250 Ninja .... Track Bike or Sell??

[cobra23]

Hey all you racer Types..

My son has an 05 250 Ninja parked in my garage. He wants me to use the 250, or sell it.

He tells me to use it as a track bike. Right now, I have ridden the Ducati at Fernley a few times lotts oh fun.

BUT!!

If'n I drops the Duck....Big dollar repairs will happen.

If'n I drops the 250, I buys it.

My Question is ... are the 250's any fun to ride on the track? For the price of repair parts on the Ducati I could have the whole 250, and just run it into the ground...he he.

What do you think??

[n10sive]

they can be hella fun track bikes!

[jlavallee]

A 250 ninja would be a laugh on the technical course but normal "C" configuration is a pretty HP hungry track. I'd tire pretty quickly of it on a 3 mile course but that's just my opinion.

[crzydog]

Sometimes you got to go slow to go fast.  It would make a great learner for carrying speed into corners and would give you a break on the fast stuff.  No reason to pull in as you'd never be tired!

[Yard Sale]

I rode mine on configs C and H. Very fun, very good learning experience. Main drawback is cornering clearance. Straightaway speed was an issue, too. I was still WFO through turn one. Riding it was very much a case of adapting to the bike's limitations.

[Adiggity]

Never ridden a 250 but I have yet to ride anything that wasn't fun! 

[cobra23]

Sounds good so far....

Looks like the Ninja may just get the life flogged out of it....woo-hooooo.

So what do you use for tires, it has the old "skinny" skins. I watched a guy on a black 250 ninja last summer at Fernley, he was holding his own in the tight corners.

It's also a California bike....so it's super lean..gotta fix that, then throw down for some galvinized conduit to turn into a set of straight pipes....yaaaayyyyy.  I'll call em Cobra headers...no charge for the special galvinized coating, start a web business, Plumbing for 250s.com.

[n10sive]

So what do you use for tires, it has the old "skinny" skins. I watched a guy on a black 250 ninja last summer at Fernley, he was holding his own in the tight corners.

I think that was Amir...he did his NRS at Fernley and raced the Z2 weekend. He did pretty good all things considered.

And if ever you have any doubts about 250's at RFR, ask anyone who did the Z2 weekend who was passed by a 12 year old on a 125 or a 250 USGPRU bike how they do! Guys on 600's had a hard time keeping up with them as it was just WFO for them all the way around the track!  It was a pretty awesome sight and experience (I was on the track and got schooled by some fast kids).

[Yard Sale]

No comparison between the Ninja 250 grocery-getter and the 125 and 250 GP bikes.

One of the Pacific Track Time staff riders a Ninjette, as does a Zoom Zoom regular, IIRC.

[cobra23]

Still no word on why the thing runs so lean.

[Yard Sale]

You can drill out the plugs to get at the fuel mixture screws.

Lean for California maybe, but OK for the high desert.

[cobra23]

OK,

Drill out mixture screws, adjust....

Crash. Ohhh lookn forward to some road rash on the leathers... :

[Dave_P]

Hey, be careful when you "drill out" the plugs.  What you're really doing here is removing a cover that bolcks your access to the fuel screw.  If you get carried away with the drill, you'll go right through the plugs and into the fuel screw.
I used to have an old gixxer that had a couple of it's fuel screws damaged when the original owner performed the drill out the plugs operation.

[cobra23]

Good tip thanks!!

[cobra23]

ok the little 250 is on it's way home Tuesday. Back to Washington.

I'll need to look  for a new track candidate.