@malliah - great post there... your excitement and happiness is clearly visible in it... Im hoping to catch up with you in the evening if you are free.. itching to take the ninja out after all the madness of holi dies out.

Having done 12k kms on the Ninja I think it wont be arrogant of me to say that there certainly were instances where the bike felt a little underpowered.
Now I dont know if it was really the bike which was underpowered at those instances or if it was me getting used to its power.
Hence I ask, (bluevolt esp. since u have done about the same no of kms) ...were there ever any moments where you thought you could do with some more torque or hp ?

For me...riding uphill on the Ninja is a *****. I was hitting the rev limiter very often on the track too. Most of the time I had to then upshift which worked well but lost me precious time and costed me more mental math/calculations.
One really has to shift up quickly if one wants the linear surge to continue all the way through and remembering to do that all the time means less attention to other issues like traction,braking, turn point usw.

Anyone ?

Thanks for the info. Didn't knew that. Was always used to wonder why track bikes don't have headlights. I saw one video where the head light portion was covered with plastic. So wondering since then and saw these pics today so asked.

Thanks for the info guys

I agree - while the Ninja worked perfectly on flats, it really, really seemed to struggle on uphill roads. I found that much to my chagrin on the ghat sections. In the same note, my RE 350 can pretty much take out the Ninja 250 on such stretches (torque wise). But what it lacks in torque, it makes up in razor handling and decent acceleration.

But in many ways than one, this seems just the right machine for India. When you go through an expected pothole on the highway at 70kmph and your right hand mistakenly accelerates, it does not scare you or lift its front up. I wonder what would have happened if it was a litre class bike going through that pothole.

I tried to find faults with this bike, but I could not find much except for the wooden seat and the lack of torque on hills. On a normal highway, this thing will go faster than 99% of the vehicles and handle like a dream.

Here you go - http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/gift-dre...tml#post386697

i have experienced this when i ride in ghats and other bikes passing by me, always thought there was some problem in my riding style, whats the best way to overcome it ?

^^ keep the bike in the powerband... not peak power, but peak torque. ( thats what i do with my R15. Not done enough hilly sections on the ninja, but the modest hills that come between faridabad and gurgaon, i dint face any issues with the bike not pulling adequately). Dont be afraid to rev the bike, thats very important. An under revving engine will actually put more strain on the internals than one at the right rpm and with adequate momentum.

@BlueVolt

Are you are getting your Ninja serviced at Pbk @ Indiranagar (Near KFC)?
Are they providing service to other bajaj bikes also there or just the Kwacker?

Now that should not happen. Ninja doesnt like going uphill but nothing can actually pass you, not even a car(an average one), if you have gotten the right speed at the foothills and then the right RPM while in the hills. Like JD said...rev it...slap that needle...
the complain here is that it could do with a little more torque so that the difference between riding it on flats and on mountainous roads wouldnt be so pronounced.

dude pbk doesn't hv a service bay, servicing is done at khivraj motors, the one at the startinf of 100ft rd!

There are a couple of reasons involved here for the 'apparent' lack of pulling power in the hills for the Ninja.

1. The gearing of the bike. Apart from the 1st and 2nd gear, the remaining four gears are close-ratios and tall ones at that. (1st to 6th gear in that order - 2.600, 1.789, 1.409, 1.160, 1.000, 0.893) There's no big difference in the last 4 ratios - meaning you get a relatively small jump in the RPM by one downshift. Example here (see the speed calculator link below): say you're doing 60kph in 6th ~ 4000RPM. Now to get into the high torque RPM band, you need to down-shift from 6th to 3rd for the engine to be spinning at around 7400 RPM at that given road speed. 6th to 3rd is a big 'jump' that the mind doesn't accept quickly. One downshift is expected, two downshifts are unusual but three almost unthinkable. Hell! the Rajdoot AC123, the one I learned to ride on had three gears in all .

