Ninja 250

minimac wrote: ......and ninjas look stoopid naked.

Oh come on..... you've seen mine. only thing you said was something about seeing sky through the rear tire.

anyone got one for sale cheap?

There was one in need of plastics and a headlight on the Charlottesville Craigslist for $500 recently, I emailed within minutes of it being posted, but never heard back.

My cousin has an 06 with a blown motor, if he decides to sell it I'll post it here. Last time I asked about it I had a hopped-up LT250R engine on my workbench, but he was still thinking about fixing it.

Grtechguy wrote: Oh come on..... you've seen mine. only thing you said was something about seeing sky through the rear tire.

"You can see the AIR through that tire"....was the quote! A naked Ninja reminds me of a Ruckus. They're cool in an ugly sort of way, but not my cup of tea. But I'm an old fart

I'm actively hunting for an EX250/500 as we speak.

Every place I go, the 250R is listed as the beginner bike for someone who wants a sportbike, and a damn good beginner bike for everyone else.

And I think the naked ninja is sexy.

emailed a guy about a 1986 ninja zx6 (i believe) he said $350. its got 31000 miles. run away or??

needs "carbed tuned" buy ran fine before they were rebuilt

$350? That seems awful cheap compared to everything I've been looking at. Is the paperwork on it good?

If it is, you might have the guy meet you at your local bike shop. They should be able to look it over, and give you an estimate of what it would take to get it road-worthy.

You can always pay the seller $50 if you don't buy it, just so he's not wasting his time.

CarKid1989 wrote: emailed a guy about a 1986 ninja zx6 (i believe) he said $350. its got 31000 miles. run away or?? needs "carbed tuned" buy ran fine before they were rebuilt

86 is the old body style. I might avoid it just because they are much less common than the 88+. Though they do look better, IMO.

Mine will be for sale in the summer once it's fixed and I've had my fun with it.

I wouldn't say the ninja has to just be a starter bike. Before I bought mine I rode it several times. Sure, it's super slow compared to a 600, but it's also small and light. I've got sort of a bear-on-a-tricycle thing going on at 6'3 250lbs, but the 250 is super tossable and just sticks like crazy. Also, you can wind it out through fourth and not end up going 150mph. It's nice to be able to wring it's neck on the street and not have everyone within 20 miles calling the police.

Oh yeah, cheapcycleparts.com is a great place to buy parts (not related, just a happy customer).

The ex500 adjustable levers are a bolt on affair and much nicer than the stock pieces. The guy I bought my bike from had been riding it for a year with bent bars and bent/broken levers. He also didn't to any maintenance, at all. With a total investment of $150 or so in parts I've replaced and upgraded the bars, levers, and bar ends. I still need to get a set of grips, replace the broken rocker arm and see if the dropped valve actually hurt anything, do something with the spray painted and cracked upper fairing, and replace the chain/sprockets. Oh yeah, and I'll do an oil change and get a set of more appropriate front springs for my weight.

skruffy. cant you just sell it now? i dont wanna wait

or a 200$ ninja 250..non running.

I dunno which to go for

I've got a 2002 that's just been sitting for a couple of years. Carbs are gacked up and rt cyl had some smoke last time I started it - running ragged (life lesson - don't loan your bike).

oldtin

PM sent

what are some things to look for on a ninja if you were shoipping for a used one?

Valve adjustment. It needs to be done every 5k miles or so. If the seller doesn't know when it was last done assume it's never been done. 250s suffer noticeable power loss and will eventually burn up a valve or break a rocker arm if it's ridden for too long way out of adjustment. It's a pretty straight forward DIY if you've done that sort of thing before, but getting in there with feeler gauges and stuff can be tricky. The motor should idle smooth and pull nicely to redline without a hiccup.

Check the forks for straightness, fairings/controls for damage. Also, dropping on the right side will usually bend the brake lever into the oil sight glass and break it. A big pair of channel locks or a piece of tube is all you need to straighten the brake lever back out. These are usually beginner bikes and most of them will have been dropped at least once. Replacement fairings seem unusually expensive for a bike that was so cheap new, but used ones are available if you look around enough.

ninja250.org is a great resource for these things. There's a buyers guide on there somewhere and all sorts of tips and tricks. There's a forum too but I hate the layout so I won't use it.

I am buying my first bike and found a '03 Ninja in my price range, but sellers mentions to small cracks in the fairing which are barely noticeable.

WTF is a fairing and is that something I should stay away from?

Bike has 20k miles for 1.4k.

Fairings are the aerodynamic bits of a bike. The pretty painted parts.

anyone in cleveland area or really close have one i could test drive? im on the line about em. Seems like they are dollar a dozen, but im not sold on em totally

i keep seeing these for sale and i keep telling myself to forget about em, they are too small and slow and tiny and ill get bored, but then i read all the positive reviews and im hooked again.

Is this normal?

I simply cannot make up my mind on these little bikes

250 review. great read and cool pics

CarKid1989 wrote: emailed a guy about a 1986 ninja zx6 (i believe) he said $350. its got 31000 miles. run away or??

I bought my '95 w/ 30k mi on it. Its got over 50k now. Its been reliable as a hammer. It runs a bit crappy now but that might be because I haven't adjusted the valves in all that time;-)

If you've ridden before, i'd go w/ a 600, but they are really too powerful for a beginner imo...

CarKid1989 wrote: i keep seeing these for sale and i keep telling myself to forget about em, they are too small and slow and tiny and ill get bored, but then i read all the positive reviews and im hooked again. Is this normal? I simply cannot make up my mind on these little bikes

Depends on what you want to do with it. I've got a163cc scooter, and works fine as my work commuter and local errand runner. Wouldn't want to do any interstate on it. At least a Ninja 250 can go on the interstate, you just aren't likely to want to use it for long distance touring.

I guess I'd sell ya mine for $500. New grips, bars, bar ends, 500 adjustable levers. I cheaped out on my head swap and didn't put new rings in it, so you'll have to pull the head off and hone the cylinders and throw some rings in there to get it running. It really shouldn't take more than a few hours to get it running again, I just haven't had the time.

Wife said I could get a cooler bike if I sold one of my cars, so...