Alright so I bought my first "real" motorcycle in 2007, brand new off the showroom floor. I'm 5 foot nothin, so I was pretty much limited to scooters or a Ninja 250. Easy choice.. I added a set of lowering links and a loud-ass Muzzy pipe and rode the piss out of it. Fast forward a few years and after some major life changes, I met up with these clowns: ......and fell in love with riding dirt roads and trails and just what the F' ever. I found out PDQ that the Ninja brought the suck on a gravel road, so I decided to see what I could do. The bike was paid for, and not worth shit for trade in (not that i could even imagine being able to tiptoe ANY dualsport anyway) so I started pryin off junk that would get broke in a fallover. I dug around the tire pile at the Barber's Vintage Festival down in Leeds, AL and scored some old semi knobbly tires that unbelievably fit the Ninjas ridiculous 16" wheels. After a few falls and some hacks and zipties, I bailed on the "dual sport" conversion and ended up with a ratbike! The little bastard has been dead nuts reliable, and I've been on a couple 1000 mile round trips on it. Just change the oil, lube the chain and take off..
I've had a few Ninja 250s pass thru my garage. Yours is cool, great it works for how you ride and your size. I never knew just how great they were as a base bike for a project till recently. We posted a bunch of custom ones here in Tony's 300 project thread. http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=906246&page=13 Worth thumbing thru. BTW, don't ride a 300, They blew the 250 away in the engine dept. Kawasaki was holding back on us for years!
Thanks guys, she is always getting something done to her, my bike that is... I will differently look at that thread... I will post new adventures as the sun warms up and of course post images soon.... Did I not hear that the 300 is the same motor with a little tweaking? The new ones anyway? {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252 {\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset0 Helvetica;} {\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;} \deftab720 \pard\pardeftab720\sl280\partightenfactor0 \f0\fs22 \cf2 \cb3 \expnd0\expndtw0\kerning0 \outl0\strokewidth0 \strokec2 \ }
Basically the same engine and whole bike really, but where the old carbed bikes go Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuwaaaaaaa... the 300 just goes Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It pulls from 3k RPM, you can shift it at 5 or 6000 and just torque it about. Top end goes a little flat. Same looks to everything, all familiar, but a different ride entirely. The fuel injection and other refinements like the gear spread just redefined the bike.
Yeah, these carbs have been a battle more than anything on this bike, the bigger exhaust made it run lean, re-jetted that problem, still ran like shit tho. Then I took off the breather boxes, made the problem worst, re-jettted and played with the needle, but since that it has been running great, little rich but I can live with that after everything with those crappy carbs....I am glad they change those things out on the new bikes..Would love to ride one....
If they hadn't nailed the 300 and released it when they did, I was prepared to build a 250 with the flat slide carbs. It isn't that big of an investment if you plan on having a 250 for awhile, or getting another and another. IIRC it was about $450 for the kit. The fueling on the 300 is an unbelievable difference from the 250 carbs. If you can find one to ride you'll be impressed. Sudco carby kit for the 08-12 250s, Sudco Introduces Keihin CR31 Carb Performance Kit for Kawasaki 250 Ninja Sudco International continues to expand its extensive product line of high performance carburetors kits for street and dirt bikes with this new dual carb Keihin CR31 Kit for the latest 2008-09 model Kawasaki 250cc Ninja street bikes. The Keihin Special CR is a pure racing carburetor featuring a larger than stock smoothbore venturi for high air flow and precise fuel meeting. This CR Kit provides for increased horsepower, particularly when combined with other engine modifications. This CR twin carb kit will work with the stock Ninja throttle cables and can be run with modifications to the Stock Airbox, with separate Clamp-On Filters also available from Sudco, or with the tuned Velocity Stacks provided in the Kit. Sudco Part#016-3205 for the Keihin FCR31 250 Ninja is $455.70 retail
Im curious the size and make of the tires? I just picked up a set of ninja 250 rims (the old 87 straight 3 spoke white ones) for converting a chinese DS to a supermoto on the cheap... But i kinda dont want to lose ALL the DS capability...
There's a 120-16 Trailwing (for the Honda NX250) that'll fit the rear along with a 130-16 Duro, and a few in 90-16 that'll fit the front (another Trailwing, couple Shinko, and a Kenda). I'm sure there are more, those are just the quick finds on MC-Superstore (with their handy tire-fitter tool). We've had a few people go DS over the years on the Ninja250 forum. The best one swapped the front end and swingarm for something off a dirtbike thus giving good travel AND real sized wheels. That's been awhile ago now though, I'll see if I can find it.
Thanks! Im not too concerned about the size, i am figuring realistically it will be 90-10 road-dirt, so the wheel size isnt a big issue, and if i want to go back to full ds trim, i can slap the stock 18/21 wheels back on it... I want to go more supermoto than ds look for now...LOL and the ninja wheels are able to be had for dirt cheap.... (i got mine as well as the cush drive and an almost new sprocket all shipped for under $115... Not bad considering a set of sumo wheels usually runs about 700+...)
Sorry it took so long to get back with the size, Dunlap 120/90-16 63P TT K460 I have put highway and dirt miles on them, they have been a good tire so far......
Way cool bike! And dog! And rider! Here I am sitting on my baby Ninja with my now dearly departed dogbrother Comet a few years ago. The pic was taken shortly after it was ridden up to Alaska from SoCal by a pretty little college grad. It was her first bike. Her bf rode up with her on an old Suzuki 500, also his first bike. They had a great time and did a thread about their ride here on ADV. I've long been into sportbikes and decided to polish this baby Ninja up a little and keep it around as a loaner for n00bs. I've enjoyed the bike a lot myself. Since I'm about 6' I put a couple layers of foam under a sheepskin butt pad to give myself a bit more leg room. Warmest regards from way up north, Mark H.
