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Kawasaki Ninja 300

alcoHK said:
^ they as cold blooded as the new gen?
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Certainly don't seem to be. It wasn't cold out today, but hit the starter and it's immediately running smoothly, and I was able to take off immediately.

But my new-gen wasn't much different from that either. Some of the carbed bikes can be cold-blooded, but if the jetting was right it shouldn't be much of an issue, at least in climates like ours.
 
Nice new bike! how does it compare to the 250?
 
alcoHK said:
They are!? Might be my next bike
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Yes, they are!!!

Cliffs Notes™ version of the last 14 pages: EFI, slipper clutch, 20% more power plus much-improved low- and mid-range torque, rubber-mounted engine for a less buzzy ride, 140 rear tire (i.e., radials that don't have to be shoe-horned onto a wrong-sized rim*), digital dash, optional ABS, retuned (albeit still old-school, damping-rod) suspension . . . oh, and very slightly restyled. :teeth

(*note that stockers are not radials; Alex will tell us how they feel, although preliminary word from Gabe of City Bike is that Kawi's claimed "new compound" is surprisingly grippy.)
 
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Fun bike. Just pulled into the garage with 290 miles on the odo. Writing up all my thoughts in this thread, but the quick highlights are:

- yes, the motor is better from idle to redline. cruising at whatever legal and moderately illegal speed is as easy on this bike as it is on any streetbike, until the speeds touch triple digits. rolling on at 80 mph (actual) in top gear, and there is enough oomph to accelerate smoothly without having to downshift
- handling is good, but it feels a smidgen less precise than the 250. A little bit slower steering probably due to the wider rear tire and less aggressive steering geometry
- dash is great
- fuel economy is a huge improvement from the 250's. I'm getting about 10 - 12 mpg higher over a variety of uses. None of these are the mythical 70+ mpg, but it's a huge, measurable improvement over the 250 that just left my garage this week.

Mark S said:
(*note that stockers are not radials; Alex will tell us how they feel, although preliminary word from Gabe of City Bike is that Kawi's claimed "new compound" is surprisingly grippy.)
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Tires are just fine. Worn to the edges on both sides after this morning's blast, and no pucker moments at all due to the tire grip. I'm sure it would feel even more planted with some stickier Diablo Corsa II's (which now fit perfectly!), but the stock ones are not much of a handicap, and I'm in no rush to change them out. Unlike the front brake pad, which I'm going to swap for a more aggressive sintered pad ASAP. The OEM pads on the non-abs version are organic, and seem to have particularly poor feel and only adequate performance.
 
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A bit foggy out on the coast today, but still couldn't resist taking a picture or two.

i-hztsQbV-X2.jpg
 
I went over and looked at the white one at my local shop on Saturday. It was already spoken for but DAMN it looks good in white. It's actually flake white too. All the little sparkles in the paint made my GF go "oooh pretty!" :laughing

The guy at the dealership sent this over too.

[youtube]A3wHjJnZLzc[/youtube]

Honestly... do like! The price is just a bit painful.
 
aciurczak said:
Fun bike. Little monster approves:

View attachment 407472

Took it for a shorter ride on Calaveras this afternoon. Its first longer ride up to and around Marin is in the morning. :thumbup
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Congratulations, looks awesome!

Waiting for the Costco program to kick in on this so I can get on the dealer's waiting list. You said in the other website thread that the non-ABS stock brakes weren't as good as the 250 stock brakes? Would you recommend going for the ABS version then? Or, do you feel a simple brake upgrade would suffice.
 
Ozymandias said:
I went over and looked at the white one at my local shop on Saturday. It was already spoken for but DAMN it looks good in white. It's actually flake white too. All the little sparkles in the paint made my GF go "oooh pretty!" :laughing

The guy at the dealership sent this over too.

[youtube]A3wHjJnZLzc[/youtube]

Honestly... do like! The price is just a bit painful.
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Holly carp almost 34rwhp stock is nice!! if you could break 40rwhp with full exhaust system and powercommander that would be a sweet street bike!
 
iloveangrybirds said:
Congratulations, looks awesome!

Waiting for the Costco program to kick in on this so I can get on the dealer's waiting list. You said in the other website thread that the non-ABS stock brakes weren't as good as the 250 stock brakes? Would you recommend going for the ABS version then? Or, do you feel a simple brake upgrade would suffice.
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Is the ABS model even available in California?
 
iloveangrybirds said:
Waiting for the Costco program to kick in on this so I can get on the dealer's waiting list. You said in the other website thread that the non-ABS stock brakes weren't as good as the 250 stock brakes? Would you recommend going for the ABS version then? Or, do you feel a simple brake upgrade would suffice.
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I think it's just a pads thing. The disk is the same, the caliper looks similar, so I'm not sure that the ABS is more capable (other than the fact it has ABS, of course). They just put more newbie-friendly pads on the non-abs. The journalists on the initial ride mentioned that the brake feel was a little better on the non-abs bikes, so who knows.
 
mel3535 said:
Holly carp almost 34rwhp stock is nice!! if you could break 40rwhp with full exhaust system and powercommander that would be a sweet street bike!
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I know, right? Pretty freakin' impressive the amount of HP gain they got just adding 50cc. Well, that and the fuel injection probably helped a bit. :thumbup
 
Hey all I've been calling around to see how much I can get the Ninja 300 for OTD. So far Hollister Powersports can't be beat. Nice sales manager and he told me that they wont be beat either. OTD is $5600

$200 more for the special edition two-tone green one. Nice stickers he said.
$500 more if you want abs.
 
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Paulo666 said:
Hey all I've been calling around to see how much I can get the Ninja 300 for OTD. So far Hollister Powersports can't be beat. Nice general manager and he told me that they can't be beat. OTD is $5600

$200 more for the special edition two-tone green one. Nice stickers he said.
$500 more if you want abs.
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So it's basically 700 if you want abs because abs is only available in the spec edition.
 
mel3535 said:
Holly carp almost 34rwhp stock is nice!! if you could break 40rwhp with full exhaust system and powercommander that would be a sweet street bike!
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No way will you ever hit 40hp with bolt-ons, maybe not even with expensive engine building. Maybe 37, which would feel pretty good, especially if you carved off 20 or 30 pounds.
 
Paulo666 said:
Hey all I've been calling around to see how much I can get the Ninja 300 for OTD. So far Hollister Powersports can't be beat. Nice general manager and he told me that they can't be beat. OTD is $5600

$200 more for the special edition two-tone green one. Nice stickers he said.
$500 more if you want abs.
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Given the sales tax of 8.25% in Hollister, $4799 comes to $5194.92 before TTL. TT&L (via the DMV's calculator) comes to $561 for a grand total of $5755.92. So you're actually getting a discount somewhere. That's pretty damn cool! :thumbup
 
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