My Ninja 650R

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Time_Attack

Time_Attack

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Midship_Express
2007 Candy Plasma blue Kawasaki Ninja 650R.

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Well your best bet would be to hop on a 250 and see for yourself. I'm sure there is a dealer that you can just check. Since its your first bike you should just go with whats cheap, because I'm certain you would hate to drop(not saying you will but still) a nice bike as opposed to one that didn't cost as much. Either way check here, I read it and thought it seemed to be useful enough. http://motorcyclebeginnerguide.weebly.com/
 
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Small twins are great starters, even up to 500cc engines. the 600 and up fours are probably too stout for a beginner.

See if used works for you. Seek the advice of somebody you know and trust while looking at used bikes. As you grow out of it, sell it to be somebody else's starter bike.

You will drop it. Don't kid yourself that you're careful, won't happen to you, blah, blah. One stop light and sand under your foot, an POOF! you're on the ground with it. So drop a cheap bike, not a brand new one! :) The bike in my avatar has 80,000 miles on the clock, more than half of that mine, and I drop it every 4 or 5 months. (Haven't crashed it but twice, but it's been years since I actually crashed.)

Nice to see you thinking about money for bike and gear. And a jacket does not constitute gear. It amazes me to see how many guys ride as if their legs and butt will never be exposed to pavement if they went down. Helmet, jacket, gloves, and jeans. Jeans will not help; may as well be naked.
 
I might go look at a 2009 250R tomorrow after work. 1400 miles great shape guy is asking $3000.

As for gear what am I looking at? I know helmet, jacket, gloves. I've seen the under armor stuff but I don't know what all is out there.
 
Leather is by far the best protection, but it's hot in the summer. In Florida, I wear mesh gear year-round (and bundle up underneath when it's chilly:) open-weave textile with leather on the impact areas and good armor. I wear overpants over my regular clothes, and carry shoes to change out of my boots at work. On fun days I just walk around in my boots.

Textile gear is fine for the street, but if you ever think about track days, it's leather.

Don't cheap out. Figure on a couple hundred for a jacket, 150 or more for pants, same for boots. I'm wearing a grand every time I get on the bike, but I've never lost any skin to the road, either. Much cheaper than sheet time!

Jacket should have hard armor in the elbows, maybe shoulders, but most have CE foam in the shoulders. You don't need hard spine protections, but the jacket should have a heavy surface over the spine and CE foam inside.

Pants have hard armor on the knees, foam at the hips. Hard at the hips is better, but costlier.

Boots must be over the ankle, and have hard protection over those ankle bones. No laces (which can catch on pegs.)

Gloves should have good palm and knuckle coverage. Short gloves will have Velcro closures, make sure they don't open up at the least little tug. Some guys wear only gauntlet-type gloves, but I prefer short ones.

A backpack or some kind of tank bag or panniers. You will find yourself needing to carry stuff.
 
Wfooshee, that was a great read there on gear! I'm in Florida also, so it's nice to hear the ventilated stuff works well on protection. Are most of the pants things you can wear over normal clothes?
 
My riding set of jeans are thicker and have kneepad armor and are thing where my leg bends so ot looks pretty cool anyway. But I think for the most part it may be tough to get stuff over your normal clothes.

wfooshee
Jeans will not help; may as well be naked.
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I agree with most everything but I must say, jeans did help a little when I crashed. Something is ALWAYS better than nothing.
 
The pants I have are designed as overpants, to go over normal clothes. Tour Master Venture Air, mesh.
 
wfooshee
The pants I have are designed as overpants, to go over normal clothes. Tour Master Venture Air, mesh.
Click to expand...

Very cool!

I'd always wondered about the pants if they were all designed as overpants or what. I wouldn't wanna walk around in leathers after I start riding. Do you get hot at all while you ride in the summer with the vented gear?
 
It gets hot sitting at lights in traffic, but under way it's fine with the mesh gear.

Sweat is easier to replace than blood. And skin.
 
Completely agreed there. I got flipped over my handle bars at 20mph on a bicycle and got enough road rash from that to know I don't want it to happen again. My hands were useless for 2 weeks from breaking my fall, and that was not fun
 
Well the guy with the 250 has begun to ignore me. I can only assume he sold it. Otherwise there isn't much of interest for sale locally. A couple honda F3s and an older YZF600 but I don't really want something with at on of miles.

What do you guys think about the new CBR 250R? I'm not convinced on the one cylinder engine. Seems kinda silly.
 
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CBR250R is a great learner bike.
CBR250RR is not lol. (As if anybody could find one)
What kind of riding are doing? Lots of highway stuff will become annoying on that bike, not enough power. But if you are zipping around the city then it should be perfect.
You probably don't want an F3 if it's for your first bike.
 
A little 250 seems about perfect then.
Or you could get a motard seeing as you are tall.
DRZ-400SM would have enough power, be easy on the body, and handle better at low speeds then a sportbike.
 
Thing is I really like the sport bike look. A 400cc-500cc bike would be great but I don't like the look of any of those. Pretty much I want a bike that looks like a super sport but rides like a reasonably quick and reliable daily transport. :lol:
 
Then one of the 250s is the bike for you, (FZR/VFR400s are also nice, a bit quicker though.)
Although a Motard would be faster and better handling, and other bikers would know that you would have an entry level bike from just the exhaust note.
 
I don't think either of those or anything like them is available in the US.

I got back into contact with the guy that has the 2008 ninja 250. He wants to much for it having 7000 miles but its also in town.
 
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Ontario isn't in America. It's much easier to import something into Canada. And about that other bike I hear those Chinese bikes aren't very good.
 
Time_Attack
Ontario isn't in America. It's much easier to import something into Canada. And about that other bike I hear those Chinese bikes aren't very good.
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If are in a place where you get a mix of sun and rain then id keep away from the chinese ones, i live in uk and weather here is a fair mix and i rode in all weathers and spent most of the time fightin rust and electrical problems with a chinese 125, not sayin they are all bad tho but i had mine for 3 years from brand new and was forever doing bits to it to keep it runnin :S
As i say tho that was my experience with one, but i dont doubt others will have nothing but praise for theirs
And being a big guy myself i feel ur pain for findin a bike, im 6' 3 and a few pounds heavier than you, which makes buyin a bike a bit harder, more height issue than weight, but i run a KTM Duke 2 640, and even having 3 years on a 125 wasnt enough preparation lol
I would advise goin to a used bike showroom and seein what you can actually fit on, i couldnt fit on a gpz500 :(
 
I just went and looked at this bike tonight. It got dark out so the photos I took sucked but the owner started it up and told me what he could. He said he had owned it about a year and it was just out of storage. 6200 miles on it. Tires look in good shape. It needs an oil change and the chain needs lubed. It has many scratches on the fairings as if it was dropped at a stop light or in a parking lot. Otherwise it looked straight, idled great and looked pretty decent for the price. Any thoughts? He said he will have the title on friday and that its clean and clear. He is the 2nd owner.

http://bn.craigslist.org/mcy/2949878178.html
 

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