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Anybody have experience with Ninja 250/500?

Wineguy

Wineguy

Moped
My 18 year old daughter, who's been riding on the back of my C-10 for a few years now, has decided she wants a bike so she can ride with Mom and Dad. She wants a sport bike, is not very tall, and really likes the look/feel of a Ninja 250 or Ninja 500. She's been able to straddle both of those on the showroom without any problem. Anybody have any insight into pros/cons of either of those bikes? Most of her riding will either be in Denver or on those twisty mountain roads with us - not too much highway riding.

Any/all thoughts are appreciated!
 
Both the 250 and the 500 are excellent bikes for a young adult. As in, if she can handle herself responsibly, she's ready for either one of these.

Some folks leave the 250 for the 500 and think the 250 was more fun in the twisties.

But most folks leave the 250 because it's not powerful enough for an "only" bike. I'd love one, as long as I could keep my Connie. I wouldn't want to do everything I do with motorcycles, on a 250. But I could get by on a 500. Riding for more than a few months usually means opening up one's range onto the interstate and that's where a little bigger bike is going to make a difference.

IMO the 500 has plenty of power in the "fun" range but definitely not enough to easily get into trouble.

They're both so inexpensive to buy used and maintain, you really can't go wrong with either one of them!
Only caution is to check the insurance costs before you buy, as some insurance companies may consider one or the other of these a sport bike and jack up the rates.
 
I bought a 2008 Ninja 250R for my grandson last year.  These are very capable bikes with excellent handling, braking and modest acceleration from 1200 to 5000 rpm. They live between 6k - 9K rpm.

For a beginner this would be an excellent choice, however and again in order to keep pace with anything larger you will have to be heavy on the throttle from first through third gears.

It will come up to speed fairly quickly, but don't expect power until you are in that 6K-9K range.  They will do highway speeds all day long, but if this is the primary use then I strongly reccommend you change the counterbalance sprocket (the front one) to a 15 tooth sprocket. This will lower your cruising speed (60-70 mph) rpm by about 800-1000.

Mirrors on the 2008 and up models suck.

Also don't expect to carry two up and have any power. Also the speedo on these bikes are always off by about 5 mph eg: says 70 when gps says 65.

Oil capacity is 1.7 liters 1.8 quarts) so make sure you change it often!

Here is the link to the Ninja 250 site. Fred has an older 250 and I expect his comments (perhaps with the exception of the oil changes  :p      ) to reflect this. 
http://www.ninja250forum.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&
 
I have put 3 women on ninja 500s as their first bikes and think it is an ideal starter bike.  The bike is calm enough down low to handle, is light enough to not intimidate, but when they get comfortable, it has enough oomph to not get boring.
 
coffee_brake said:
Both the 250 and the 500 are excellent bikes for a young adult. As in, if she can handle herself responsibly, she's ready for either one of these.

Some folks leave the 250 for the 500 and think the 250 was more fun in the twisties.

But most folks leave the 250 because it's not powerful enough for an "only" bike. I'd love one, as long as I could keep my Connie. I wouldn't want to do everything I do with motorcycles, on a 250. But I could get by on a 500. Riding for more than a few months usually means opening up one's range onto the interstate and that's where a little bigger bike is going to make a difference.

IMO the 500 has plenty of power in the "fun" range but definitely not enough to easily get into trouble.

They're both so inexpensive to buy used and maintain, you really can't go wrong with either one of them!
Only caution is to check the insurance costs before you buy, as some insurance companies may consider one or the other of these a sport bike and jack up the rates.
Click to expand...

+1
Jenn hit the nail on the head.  My son is still riding the EX250 he started out on a few years ago.  Great gas mileage and lots of fun in a very inexpensive bike.

Before you make any investment, have her take a MSF course and see if she likes it and how she does.  I've seen many cases where the student who already has a bike at home and expected to do well in the course is under more pressure during the course. 


 
Thanks for the comments all! And Steve, that's exactly our plan. We're paying for the MSF course, and only after she's completed that will we shop for a bike. And we won't have her take the course until she's got her money saved up for the bike. Right now she's looking at the late August/September timeframe to have enough to pick one up.  Of course, if she just has her name pulled from our local Kawasaki dealer and she wins the Ninja 250 that's in the showroom on 8/13/11 that would save us a lot of trouble shopping!  ;)  I'll let you know what she ends up with.
 
