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I'm waiting for our MSF course to buy a bike, but I'm still keeping an eye out and seeing how much I need to save So far I'm leaning towards a ninja 250 as everyone seems to love it as a beginner bike. The nimbleness and light weight would work well for my wife and I, and being able to keep up on the freeway is a big help. I really have no desire to ride a sportbike, but since the seating position is much more standard, I think we'd prefer it over a laid back cruiser that doesn't maneuver as well. I'm hoping they have one at the MSF course we can try first...

My only concern with this bike is that it has a fairing, which I understand is really expensive to replace after one of us inevitably drops the bike.

What I'm wondering is, can I just remove the fairing until we get the hang of things and are less likely to drop it? Other than looking stupid, is it safe to ride without it? Do they come off easily?

Seems like it would be wise to get the easily broken piece of plastic out of the way for the first few weeks, but I've never heard about anyone doing this...

I have a possible clue to your question. Call your local Kawa dealer and tell him if you were to drop the bike and crack the fair but good, how much would it be for the part and then labor to replace? If your really concerned, you can ask the dealer if its possible/safe//legal to remove it before you dump it.

I do think your most likely being overly cautious but you know yourself better than any one else.

Keep in mind- I don't know you or own that bike but have seem many and sat down on a few.

Before the class begins, tell the head instructor that you are thinking of buy one. So if they have a small sport bike available could you ride it for the course?

You could remove the fairing, but it would take the headlight, front turn signals, mirrors, and gauges with it. All are mounted to the fairing, not the bike. So in order to be street legal you'd need to fit all of those as aftermarket. By the time you're done doing that you might as well just buy a naked gs500.

If you just drop the bike you would probably bust mounting tabs off. There are plastic repair kits (www.PLASTEX.net) you can use to repair your plastic.

Sev wrote:You could remove the fairing, but it would take the headlight, front turn signals, mirrors, and gauges with it. All are mounted to the fairing, not the bike. So in order to be street legal you'd need to fit all of those as aftermarket. By the time you're done doing that you might as well just buy a naked gs500.

Well there goes that idea

GS500 is nice, but unless I found a great deal on a used one (they pop up from time to time) I don't want to spend that much for a first bike. Plus, I'm the opposite of all those people who want to buy a race bike the day after MSF. I really don't want something that can go fast... Last time I tried to ride a bike (mid 80's vintage honda magna) I wrecked it twice and could barely lift it. I really want to start on something light and not terribly powerful.

debtman7 wrote:My only concern with this bike is that it has a fairing, which I understand is really expensive to replace after one of us inevitably drops the bike.

What I'm wondering is, can I just remove the fairing until we get the hang of things and are less likely to drop it? Other than looking stupid, is it safe to ride without it? Do they come off easily?

The Ninja 250 plastics are about $500 to replace. They can't be removed because the turn-signals are mounted to them and so are the rearview mirrors and whatnot.

Don't worry about it. You'll crash. They'll get a little scratched. They hold up pretty well for the most part. Mine ended up with a few cracks and I had to replace a turnsignal once or twice. But they still looked pretty good ... until I got decked on the highway by the Honda Civic.

Have fun!

Buy a cheap used ninjette ... that way you won't feel so bad when you drop it. Remember, this is your first bike... the bike you'll learn pretty much all your riding skills on after MSF, so who cares if it's ugly and beat up?

After 6 months or a year when you are confident in your skills, sell it to another newbie and get yourself a nice bigger bike, or a new ninjette.

... just advice and opinions from another newb ninjette owner.

Oh and don't forget ... fairings can be found on ebay.

Thomas

tanitatt wrote:Buy a cheap used ninjette ... that way you won't feel so bad when you drop it. Remember, this is your first bike... the bike you'll learn pretty much all your riding skills on after MSF, so who cares if it's ugly and beat up?

The problem is that I don't see too many used come up around here, and the ones that do aren't all that cheap (usually seem to ask around $2,000).

If I go used, it seems I have to be willing to take what I can get as smaller beginner bikes are less common and go faster (I've been watching craiglist, classifieds and ebay motors). I'm still not discounting it, but it seems if I go used, getting a 250 ninja is unlikely.

Side note, this one looked tempting:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/301471017.html

But an automatic tranny on a 20 year old bike? Yikes!

I also just found a 2001 buell blast with 6000 miles for $1700 which is tempting, but these seem to have mixed reviews and sketchy reliability...

That is one weird honda. It might be worth something some day.

I love searching craigslist. There's a million bikes in your area, they're just not all "sexy".

Candidates from your area:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/300014430.html

http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/299403638.html

little more displacement, but not like a supersport :

http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/299384199.html

the indestructible old GS:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/mcy/299352535.html