Total Motorcycle Community Forums

There's used and then there's used. Somewhere in that range you can find your sweet spot, depending on your budget, mechanical skills, probability of dropping the bike, importance of aesthetics, etc.

Myself, I had no problem finding a great used baby ninja - '05 with 164 miles on it - for in the low $2k's. Basically, I'm grateful for them taking care of some of the break in.

But it's a personal decision. To each his own.

Be safe,
p.

Wow. How does a person ride 160 miles and decide - "Naw, this isn't for me".

I don't have any problem envisioning that. Sometimes one has to try something before passing judgment. In this case it was a wife who wanted to ride with her husband (or maybe he wanted her to ride with him), but finally grew cold to the idea. Nice guy, my gain. I had to drive a few hours to get the bike, but it was worth it.

p.

Ive heard the break in period on the ninja 250 really sucks. Something like you are limited to 4000 rpms for the first 500 miles or so. Which ive read in reviews...equates to about 45mph in 6th gear. That must be frustrating having to baby the bike around town for 500 miles, especially such a rev-happy motor that makes its power way up top.

Yeah, I got a lot of knowledgeable advice to ignore the break in. I ended up babying it for 500 miles, but after the oil change I took the sticker off and just ran it. I'm very smooth with it anyway, so it's not a big deal, but now I don't count rpm's. I also plan on doing an extra oil/filter change soon (I'm just over 1K miles now).
p.

paul1149 wrote:There's used and then there's used. Somewhere in that range you can find your sweet spot, depending on your budget, mechanical skills, probability of dropping the bike, importance of aesthetics, etc.

Myself, I had no problem finding a great used baby ninja - '05 with 164 miles on it - for in the low $2k's. Basically, I'm grateful for them taking care of some of the break in.

But it's a personal decision. To each his own.

Be safe,
p.

I would definitly be going for a bike that is only a couple years old with low miles. Also needs to be in pretty good condition, I dont really want one that has all the molding broken off already.

woops - sorry, technical correction. It had 264 miles on it. Holding it to 4k was almost impossible with the hills, curves and straights around here, and I'm a conservative rider.

p.

that breakin period is bs. My dealer said I'd be fine if I just don't redline it. The redline begins at 13,000. I drive it normal. Average 8-10,000 rpm's on the highway doing 70-90mph and it still runs fiiiiiiine. Got close to 700 miles on it now.

And I would buy new. Since for a few hundred more it's brand spanking new and you don't have to worry that any newby did any obvious or worse hidden damage. For peace of mind, I'd rather pay more for new. And since it's new, I am proud of it and am very careful and pay extra attention to what I am doing cuz I don't want to scratch it up or anything.