Ninja 250 Bikes at HPR!

[oldtimer]

The 250's were awesome this weekend! I'm surprised how competitive they are at a big track. Also very cool how big our lightweight grids got with the addition of eight 250's. :shock: That was the best LWGP race I've seen, not to mention the huge Colorado Class turnout!

Personally I thought these bikes would be more niche, like only good for a 250 class, but they turned out to be a positive for the whole weekend. I hope everyone interested comes to the rules committee meeting and joins the discussion on the proposed Ninja Cup. I'm digging it. 8)


Rules Committee Meeting
Sunday October 17th, 1pm
The Walnut Room
alcohol will be served

[OUTLAWD]

unfortunately I had technical difficulties on saturday, and my foot wasn't feeling up to getting on the bike on sunday. You guys looked like you were having a blast out there...

I plan to be putting in a decent amount of time on the ninjette over the winter, and maybe it will be some extra incentive to lose the fat kid suit...

[mkdiehl]

Hi all,
Just spent some time getting up to speed on the 12 page Ninja 250 thread (which now I am very late for work because of...)..and getting excited over the idea of a large grid, cheap racing, close racing...

Can someone give a rough idea of the costs/parts/labor (pipe, safety wire, etc) needed to turn street 250 into an eligible race one? I can certainly research it all, so if nobody has a quick answer, then I'll do the work later...just too anxious to hear the answer and have to go to work! Looks like i missed out on the Tony 250's....

thanks all

[T Baggins]

You can prep one on the cheap for about $900 plus paint.

Clipons, rearsets add a few hundred - but aren't technically "necessary"

[Bueller999]

I ran my stock '08 this last weekend. for this event I was given an exemption on the belly pan requirement by sticking a aluminum turkey baster pan under the engine (not a permanent solution)and ran street body, I fully wired it and removed or tapped and disconnected lights, removed plate, kickstand and mirrors (all easily replaced), and flushed coolant system in about 5 hrs. I am running stock exhaust, which is a huge disadvantage and will need to be upgraded to be even close to competitive, and I just replaced the tires a few weeks ago with Dunlop GT501's which cost me $160 shipped from Dennis Kirk. Sol performance can get these tires for $180 mounted IIRC. The other bikes were running Bridgestone BT 003's and although I am very impressed with the Dunlops they are still street tires and if I seriously race next year I will need to go with race DOT's unless the specs require street tires.

I traded a guy my TL1000s straight across (approx $3000) for the bike 1.5 years ago.
So for me building mine I am budgeting:

Body work $500 (I will sell of my street parts to offset this cost)
Full exhaust $400-$800
Jetting (you can talk to Bartman on that, he has done a few so far)
Tires $300 ish??

The rest will be tweaking, I doubt I will be doing suspension changes to start with unless it is just changing oil or adjusting preload.

[kamper11]

The 2fiddy racing was great! You guys tore it up and had everyone watching!

THANKS Rybo for letting me take yours out - while I was 99% in prior - I am now 100% that I will find a 250 over the fall winter and be ready for season opening!

[toptier]

I had a blast riding the 250's this past weekend. Thanks to Tony for letting my ride his bike during lightweight endurance and Bart for letting me take his seat during the demo race on Sunday.

Now it's time to find me a 250 for next year. It should be fun and hopefully some real close racing.

[T Baggins]

I wasn't counting the cost of tires, as they're consumable...

the savings really is in the long-term though. Your cost to run one of these is next to nothing. Mine ran 6-7 times this weekend and only went thru 4 gallons of gas. Tires are as good now as when the weekend started (and they were used to begin with).

You could spend as much as $2K to prep on if you wanted, but imo - that will only make it prettier - not faster.

[HAMMER]

I was just telling Casey d. (who is buying one this winter also) that selling off all the street parts could very easily off set alot of the purchase costs . The area p exhaust are around 4-5 hundred I think . The tires are 225- 300 for the "good " stuff . I beat on mine all weekend and they still have the paint and chicken strips on the front . I figure 5 weekends or more out of a set.the other stuff isn't necessary to be fast but personally I wanted to setup the riding position for my style and didn't mind spending a few hun more to be comfortable and have repalceable woodcraft parts in case I wad it up . The suspension i left stock besides putting heavy oil and spacers for preload . The forks were actually too slow this weekend because is was so cold they never warmed up and I was getting some serious chatter full lean. The rear was fine for me on the sofest setting so a heaver guy would be fine on the harder settings . I only use like 5 gallons of gas too .

