+1.
This is the Ninja: Kawasaki Ninja 250R - Wikipedia
Not a dirt bike by any stretch. Definitely not real high performance. Sort of a Corrolla in wolf’s clothing. For training it serves the purpose of not being too twitchy.
It’s an appropriate bike for small people who aren’t cruising long distances. The riding posture is more upright than it at first appears.
+2
250 is pretty small. In our classes we had 250 dual sport thumpers, 250 cruisers and standards. Of those, I only like the dual sports. I’m 6’0", not a small guy. The small bike I had fun on was a very modest Honda CM400, a little putt-putt that was fun riding quickly.
My small bike is a Honda Shadow 600. It is as easy to muscle around as any 250.
If I got the right info thats about the same weight as my Honda 650 Nighthawk. The shadow is a V Twin 4 speed at 40 hp. It looks more like a Harley and probably sits lower. Nice looking bike. It revs to 6500 rpm and probably has more low end torque than my Nighthawk.
The Nighthawk is an inline 4 cylinder 6 speed, 72 hp at 10,000 rpm. It doesn’t come alive until about 3000 rpm so it’s docile off the line. What I liked about it as a beginner is that once in 2nd gear I could put space between me and the car behind me. I really wanted to be away from traffic when learning.
The best part about getting your license is the ability to ride at night. While night riding has additional risks I found it useful to get out in the country where nobody was around and ride slow. You can ride for hours and never see another car. Great practice for constantly starting and stopping. Slow being the operative word. There’s no law that says you have to go 50 mph. 35 mph is a great speed to practice at.
Learn real slow so that a 360° turn and figure eights on a narrow one lane road are easy. learn it for every bike you ever ride.
I had a Shadow 600 and loved it for the most part. I took that thing all over the east coast, put on 20,000+ miles and never really had any problems with it. I would say it’s a great starter bike. Many of the 250s just don’t have the power to keep up with traffic, even on the smaller roads. My ex owned a Nighthawk and it was way too slow to take much above 40-45, I think the top speed was around 60. The 250 Ninja however is a good starter bike, they are cheap and do have enough power to ride the highways no problem.
Always wear your gear. You can never tell when something stupid will happen. I was stopped and made a slow left turn. I don’t know what I hit, but it was no more then 5mph and I slid. I still have small scars on the back of my hand.
Here in Maryland you can’t ride on the road with just a permit without another rider riding with you. I guess that could have changed in the last few years, but I don’t think it has. You might be able to get a bike, learn to ride in a parking lot and take the riding test without taking the course. That’s what I did. The safety course is well worth it though as I’ve taken in since.
WTH good is another rider? That’s just an accident waiting to happen.
Excellent advice, however, one lane roads may have a crown, and may not be the safest place to practice 360° turns and figure 8s. They may also have soft shoulders. Not great for runoff, or for beginners.
Better is a quiet parking lot where the spaces face each other. Like two rows of capital Hs:
HHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHH
For example. The above represents 40 car spaces, two cars in each H, ten Hs in each row. For figure 8s, start in between two rows, go down into the top of an H in the bottom row and make a U-turn completely inside the upper half. Then go up to the H directly above it and complete your figure 8 similarly.
The trick is staying fully inside the lines. With practice it can be done.
I tried to make this clear. May have bunged that up. Hopefully it’s understandable.
And like Gus says, 360° turns at full lock left, and full lock right. Again, find a quiet and smooth parking lot.
If you’re like most riders you turn better one way, usually left, than right. My left turns are pretty good but my right turns always need practice. I think that’s true for most, because of where the throttle is.
Once you master that, practice figure 8s on steeper inclines, in both directions. Actually four directions, twice with a figure 8 lying downhill, and twice with the 8 lying across the hill. Also, 360° turns on steep inclines.
These skills are pretty advanced, mind you. One trick is to drag the rear brake while doing these. May help.
Another advanced activity is to find a local sheriff or police unit that offers training. Those guys (and gals too) really know how to ride.
There are three very different skill levels needed to ride safely.
One is operating the machinery: shifting, braking, accelerating appropriately without having to think about it. Which includes emergency maneuvers like downshift & go or max effort stop. And the low-speed maneuvers just above. Proper counter-steer turning at speed. etc.
The second is operating the roadway: Knowing how to deal with wet, gravel, decreasing radius curves, soft shoulders, railroad crossings, potholes, etc. Knowing which lane and which part of a lane to be in for every circumstance. In addition to knowing intellectually or procedurally what to do, having the muscle memory to do the maneuvers correctly & confidently. As an example, it takes practice not to hit every pothole you see. The scarier they are the more your brain wants to maneuver into it, not away from it. Only deliberate practice corrects this tendency.
Part of this is developing the skill and habits to always see that stuff coming so you’re never surprised to be going through something unexpected. Falls happen when you’re surprised.
The third is operating traffic. Knowing how to deal with being invisible. Knowing how to detect and anticipate the signals that that person is about to try to kill you. Knowing when to zoom to safety, when to maneuver, and when to brake. Knowing where every car ahead, alongside, and behind is. And as above, training yourself to be on alert every second there’s a car in your time zone.
Different courses teach different levels. Way back when I did it, MSF taught level 1 and talked about level 2 & 3. In most states you only need to be able to do level 1 to get a motorcycle qualification on your drivers license. You need level 3 to live very long.
Getting from 1 to 3 is where other riders can help. Or can teach you really awful complacent habits.
Agreed **LSLGuy, **and, good points.
Regarding this…
… additionally, several motorcycle magazines have regular columns on street survival, or road strategy, whatever they call it. Good to study. There are probably good online resources, and I’m a fan of MCN: Motorcycle Consumer News magazine. I have mo affiliation other than being a long time subscriber.
The thought is that the second bike acts as a sort of coach or instructor looking at what you do and correcting/explaining mistakes you may make. Depending on the conditions (usually traffic) it keeps people from riding your tail and forcing you beyond your ability (if they ride drag) or pace you as you learn (if they ride lead). It wasn’t required for me but when I switched to large touring bikes from dirt and dual purpose as a kid I had a couple people ride guard on me and I’ve done it for many people just learning since. I’ve never known it to cause an accident but I can relate a few it may have prevented. This assumes, of course, that the second (or more) bike is actually a smooth and experienced safe rider. Your mileage may vary greatly if the second bike is an arse who uses the phrase “watch this” a lot.
If I’m not too late to the party
- It’s your first bike, not your last.
- Of course you think you want a cruiser. Everyone wants that image. Then you actually ride a few bikes and realize a cruiser steers like a cow
- Every 100cc+ motorcycle on the road will do highway speeds and go faster than you think it will, unless you weigh more than 200 lbs.
- The MSF course in the USA and the equivalent from Harley is a basic safety training course. It teaches you the minimum skills to ride a motorcycle. It by no means turns you into an expert rider able to handle most, let alone all situations.
- Most crashes happen in the first year of riding a motorcycle that is new to you.
I’ve been looking at bikes since the start of this thread and there are a ton of nice starter bikes out there under $3000. Bikes that would be fun to ride years down the road.
You need to clarify what you’re talking about when mentioning Nighthawks. A CB650 runs the 1/4 in the 12 second range.
Pretty likely the 250.