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Kawasaki Ninja 300

mel3535 said:
wow that was fast!, do you know around how much it will by OTD? I wonder if it will be less than 6, the 08-12 were around 5-5.5
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It'll be exactly what one would expect for a new bike that will sell out here in the bay area. MSRP + tax/title/license + ~$600 for freight/setup. At some point over the next few months it will undoubtedly get a bit cheaper, but probably not if someone wants one soon.
 
My GS500 has a dual rotor GSX-R front end. I'm thinking of removing one of the rotors and calipers in order to reduce weight. Dual rotors are awesome if your bike weighs 450lbs and needs to stop from 140+MPH. For a bike that doesn't go much faster than 110, single rotor should be fine.
 
I'll be getting one of these myself just dont know which is the best color so far...
 
Gabe's full review is up.

Yeah, yeah, we've all read these sort of reviews before. Question is "is this one even worth reading?" Oh my Lord yes. :thumbup

Thanks, Gabe.

-Mark
 
aciurczak said:
It'll be exactly what one would expect for a new bike that will sell out here in the bay area. MSRP + tax/title/license + ~$600 for freight/setup. At some point over the next few months it will undoubtedly get a bit cheaper, but probably not if someone wants one soon.
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And used ones will be selling for higher than MSRP a year from now. The Bay area is a hot market for these little bikes.

Can't wait to hear about this one Alex. It seems to have hit a sweet spot, all the fun of a lightweight sportbike but just enough extra power so that you don't think twice about choosing it for a given ride.

Black one is tempting...
 
weasel said:
Does the single rotor in the front bother anyone else? :dunno
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Only if it's as anemic as the single front rotor on the '06 Ninjette. Even with an upgraded braided line and top-shelf pads, it's not the greatest gripper in the world. I'm not talking being unable to stoppie, I'm talking taking a (relatively) long-ass time to scrub off speed in an emergency, especially if you have a passenger.

(And I'm not against single-front rotor motos; the GS500 does just fine with one.)
 
MysterYvil said:
Only if it's as anemic as the single front rotor on the '06 Ninjette. Even with an upgraded braided line and top-shelf pads, it's not the greatest gripper in the world. I'm not talking being unable to stoppie, I'm talking taking a (relatively) long-ass time to scrub off speed in an emergency, especially if you have a passenger.
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This was greatly improved in '08. Our '04 had the same old-school ABS as you described above; it just didn't have nearly enough power to slow/stop that disk even when serviced/maintained perfectly. The '08 one was night and day improved, with a larger disk and better quality caliper. As long as the '13 doesn't go backwards, I'm hopeful it will work just fine. They are putting different type pads on the ABS and non-ABS versions, and the non-ABS is getting "resin" pads, which I assume means organic and not sintered.
 
MotoUSA's take.

Click on the link for the full story.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/157/14371/Motorcycle-Article/2013-Kawasaki-Ninja-300-First-Ride.aspx

The "new" DRZ400SM is only $2,000 more.

"Ripping up the curvy pavement near Healdsburg, California, the extra torque is immediately apparent on the Ninja 300. The biggest improvement is the fatter midrange. The 250 didn’t have any real pull under 8K, but the new 300 comes to life around 5 or 6K on the tach. It’s as if the 250 powerband got shifted over two or three grand, with a little extra torque everywhere else. The swath of usable power is much broader than that of its predecessor.

The new bike retains the 250’s high-revving character, however, and still prefers to be revved up to 10K and above. But where the 250 demanded a screaming top-end riding style, the 300 only encourages it with surprising performance for such a small engine. This new 300 flat out zips when revved out, climbing up to an indicated 90 mph without any effort at all – and well beyond that (some riders claimed over 100 mph top speeds on GPS). No more hesitant freeway passes from this Ninja, as there’s plenty of oomph at 75 mph and above. In fact, the cheeky little Ninja now features a passing button on the left switchgear! That says it all right there.

There’s no sugarcoating this latest Ninja’s MSRP. The 300 retails for $4799 in stock trim, $4999 for the SE version and $5499 for the ABS SE. Affordability has been a key hallmark of the Ninja 250. The 2007 version sported a miserly $2999 MSRP, which jumped to $3499 with the complete redesign in 2008 – and steadily grew with the 2012 model ringing in at $4199. This latest iteration boosts the cost of entry to the Ninja family by more than 60% in the past six years. "
 
The price stat is not wrong, but it's a little misleading. The MSRP for the pre-gen ninjette was $2,999 at least as far back as 1999. (that's the earliest I could find quickly online). In other words, it's gone up 60% over 13 years (at least). The tooling for the pre-gen was amortized before we all had email addresses, of course it was dirt cheap.
 
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The price is right on this bike, this sums it up nicely:

Slipper clutch (which works just as promised), ABS, fuel-injection and classy new styling? All that stuff alone is worth at least the $600 price bump over the 2012 250R—but then you add in the new frame and motor and it’s a bargain.
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It really does look badass, the visual appeal of this 300 is awesome.
 
Comparing MSRP of a vehicle over any amount of time, when the vehicle has been redesigned twice, and the Almighty Dollar has plummeted in relation to the makers Yen, is a hair-splitting waste of mental masturbation. There. I said it. :x
 
I'm trying to collect links to all of the informative reviews of the new 300; here's that post. So far they have been reasonably consistent, with no real surprises. :thumbup
 
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