Mark,
Good choice for a starter bike. The 250 is kawi's largest seller hence there's a big used market on craig's list etc. Bought one for my daughter last year and performed various tweaks listed here.http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/Index
The good news is when she's ready to upgrade it will easily sell. Excellent idea having her take the MSF course.
Good luck!
 
We've had experience with both the Ninja 250 and Ninja 500, so here's my thoughts.... 

My wife started out riding a TTR125 dirtbike and she dropped it about a million times before she got the hang of things.  When she was ready for a street bike, we got her a Ninja 500 and she kept it for about 6 months before trading it in on an R6.  Five years later, she's still enjoying the R6, has never dropped it, and has just added a z1000 to our stable. I feel that if she had started out with the 500 (before knowing how to ride a motorcycle), she would have been too intimidated to ever get comfortable riding and would have gotten hurt everytime she dropped it. 

Now for our other experience: Our 16yr old son has also been riding the TTR125 for a couple of years, but never really got into it.  We got him a 2010 Ninja 250 a few months ago, but it still just wasn't his thing.  We ended up trading the bike last month for the Z1000.  But before getting rid of it, the wife rode it and said she's glad she didn't start out with the 250 as her first street bike because she would have quickly outgrown it on the street. However, she's grateful for learning how to ride in the dirt because it's a lot less intimidating than learning how to ride on the street and this made her mentally and physically prepared to begin with the 500 as her first street bike.
Therefore, regardless if it's a street or dirt bike, I would err on the side of caution and start her out with something that she won't be afraid to ride and something that she can afford to wreck.
 
I have a connie and recently bought my gf a 250 for her first bike.  I liked riding it so much I went and bought 1 too.  I've been riding it to work and back every day becuase it gets 65 mpg!!  For people who think its "underpowered" they are just trying to convince themselfs they *need* a 600ss.  I'm perfectly fine on the 250 on the interstate going 70-80 mph and passing cars.  It does have a high rev range though, so you gotta wring it out to get it going.  Thats what I like so much about it, and its soooo light.  For the price they are going now adays (the pregen 88-07) you can get anywhere from <1400.  I gave $1000 for my 06, with 5K miles on it, becuase they PO had let it set and carbs needed cleaned.  1 sunday spent cleaning the carbs and shes roaring now.
 
Add a 15T front sprocket and the Little Ninja 250 can cruise the freeway pretty nice too. I can say from experience that while it does not accelerate super fast, it follows along behind the Connie just fine. Wind them up and they get a long too.

Wife has a little Ninja 250 and I agree they are quite the capable little machine. While a bit more power might be nice, the wife likes the light weight and the low seat height, she can flat foot easily at a stop.  Not too many bikes with the std riding position ( meaning not cruiser riding position ) can she flat foot. I had her try a Ninja 500 and she said she was plent happy with the 250. So will fix it up a bit and ride the crap out of it. Maybe someday when she wears the thing out will get her a bigger bike.

I have taken it on some long, multi-day trips too. Hauling my fat ass around it still gave me 63 mpg for the entire trip and I found very few places where I needed to downshift from 6th to 5th. If it can haul me around with full gear, tank bag, small saddle bags and a tail bag and get it done, its gonna haul the wife around just fine. Overall while many will leave the 250 in search for a bigger bike, dont discount the 250 as a starter bike only. I think they are plenty capable and fun little machines should you choose to keep it.

 
Thank you so much everyone! COG is a fantastic group of people! I've had my daughter read all these very helpful opinions and suggestions, and I really appreciate the time each of you took to help us out with your insight. I hope to ride with each of you sometime in the future. Be sure to let me know if you're anywhere near Denver.
 
Had the 500 as my first street bike.  Back then it was introduced as the EX500.  Was a great bike, and it's good to see that it's still being made.  My brother is actually looking into one, as an option for his first street bike.
 
my 19 yr old took the MSF and got a GREAT deal on a ninja 500. He rides it every day to school and the 56mpg and $40/month insurance saves him loads monthly...I am 6'4" and 280....it handles me fine...enjoy and ride safe..
 
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