If we can keep entry fees for 250 cup and stuff cheaper it will be a verrrrrrry cheap way to race in in a very fun competitive class .



Iv gotta say for the first time riding it . They were a freekin blast . When the bikes on the track are around the same speeds it makes for some really fun , close racing .

I can't wait ......

[motolitho]

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Tony Baker for letting me check out the 250 in the expo race ON HIS BIKE. I had a great time, and did not expect to be so worked after it was over. I had missed the last 2 rounds due to financial reasons and was expecting a cruise on the 250. Not even close. Even though I am a big guy, the 250 did just great... it was fast enough for fun factor going into the turns and -for me- was all about technique. I think I was battling with Bueller out there, and he showed a wheel a few times... it was so much fun. It was also really cool to watch the fast guys roll away in the turns and see how much corner speed you really can run.

Chris Burford
#216

Rebellion Motorsports

[lars]

with MotoAdventure Kawasaki as the sponsor for the ninjette class, does that just mean they pay mra some dough. or do they cut deals on people running ninja 250's or anything like that?
just curius i love a good deal!

[T Baggins]

with MotoAdventure Kawasaki as the sponsor for the ninjette class, does that just mean they pay mra some dough. or do they cut deals on people running ninja 250's or anything like that?
just curius i love a good deal!

They pay the MRA a fee roughly equal to the cost of the trophies for the season and the banquet.

I'm sure they'd cut you a deal as well... they jumped all over the Ninja 250 class as soon Scott even mentioned that we were "thinking" about running it.

[lars]

[quote="T Baggins"]

They pay the MRA a fee roughly equal to the cost of the trophies for the season and the banquet.

I'm sure they'd cut you a deal as well... they jumped all over the Ninja 250 class as soon Scott even mentioned that we were "thinking" about running it.

cool, ill most certainly buy a used bike, i can't see them competing with those prices, but maybe parts....
thanks

[racedk6]

One just posted on WERA

http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?t=269923

[kamper11]

I'm starting to see 08's and some 09's in the $2500 "asking" range - clean title bikes. Found 1 in Bettendorf IA for $2000 - kid just had a baby and needs the money...

Bodywork, exhaust and jet kit, tires - Approx $1300

Bartmans dyno tuning extraordinaire services - Im guessing that's another $1000 ( JK )

And you have a racer in the low to mid $3000s.... not bad!

Of course rearsets, clips etc... its still a great way to fun racing.

[Bartman]

Hell if you want to give 1000 dollars to tune your 2fitty I will make it REALLLY good.

[Desmodromico]

Maybe this will be an option in the future too...

http://world.honda.com/news/2010/2101027CBR250R/

[Desmodromico]

Ahh crap, forget it, I just read it will have ABS standard.... :cry:

[Hotrod]

Rule change suggestion

... Petition to allow Ducati 1198R in Ninja 250 class for 2011.

:twisted:

[Desmodromico]

Uhh, its a 250 single, if anything the Ninjette might pull it on the straights!

[T Baggins]

They claim 26 bhp, compared to the 32 the Kawi's claim - but appear to be about 20 lbs lighter...

[Bartman]

It must be the year of the 250, I have another ninjet in here and a old vtr250 that would be cool as well. Maybe we should just make this just a 250 supersport class and let any 250 street bike come and play. I have been lookin for the really old 250 ninja cuss it was also a good lookin bike like the new one. Hell now that I think of it I have to bring out a 250 Rebel or a 250 Eliminator, a couple of tiddler cruisers would be cool. If you liked the sparks off of Hammers bike wait til you see the sparks fly off of a Rebels pipe. :lol:

[Bueller999]

My rebel can only lean about 15° before I am draggin' the stunt cage :lol:

[Bartman]

Thats what I am sayin, if we want to give a good show what is better than a gagle of Rebel 250s throwin sparks everywhere.

[Scored51]

I know of an SRX250 that might be interested in playing.