How many guys went down on size or own two bike?

[sidekick10121]

Hey guys and gals. Outta curiosity, how many of you ha bigger bikes like a r6/r1 and went to a ninja 250? Or how many of you own one of each? I want to get a 600 but keep talking myself out of it. I Like the 250 for gas and parts are cheaper when Somthing does break. I'm
Almost leaning towards a newer 250 or 300 just because I'm picky an like the fairings better. Def not for performance gains hahaha

[sharky nrk]

I have a 6R and after riding my little brothers 250 bought one. It is just a great little bike. Still have my street 6R and street 250, and added a track 600 and track 250. My wife was not happy lol. I ride the 250 street bike to commute. It gets 10x the miles that the 6R does.

[alex.s]

i have two 250s and a 600. the 250 is easier to drive and more comfortable. but you can do burnouts and wheelies more easily on the 600

[allanoue]

sold my 500 to get a 300 w/areaP so power wise not much of a step down.

[dcj13]

Had a 750 cc standard bike for 11 years before buying the Ninjette. Enjoy them both!

[TOPFLiTE1994]

I currently have an r6 and a 650r. Going to drop the 650 and get a 250 for commuting/twisties and make the r6 a dedicated track bike. The 650's extra torque/hp is nice to have but I've gotten myself into too much trouble on it. I remember how damn fun it was to ring out my little 250. It's a great street bike, and super fun on the twisties.

It only makes sense to have a 250 on the street imo.

[misfitsailor]

It's true, some of us buy the ninjette not as a first bike, but as something special unto itself. I have owned around 30 motorbikes over the years, large & small. I've had Guzzi (2), BMW (3), Triumph, BSA, Enfield, Harley (6), Bultaco, Ossa, and lots of every Japanese name.

Small bikes are light and nimble, you get a great satisfaction from doing more with less. And if you ride a small bike on long trips, you really have something to crow about, because anyone can climb on a big bike and ride state to state.

I ride a Ninjette and a Harley Heritage Softail. When eventually I ride 1000 miles in 24 hours (this year?) I will do it on the little Ninja!

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by misfitsailor

Bultaco

pics? i love bultacos.

[misfitsailor]

Originally Posted by alex.s

pics? i love bultacos.

Maybe, I'll have to dig through boxes of old photos. It was a 250 dirtbike, I think a Pursang. A real beast!

[chugs]

I have an 02 gixxer 600 and bought the ninja 250 race bike for fun.

[Ducati999]

I have owned many bikes over the years and when I got hurt years ago I sold them all. I bought a Ducati when I decided I wanted to ride again but it was way too fast for casual rides. I loved the idea of being able to wring the neck of my bike (on the Ducati I would go to jail for just red line in 1st) and still not be riding crazy fast. The only problem with the 250 is my wife rode it and now its hers. I finally bought myself an SV 650s and we now have the perfect garage (minus something dirt orientated) and the Sv gets ridden way more than the Ducati. I still take the Ninja 250 out just because it is so much fun to ride. I have to ride the SV when the wife is on the Ninja 250 but the SV is perfect in its own way also. More bikes = more fun

The best problem to have is one where the solution is to buy another bike!

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by misfitsailor

Maybe, I'll have to dig through boxes of old photos. It was a 250 dirtbike, I think a Pursang. A real beast!

http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bultaco_Pursang

I always disliked heavy motorcycles with big engines.
Maybe because I couldn't handle those?

Two-stroke engines from 50 up to 250 cc were all the fun I ever wanted.

The venerable Ninjette is the closest to that old fun that four-stroke engines can offer, IMHO.

[adouglas]

I've owned four bikes

First was a Suzuki GL650

Second was a Kawasaki EX500

Third was an 08 Ninja 250.

I like the Ninjette best of all.

I now ride a GSXR750, but eventually I'll return to this class of bike. It's just a great blend of handling, fun, gas mileage, fun, simplicity, fun, low cost, fun.......

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by adouglas

I've owned four bikes
............
Second was a Kawasaki EX500
.........
I like the Ninjette best of all........

Was the Kawasaki EX500 much less fun than the 250?

[Sirref]

Never owned larger though I intend to get my hands on 600cc class bikes down the road. I have friends locally who stepped up from 250s to 1000s or other larger bikes and missed their 250s down the line to the point where they bought another 250 1-2 years down the line. Having ridden several larger bikes I must say while 600/1000 are amazing machines they can also be fairly stressful if you decide to really open them up unlike my 300 where I can pin it almost 100% of the time and feel like I'm really using the bike's power.

one option would be to keep your 250 and get an older 600. You would use the 250 as your daily bike and the 600 for when you feel like breaking the ton (100mph)

[RedPepper64]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Was the Kawasaki EX500 much less fun than the 250?

YES! So much less fun imo. My first bike was the EX500 and as much as I enjoyed her, there was no real love affair like I have with my 250. Part of it is the aesthetics of course, but truly the most is how much more communicative the 250 is and how well she handles in comparison. The 500 is happy to do what you want whereas the 250 wants to do it.

