles and is in terrible condition (cosmetically) If you ever wanted to throw a new motor in there like you said it will bring total cost of the bike to 1,100 and for that price you could get a low mileage pregen complete with fairings.

I'm not saying you didn't get a good deal, It's a decent bike to ride and learn on and if you dump it, you can just shrug your shoulders and lick your wounds. I wouldn't put much money into a bike that retailed for $2,500 (someone correct me if I am wrong) is 11 years old and has 35,000 miles on it. The KBB of your bike is like only 1,000 in excellent condition.

Go ahead and tape up the seat and call it a day.

[MrAtom]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

I mean you're not that "lucky" i see deals like this all the time. The bike has ridiculous high miles and is in terrible condition (cosmetically) If you ever wanted to throw a new motor in there like you said it will bring total cost of the bike to 1,100 and for that price you could get a low mileage pregen complete with fairings.

I'm not saying you didn't get a good deal, It's a decent bike to ride and learn on and if you dump it, you can just shrug your shoulders and lick your wounds. I wouldn't put much money into a bike that retailed for $2,500 (someone correct me if I am wrong) is 11 years old and has 35,000 miles on it. The KBB of your bike is like only 1,000 in excellent condition.

Go ahead and tape up the seat and call it a day.

I live in an area where sportbikes in general are hard to find and are typically pricier. The cheapest pregen I can find on Craigslist in my area right now has 18000 miles on it and it and it's $2000.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by MrAtom

I live in an area where sportbikes in general are hard to find and are typically pricier. The cheapest pregen I can find on Craigslist in my area right now has 18000 miles on it and it and it's $2000.

In California? Really? Here in MA pregens are a dime a dozen. Oh well, enjoy the ride! stick around this is truly an awesome forum!

[MrAtom]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

In California? Really? Here in MA pregens are a dime a dozen. Oh well, enjoy the ride! stick around this is truly an awesome forum!

If I wanted a Rebel 250 I coulda found one of those REAL cheap haha. There's an abundance of them here. But yeah, you're all real friendly and insightful. I think I'll definitely stick around for a while.