Ninja 250

If she's never ridden before, and you can afford it, I'd say to go with the 250 (that pic of the red one you posted is pretty cool), and when she outgrows it in 1-1/2 to 2 seasons of riding, trade it in for something else. Good luck, and keep us posted.
 
For a new rider they are perfect. Most MSF courses that provide bikes for new riders use 250 cc bikes. My wife learned on a 250 and my sons girlfriend just got a Ninja 250 this year and rides all over the place with my son and friends on their busas. When she is ready for a bigger bike they are real easy to sell for close to what you paid for it. I looked at a used 07 Ninja in red like the one pictured with 1200 miles yesterday priced at $2600. If she has never ridden before she could get spooked with a bike that is too heavy and has too much power. Better to start small and work her up in size and displacement. I learned years ago on a 125 cc.
 
my wife started out on a CBR 600....we paid $1500 for it....the 600 was a pretty good size to learn on...
 
I have a 2005 EX250 and I love it. I like to take it to the Dragon and make big bikes cry. The speedometer will get up to 105 with me on it. My friend Roadking54 gets really upset because I can out run his $22K Road King Classic at top end. It is just a fun little bike and I got it for my wife and son to ride. We have had it since March 2006 and it turns out that I ride it more than either of them. In fact I am still trying to convince my wife to ride it. She had just rather ride on back of the VSTAR.

Here is a nice shot of me on the Dragon...did I mention that I replaced the stock tires with AVON Sport?

2.jpg
 
ill never ride one again. crappy tires. crappy suspension... which isnt adjustable...felt like a rocking horse.And very light-good if you have to pick it up, bad if your on the the freeway/in the wind.3 minutes on it and i ran back to the busa and appologised!
 
Ha I love 250's they're so fun to ride on. They literally weigh nothing so you can whip into corners like no other. I topped one out at 125 but i'm pretty sure their speedo isn't accurate at that speed. Winds are a bi$ch though, gas mileage is amazing if you drive it nice. I got 85mpg when I drove her nice, and a lil over 60 when I hot rodded it around. Even beat a few high end bmw's heh. Right now you can find 250s everywhere for like $2k. If you have that extra laying around I'd tell you to go for it, the money you'll save in gas will pay for the bike off itself, and she'll get free experience on it. And hey if you're bored and wanna feel really big take it out for a spin
smile.gif
 
Thaks for all the input.
I will take the safety course with her and see how she does. I am just trying to get a good idea in my head so I will know what to go after when it is time.
 
I am in Bahrain and all over the desert. I will be back in about 5 more months so I am not looking today just getting my thoughts and some opinions together. Thanks for looking though.
 
The Ex is a great line,great resale,easy to ride,and parts galore..may want to think ex 500...Fox makes a adj shock that works well

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If I was going to buy a new bike for my wife. (Which I already did this year Suzuki Katana 600) I really would look at this bike as well Hyosung 650R. These are some nice bikes and not expensive. When I got rearended and was not sure how much money I was going to get back. I was debating on getting this bike. Hyosung has been around for years making motorcycles for Suzuki so they know what they are doing. I heard through the grapevine that they are coming this coming year with a 1000 model. This company is starting to make waves. This is a very good possible bike for a beginnger since it is very much like the SV650S.

gt650r_11.jpg
 
Spike said:
I am currently riding my wifes Ninja 250 while my Busa is fixed. (Small traffic accident, not my fault... no really.) This bike is fun. I use it as a commuter right now and am getting roughly 50-65 mpg.

Starter bike or not, I LOVE this bike. It is just lotsa fun! The gearing and throttle are way off from the Busa, duuuh, but for a new rider I think it is perfect. Even after we get her upgraded to a 600cc bike or something like that I will not be selling this Ninja 250, it is a fun little machine.

a couple of downsides:
Keep in mind I have a brand new 2006:
If you follow the break-in you need to keep it under 4k rpm for the first 500 miles. That's 35 miles per hour or less. After that from 500-1000 you keep it under 6k rpm. That is about 40-45.

This bikes runs cold. It takes a bit to warm up, several minutes actually of adjusting the choke to keep it between stalling and going nuclear. It is irritating.

Top speed is about 110 mph but it takes a bit to get there.

All in all I think if your wife has never ridden before this is the perfect bike but she WILL outgrow it in about one season. If she HAS ridden before throw her butt on a 500-600cc cycle. She will get bored/frustrated with the 250 too quickly.

I hope this helps!
Click to expand...

My husband had a busa and my 2012 Ninja 250 is my first bike. I took the MSF in 2009 and just got my bike this year. I started riding it in April. Here is is, 3-4 months later and I do not feel at all like I've 'outgrown' or 'gotten bored' with the bike. Honestly, I don't think I ever will. I think it's fun. I have met a lot of 250 owners/riders (most of them are men) and they LOVE this bike. I don't like that my bike has the choke thing to deal with and needs a LOT of warm up time, and there's some delay when I pull the throttle, but these things are minor and I've never ridden any other bike (other than the one provided at the MSF) so I really have nothing to compare to to notice that these are what others consider 'negatives' or 'cons'. My husband will take my bike out for a spin just for giggles and he loves that it handles very well and is fun. He calls it a toy. I love mine! Even if I do 'upgrade' I don't see myself getting rid of it ever. And I didn't do any of the 'riding it easy' stuff...no one said anything to me about that before, so I don't know if that's really true or not. I don't think it is though.
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Wow!! definitely it is a wonderful bike. i am in love that too much. it's looks too beautiful. hey, how are you ? i hope you are well. i know that thine presentation really too good. besides. So you may have perceived of this new teenage mutant ninja turtles reboot that Michael embayment is making, the one where the Turtles are now aliens? yes, nobody would hold it against you if you bawled some large-scale fanboy tears about it. But there's ..
 
Some of the best fun I,ve had on a bike was on small ones. You can run the guts out of them and not get in trouble. They throw around easy, and get you where you want to go.
 
I'd hafta +1 on the sv650 as a starter bike...anything smaller in my opinion just leaves you wanting.

Another good idea if you want a "throw away" bike is to get an older CBR600...an F3 is a great starting bike and generally can be found cheaply enough to use and not worry about dropping it from time to time as you're learning.

Edit: before people say anything, yes, I know that the 600's are technically "smaller"...but that's a different class of bike all together, and dont really qualify as "smaller" in my book, especially in performance.
 
honda"s coming out with three new 500s in the spring, I"m thinking on getting one to ride to work, might be worth you time to check them out. I think a new rider could live with a 500 for a lonng time.
 
Idk if I agree with learning on a bigger bike will stunt your learning curve. A smaller bike might help initially if you have absolutely no experience whatsoever on or how a motorcycle functions however it could lead to overconfidence when you dont have any respect for the power of the bike. A 250 is gonna feel like a toy and might give the rider a false sense of security. Unless your lady is really petite and the weight and seat height of the bike is an issue I would go for an SV 650. Great bike to start out on with street and track proven capabilities not to mention a ton of upgrades and mods that you can do as she grows into the bike
 
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