Ninjette as track bike?

[kbroderick]

So I'm looking at Craigslist (yes, bad idea, I know), and there's another Ninjette for sale not too far away. It looks like it might actually be a decent deal (not sure yet, need to get a closer look--the current owner doesn't know much about the bike and it's obviously got some non-stock parts on it).

Of course, buying another Ninjette doesn't seem to make a lot of sense unless I have some additional use for it. So I was thinking about setting one of the two up as a track bike, but generally trying to keep the specs similar (I still don't see a lot of reason to go to a bigger street bike). I'm wondering...anyone spent a significant amount of time on a Ninja 250 at Loudon? Would I likely be able to get at least a year or two out of it before feeling totally limited (assuming I actually manage to get to a good number of track days)?

The benefits I see are being able to have one set of spare parts, be more mechanically knowledgable about one bike rather than having to learn the ins and outs of two, and having a good feel for how much performance I have left in the tank when I'm on the street without pushing hard enough to find out. Oh, and if the price really is right, it would be a pretty cheap bike (yet to be seen, of course).

The downside, as far as I can tell, is that I won't be able to go as fast on the track as I would with moretorque and horsepower, and the Ninjette ergos aren't ideal for the track (although I could get lowered risers and clipons to mitigate this).

Thoughts?

[a13x]

Sounds like a great idea to me.

[Doc]

Your doing good on that 250 for your first year. You can still learn on it.

I would think you might want something a little bigger like an EX500... And you can get em CHEAP.

[Mr. Kurtz]

Roland(rolker) has done a crapload of trackdays on his 250, and he does just fine with it.

[Kurlon]

I'm doing trackdays on a CRF70 whenever I can and having a ball, run what you want.

[rolker]

I just finished my 2nd season of trackdays on my EX250. I'm still having lots of fun on it and have much more to learn. As long as you don't mind getting passed in the straights, you'll be fine. You can learn a lot on it because in order to maintain a reasonable pace on the 250, you need to learn how to maintain corner speed. This is something I'm still working on!

Feel free to ask me if you have any Ninjette related questions.

[bigred875]

Your doing good on that 250 for your first year. You can still learn on it.

I would think you might want something a little bigger like an EX500... And you can get em CHEAP.

+1 you can find nice(relative term ) track prepped ex500's for <$2k by the time you buy that bike and "track prep" you will probably be into it for more then or close to $2k

[The Snowman]

Your doing good on that 250 for your first year. You can still learn on it.

I would think you might want something a little bigger like an EX500... And you can get em CHEAP.

DB is selling his, isn't he?

[Pittenger5]

+1 you can find nice(relative term ) track prepped ex500's for <$2k by the time you buy that bike and "track prep" you will probably be into it for more then or close to $2k

Fuck, Ill sell you my EX for 2k.
Youd have to be retarded to spend that much on a track prepped EX. I was going to sell mine for 1250 before I decided to keep it.

[Pittenger5]

DB is selling his, isn't he?

Nope, keeping it for PTwins

[rolker]

I would think you might want something a little bigger like an EX500... And you can get em CHEAP.

+1 you can find nice(relative term ) track prepped ex500's for <$2k by the time you buy that bike and "track prep" you will probably be into it for more then or close to $2k

I have to agree that if you are buying a track only bike, the EX500 is probably a better investment. You can race the 500 at Loudon if your trackday addiction leads to racing and they can be found already setup for the track. I also believe that the 250 and 500 are similar enough that some of the parts are interchangeable and your mechanical knowledge should transfer between the two bikes.

In my case, I didn't want to invest in a track bike, so the 250 that I already owned does the trick. After a few track days, I did spend about $200 for better tires and more appropriate fork springs.

You'll have fun with whatever you chose to take to the track, so go with what makes sense for you.