[Racer x]

I started on a 500 triple two stroke. Then went to a 600 I-4. After that I had an 800 interceptor. Great bike. But finally found what I wanted. Light inexpensive and fun to ride. Easy to repair and good lookjng . Of course I modified mine a little. But still love it.

[Sirref]

^ a little? your 250 build is the most ridiculously awesome build I've read about.

another advantage, backing up uphill on a 250/300 is a breeze.

[pwalo]

I've owned a few and ridden lots of bigger bikes. I'm in my mid fifties,and although I'm a bit heavier (actually not a lot), I'm the same size as Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow.

The Ninja 300 is pretty well the perfect size for me. It may not be as powerful as other bikes but as others have said it is just so much fun to ride.

Looking like a proper sportsbike helps as well. Not that I'm really that shallow!

[greenaero]

I've owned lots of motos over the years but the largest I've owned was a 550cc Yamaha Vision. I see the appeal of larger bikes but for my needs they were overkill. I rode the Vision for 28 years and traded it straight across for a second EX250( 2005 model ) last year. I enjoyed riding my 2000 Ninjette so much I decided to get a backup in case I wore it out.

[ForceofWill]

You'd be surprised how many of us here have our 250s because we love them. Plenty of people here that can afford whatever bike they want and still have a 250 in the stable.

[csmith12]

^^^ this

[Bill N]

Originally Posted by ForceofWill

You'd be surprised how many of us here have our 250s because we love them. Plenty of people here that can afford whatever bike they want and still have a 250 in the stable.

Yep,
Three bikes in my garage: FJR 1300, Moto Guzzi 1100, Ninjette. All serve their purpose but the Ninjette is my favorite in town commuter by far. I also do a few hundred mile trips on weekends and even my old body is ok with that. The fun factor of this bike is unbeatable.
Bill

[TOPFLiTE1994]

Working on a trade right now (literally). Fingers crossed...

My 650r for an '08 250r. $1800 asking price difference he'll throw on top.

[mgentz]

Originally Posted by Sirref

^ a little? your 250 build is the most ridiculously awesome build I've read about.

another advantage, backing up uphill on a 250/300 is a breeze.

hmmm

[Alex]

Small, light bikes are fun. I've owned a few mega-hp bikes over the years (full list here), but the current garage has migrated to what makes me smile more. 5 bikes at the moment, only one of them > 300cc. I'm doing less (see: no) trackdays recently, so there isn't as much of an itch to keep a SS around, but those events would likely be the only reason I'd add one back to the stable.

[eddiekay]

I had an FZ6 and it was the best ALL AROUND bike i ever had.
Got an '09 ninjette and had more fun with it than any bike I ever had.
Have a 300 now...it does everything a little better than the 250 but I gotta admit that chasing some guy down riding a 250 was more fun than chasing them on the 300...I mean...on the rare occassion that I can find anythig I can still chase down.

[mgentz]

Bragging rights on the 250

[eddiekay]

Not really bragging rights but feeling like the 250..like me...had limited capability. I always liked being the chaser and not the chasee.

[scorch]

i sold my Honda st1300 to buy a 2008 ninja 250

[LoD575]

First motorcycle was a 96 Suzuki Katana 600 and loved it immensely. Sad part is bike was totaled due to a crash.
After 12 years of not riding the ninjette fit perfectly for what I was looking for.
Now i'm wishing to make the 250 a dedicated track bike any replace it with something else.

[C-Bass]

Always wanted to own a Ninja 250. I like the idea of a lightweight quick handling motorcycle that you can wring out and make full use of its power - it would be refreshing to ride every now and again.

I found a dealer that had a couple of new residual models in stock at a price that I just could not pass up. I will be taking delivery of it later this week. It's a 2012 black special edition model.

This will be motorcycle #7 in the stable which range in displacement from 200cc to 1340cc.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by mgentz

hmmm

my parking space at work (not dedicated but it's a half space so I take it when no one else will fit) has a slight uphill slant and I prefer to have my bike/car pointing in the direction that I will leave in.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by C-Bass

I found a dealer that had a couple of new residual models in stock at a price that I just could not pass up. I will be taking delivery of it later this week. It's a 2012 black special edition model.

Nice find!

[NinjaZX6R123]

I have a 2013 ZX6R and recently purchased a 2009 Ninja 250R with 300 miles on it. The 250R will be my main commuter and once in awhile take it to the canyons. I'm going to be spending more money on the 250R with the mods than I did on the ZX6R. It's my little project bike and I'll have a blast working on it.

[KawiKid860]

I owned a Ninja 500R and a CBR600F4i simultaneously, but sold the F4i and plan on getting a 250-650cc supermoto which will certainly be slower in a straight line than the CBR was so yeah I'm going down. My 500 has all the power that you need, and then some anyways.

Also to replace my F4i I bought a 96 Mustang GT so that's more like a downsizing too, 7 seconds to 60 vs 7 seconds to 100 lol.

[capt_bugaloo]

Over the last 20+ years I've owned a lot of different bikes, most of them as large as 800cc. I dunno; I prefer something light and easy to chuck around, and the Ninja has enough power to get me into trouble.