Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to say what a great site this is. I'm a big gear head, so far just with cars, and am looking to start riding. I read all the stickies and the wyndfeather site. I have to say it was all very valuable information. I plan on going to my local MSF class and they even have a pre-noob class I'm going to take. I only had limited dirt-bike experiance before I tore my ACL on one several years back, so I'm gonna have to learn from scratch again


I'm pretty set on two choices for my first bike, mostly from what I've read here. The Ninja 250 and the Buell Blast. I'm a fairly small guy at 5'9" and 130 lbs and was wondering if the extra 60 lbs of the Buell would make it harder for me. My Dad has also been riding for a long time and said that it probably idles rough being a 1 cyl engine. He hasn't ridden in at least 10 years, so he's basing it off older bikes. Just hoping for some opinions on the matters.

One cylinder engines have come along way since the power of smaller engines really grew. So by using some existing technologies they applied them to the one cylinder engines. Some makers did more than others and the larger the single cylinder the more difficult it is to smooth it out.

i.e. counter balancing, rubber engine mounts and a few suspension concepts. A 250 single (like a Ninja 250) is fine in my opinion where a 600cc (like the Yamaha S30) is not. There are many others as well some using most of the current technology and some not. Gearing also plays a role for newer riders or those just new to a different type of bike than what their use to.

Reading a book or two before you go to class with a list of quesitons would be good. I didn't and ended up after the class with a whole bunch of newbie questions that I could have had answered in just a few minutes. Local library might get you some free info, which is always good.

The ninja 250 is actually a parallel twin. The blast has no counterbalancer so it does tend to vibrate alot (so im told) at idle and low speeds. Also the blast is really small when you see it in person, at 5'9 you'll probably feel cramped on it. The only good points about the blast is that its pretty low maintenance due to the fact it is air cooled, has belt drive, and self adjusting valves.

The ninja 250 would likely fit you better and be a smoother bike. Not to mention cheaper.

Ninja 250 but then I am biased