15,000 mile journey on 250 Ninja

[mz_rider]

Big journey, little bike.

My Ninja Story

Stuart

[Arnie]

WoW !!  I'm impressed.

Arnie

[Lotsokids]

That must have been brutal on the body!

[Dan Filetti]

The Ninjette is inappropriately maligned.  I loaned the one I have to a buddy last fall for a 1,000 mile jaunt with me up to, and all over the Adirondacks.  No, it's no FJ, but it's a reasonably capable distance bike.

It's not 'brutal' at all, in fact the up-right riding position is better is frankly, than that of the FJ.  While it's not fast, it is still capable of sustained 100+ mile/ hour rides.  It get's buzzy when doing so, but loosening/ modifying your grip takes care of a lot of that. 

I wrote this recently to another lister via PM:

"... my 'loaner bike' is a Ninja 250.  While it's certainly no FJ, in oh so many ways, it IS a blast to ride, and it is capable of throw-you-in-jail speeds, just takes a bit more time to get it there...  I have ridden it with much bigger/ faster/ stronger bikes, and as long as those riding the other bikes do not have a death wish, or are doing 110+ runs routinely, it hangs with nearly every group I've ridden it with.  I have ridden it at 90 -100 mph on highway slab, for hours, and it just plods along happily spinning away at 10K RPM!

As an aside, I appreciate what it teaches me about conservation of hard-fought-for momentum, and cornering a bike that actually has limitations that I can reach."

Just chiming in.

Dan

[Lotsokids]

I liked the style of the first Ninja 250 from 1986-1987 best. I believe they redlined at 14,000 RPM. The newest ones after 2008 are pretty sharp looking also.

[pdxfj]

The Ninja 250 is a fun little bike.  I don't ride mine much, mainly because I've loaned it to friends for the past two summers.  Should claim my bike back from who is currently riding it. 

I did send the video onto my boss who rides a Harley and told him I would like to see a Harley do this..

His response was:

Sure they could.  You'd just have to purchase a new one every other state.  It would be Hardley do-able.