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'08 Ninja 250 - First 50 Mile: "Real World Impressions" (Long)

Gary,

Knowing your route and assumed road condition, did you run the recommended tire pressure or change it? any recommendations for other owners/riders?

I read you made rear shock adjustments (and recommendataions :thumbup), what is your impression of the front, even tho' you didn't experience any "bottoming out"?
Then again, being that you're in the break-in process, prolly did not allow you to "really" test/load the front suspension.

Looking forward to your follow up once you get some "real" testing done after break-in ;)

Oh! awesome write-up....very detailed review :thumbup
 
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Gary,

Does this mean that you are going to be competing in the 250P class?

Scotty
 
Sounds like a great short distance commuter.
 
tuxumino said:
Gary

what color is your new ninjette?
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"The new ’08 Ninja 250 has that covered in spades for me! Looking at the little “Bright-Green Ninja Machine” sitting up on the rear stand in the garage, under the lights, is a pretty sight to see!"
 
mobius9 said:
The only thing I noticed was that the finish on the wheels was kinda whack, like a spraypaint like grainy/chunky painted finish. Any input on this?
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It seems the wheels are done as castings, and as such the material of the spokes of the wheels are pretty pourous. The surface finish that the paint leaves behind is pretty unspectacular in that area, but looks much more even and smooth on the actual rim areas. I suspect that's what you were noting.

I guess I've never viewed stock wheels as being anything special on a bike, and not expected too much down there other then to support the tires and brake rotors. I do like the black color (regardless of the paint finish), as it goes well with the all-black scheme of so many other parts on the chassis of the bike, and doesn't really draw a lot of attention to them. Looks kind of "stealth".

As to the question on having ever ridden one of the Hysong 250's before, the answer is "no". I've looked at them pretty closely during the IMS show, and evaluated the suspension's behavior (static) and a few other characteristics (air/oil cooling, etc). Though I'm sure it's a decent bike, I personally don't believe it is up to the caliper of performance and quality of the new Ninja 250.
 
Thanks for sahring your first impressions Gary. I would like to have my g/f start on a 250, but probably not this one because of all the nice plastic. I want one of these for myself now! :laughing
 
Thanks for that review. In many ways it agrees with the reviews in the Ninja250.org forum.

It sounds like the bike is more "track ready" right out of the box. I especially like they didn't scrimp with the tires - the 2nd gen. stock tires were basically hard plastic. :p

I will be interested to see how you feel it performs at higher rpm's. The other forum reviews seem to indicate that the increase in the midrange came at the expense of the top end. When you can, crank it up to 75 mph on the freeway and see what it has left.
 
dandrewk said:
I will be interested to see how you feel it performs at higher rpm's. The other forum reviews seem to indicate that the increase in the midrange came at the expense of the top end. When you can, crank it up to 75 mph on the freeway and see what it has left.
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As more of a subscriber to the contingent that believes that proper break-in should not be done by lugging a bike around under some ridiculously low RPM, the new little Ninja 250 should be seeing some more "spirited" riding use very soon.

Having only had a chance to evaluate about 80% of the new bike and its performance potential on the road ....... due to keeping it within a prudent early break-in phase on yesterday's first ride, I'm really looking forward to getting to finish off the last 20% in determining where the new bike fits ..... compared to the previous generation machine.

As that there seems to be a decent amount of interest (based on the responses in this thread), I'll definitely follow-up with another posting as soon as I have those final impressions. Please stay tuned, if you have an interest. :ride
 
Motohaulic said:
Thanks for sahring your first impressions Gary. I would like to have my g/f start on a 250, but probably not this one because of all the nice plastic. I want one of these for myself now! :laughing
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I'm a firm believer that you should pull most of the plastics off for a beginning rider. If you can find frame sliders for the new Ninja 250, she should be set.
 
It's $3,500 and a great steal. With a jet kit, a pipe, and some tires it would make a great bike. I think I'll pick one up.:thumbup
 
bte320 said:
It's $3,500 and a great steal. With a jet kit, a pipe, and some tires it would make a great bike. I think I'll pick one up.:thumbup
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my recollection is that the tires it comes with stock are what a lot of people like to run on the old 250s.
 
Junkie said:
my recollection is that the tires it comes with stock are what a lot of people like to run on the old 250s.
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I have a special relationship with Bridgestone BT45's.

What are the stock tires?

edit: any word on gas mileage?
 
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they're certainly battleaxes of some sort, I think I remember hearing someone say they were BT45s.
 
Thanx Gary. I now know what I want on my next birthdate. My 7r is a bit lonely.:)
 
They are indeed BT-45's, which was a popular replacement for the stock tire on the earlier version of the Ninjette. Gary's review has been linked on the Ninja 250 forum. A quote from one of the forum members:

"That was the most comprehensive review on the 2008 ninja 250 that I have seen to date."

:thumbup
 
bte320 said:
What are the stock tires?
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Good news ........ they're your "favorites"! Bridgestone BT-45's.

Based on yesterday's brief first-ride on the backroads, I decided to reduce the air pressure from what I'd initially set them up to during the pre-ride preparation. I believe the manual listed the pressures as, which is always biased toward caution in potentially having more weight (passenger, etc) out back.

Front: 32 (cold)
Rear: 28 (cold)

For the first ride (with my 170lb. rider weight) I'd ran them at:

Front: 27 (cold)
Rear: 27 (cold)

The post-ride impression left me believing that having a little more sidewall "give" would be beneficial to softening up the ride just a bit, and providing a better digging-in and finding grip for the tire's contact patch, on such a light (compared to 600cc+ machines) bike.

I'm going to go with the following pressure for the next ride:

Front: 25 PSI (cold)
Rear: 25 PSI (cold)

The plan will be to see if it's an improvement, or not, (based on the bike's feedback) and go from there.

bte320 said:
any word on gas mileage?
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Too early to tell (50 miles on bike) for me on the '08 model, but I'm sure the numbers will be very good, as was the previous generation machine. With the improved mid-range, if the new bike is consciously ridden purely with the goal of getting good fuel economy (kinda boring on a 250cc machine?), I suspect it may even outperform the old bike.

As always, the way the bike's ridden during each tank of fuel plays a big role in the final numbers. On the previous generation Ninja 250, my real world mileage over the last 83K miles, has ranged from:

- Best: 60'ish MPG
(pure highway cruising, at 70MPH or less)

- Worst: 40'ish MPG
(spirited pace on tight backroads, using lower gears)
 
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Awesome. Gonna print that and take my time. Thanks!

Now we just need to hear from the first guy to put 500 miles on it as to what happens when you hit that throttle all the way.
 
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