Kawasaki Ninja 250 is wayyy better than a Nighthawk 250 and you can get used ones for about the same price or the sweet new one for $3500.

Mine (bought for $2400 when it was 2 years old):


The 2008 redesign:

 

yet you can't seem to get a chick.

 

Guess you never read any of my other posts.

 

Lev-I break a sweat in my A/C less Miata, if I was commuting only 4 miles each way I'd get a damn bike just because, plus you don't have to follow roads, you can cut through parks etc. ride on grass and get away with a lot more ****....and it's pretty much free!!!

ps-I am digging the new Ninja, Sam, did they manage to make it lighter? I hope so!

 

Actually it gained a few pounds up to 330, but it supposedly has a few more hp too. They also have a fuel injected version overseas that is rumored to be coming here soon.

 

a guy at work just ordered his 08 ninja 250, paid almost 4K out the door and has to wait till june to get it because the of the high demand.....it only make 16ft/lbs of torque and 30hp.

i guess things in the world are changing but damn i wanted him to get a decent used 600 for less, but he kept looking at the fuel mileage rating of 60-75mpg, oh well. i know i'd hate it even though they did better to put 17" wheels on it and the redesign looks nice

 

ninja 250s are dirt cheap and plentiful used. IMO, people are retards for paying 4k for a new one when they're 1.5k used
I've seen em as cheap as 1k used with broken plastics from being dropped.

 

My 250 was a blast, possibly my favorite of the 8 bikes I've owned. You can rev them to 14k all day without even speeding, plus with Pirellis on, it was super agile and I was able to drag a knee with confidence. No other bikes I've ridden have been as tossable or confidence-inspiring as the two fiddy.

 

scotters are gay, if you want good gas milage, get a motard so you can keep your *****

 

I have a ninja 500 im actually in the process of selling to get a real bike. For commuting theres no better though, it constantly gets 55+ mpg and you can rev the **** out of it. The day my car got as fast as it i decided it was time to upgrade though (my car is slow).

 

And the Miata is... what? Honestly, though- I'd reserve the "dike bike" label for the Eliminator, the Rebel, and the Buell Blast.

Yeah, the Nighthawk is not a very manly ride. It's pretty much the standard issue bike at every MSF course in the civilized world, it's not very powerful, and it's not particularly well-sprung. But it's cheap, rugged, simple, adequately powerful and a low theft target. IMO, it is the ultimate campus bike.

That being the case, I would council you to at least look into one of the many 150cc scooters on the market. You get the same great mileage and "I'm a homo" image as the Ruckus, but you won't be limited to just those back roads. If you decide you need to run out to Fry's or the mall after class, you won't have to head home and change vehicles first. Some of the recent Chinese-made ones sell for $1,100 or less new.

 

campus bike, get an x18
i wanted one but the woman would kill me

http://www.usa-pocket-bikes.com/x18/

 

i had a nighthawk 250 back when i was 15. I drove it to school every day of my freshmen year and only had to pay $27 for a year of liability insurance. This was in Wyoming by the way. it was an awesome, predictable bike.

If you think that bike was gay, why the **** are you driving a miata?

 

if they made a miata with a 4 banger and 1 with a 1 cylinder i wouldn't be buying the one cylinder. stop crying about fuel prices, you probably drive 10k miles a year. what the **** is the difference if it gets 50mpg or 75. buy a real bike and vote for people who are gonna let us drill our own natural resources.

 

not to add fuel to the fire, but my subie gets around 20 miles to the gallon if i drive it slow.....floor it now and then its like 16:(
so you guys REALLY dont have it that bad lol

 

Why bother with the scooters. (I will profess a certain affinity for the baby Ninja)


But I like this better.



40 MPG, 0-60 in the 3's, 1/4 mile in the 11's...

 

The 250R looks pretty sweet. Granted I think everyone knows its not fast at all, but it gets good gas mileage and probably is a great beginner bike. They are going for 3k on ebay.

 

Apart from the fact that the OP has expressly stated that he does not want a "real" motorcycle, I have two gripes with the Ninja 250.

First, it's small. I don't mean Miata-small, I mean your knees will be bumping your elbows if you are an inch over 5'6". While the motards are obviously in a different league, pretty much all the street bikes in the 250 class seem to share this flaw- they assume that the rider is a Japanese schoolgirl. The CB250 seems to be the exception. I'm 6'1" and was about 180lb when I had one, and it was a good fit. Small and light enough that I didn't feel too intimidated about riding a "real" motorcycle for the first time, yet large enough that I didn't feel like the monkey on the tricycle at the circus.

Second, the Ninja 250 is a poseur bike. Before everyone jumps on me, yes I am perfectly aware that there are plenty of awesome pro riders doing things on 250s that I can only dream about while I jerk off. I've ridden at Grange and gotten my *** handed to me by a couple of them.

But on the street, it just seems to lack cred to me. It's the Fox-body Mustang with the 4 cyl engine. The 6 year old kid who walks around the house wearing dad's workboots, pretending to be a big boy. It's a knock-kneed pocket-rocket that's gotten all dressed up in fancy fairings and tried to sneak its way into the prom. (The Rebel, the Eliminator and the GZ250, BTW, get the same criticism from me.)

The CB, however, makes no such pretense. It's as naked as a jaybird and as plain as Sarah Jane- no shiny green plastic (just a slim, "nothing to see here, folks" tail), no fancy cast alloy wheels (the use of tubes keeps tire repair costs low), it's air cooled, but without the "look, my engine is painted black except for the edges of the fins which are milled" thing going on. Honestly, even to this day there is something I find beautiful about that degree of simplicity.

 

Since it seems no one else addressed the action question. IMO ruckus's are cool! Ive wanted one for atleast a year! There seems to be a pretty big mod community for them too. Who would complain about 105MPG??? Not me!

 

105mpg is neat until you've got a situation you need to get out of in a hurry, unfortunately you've only got 49ccs on tap and you've been flattened and can't use your dick anymore