Use this speed calculator specific for the Ninja 250 and get a feel of the road-speeds involved in a given gear at a certain RPM
Ninja 250 Speed Calculator

2. Tall ratios demand higher road-speeds to stay in the power-band, especially in the top three gears. On a stock bike, 7000rpm even in 3rd comes at almost 60kph and not every turn on our kind of hills can allow the rider to power through it on the throttle at such speeds. Chop the throttle mid-turn and you loose both line and momentum. Lost momentum can only be recovered by a quick downshift. Try pulling in the same gear and the bike seems to have 'lost' power.

3. Very quick downshifts and upshifts are the order of the day for hill riding. Take even half a second more in shifting say from 2nd to 3rd while going uphill and you loose enough momentum to have the engine fall out of the torque band. You'll have to downshift the 2nd once again to pull. The shifts have to be sharp, quick and very well-timed.

You, good Sir, have hit the nail on its head.
Elaborate explanation.

thanks guys for these inputs, will try next time to get it right

My First Ride on my Baby!!



Before writing this note, I would like to thank xBHP forum and the experts who have given several information on this bike and biking in general. This has made me understand few terminologies and knowledge about this bike in particular. I would call myself an intermediate biker as I have several years of experience driving bikes such as KB100 (During those day days it was a craze along with RX100!).
On my Ninja I have clocked ~200 kms on the odo in the last 3 days giving rides to kids in my mohalla etc. The first impression is WOW
The sore part is, I have started getting neck pains. I am sure it has to do with the driving posture. I need to improve on it and strengthen my neck. The suspension, I felt was hard and this was evident when I when on a hump. The brakes are superb. Regarding the head light, I was informed that when you on the ignition the centre bulb in on. When you start the engine the left bulb will be on. That means we have 2 bulbs on (Center & Left). The Right bulb will be on only when we toggle the Dipper switch to High Beam. At first, I was in the impression that the right bulb was faulty. This info was not explained by PBK while delivering the bike. So, for guys who are taking the bike take note.
I filled her up at the Shell petrol pump with 95 octane petrol. I read some one mentioning 98 Octane, where in Pune I can get this type of Petrol? Shell again? Which station? PBK had filled in 3 litres of petrol while delivering the bike.
On gear changing, I had several false neutrals; maybe I was not shifting the gears properly. The other prominent thing I noticed was while shift to the Top gear, there were few instances the gear was not engaged. Maybe I will have to watch this and check out if it is pilot or machine error.
I noticed there is no kick start. Which is a relief as one would easily start the bike in the morning. Currently, I am sticking to 4K RPM, which means that I have not exceeded >55 kms/hr. But at this speed I can feel the stability of the bike. Eagerly waiting for the 1st Hurdle of 1000 kms.
With regard to height, I was happy it was quite low. However, the pillion rider had trouble climbing, had to literally use the footpath initially .
I was told by PBK that the PUC (Pollution) certificate is valid for 10,000 kms. I have purchased the bike cover from PBK, which I feel is a must for all new Ninja bike owner. From what I noticed, the general public goes haywire once they see such bikes. I have seen several people sitting on the bike, changing gears, adjusting the mirror, accelerating etc at PBK. The bike cover is a deterrent, for all these acts. During Holi celebration I noticed that one of the revelers had tried to open the cover, but as I had locked the cover he/she (they) could not open it. But they left behind colors all over my bike cover. On a lighter note, my bike celebrated Holi !!
Overall, I am enjoying the rides and have planned to head to either Lavasa / Lonavala / Mahabaleshwar this weekend with my wife along.
Below is the note -
I have been driving Ninja for the last 3 days in Pune city; here are some of my experiences. Some of them hilarious, enjoy -
- On Nagar Road, one chap on a HH splendor was driving at a break neck speed at 25 kms/ hr . On seeing him overtake, he in turn overtook me and started going zig-zag in front of me. At this movement I slowed my speed and he felt he had won the race with Rossi.
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- Some of the people get really confused (especially at the signals) after seeing a person on Green Kwacker wearing a full faced Marushin Helmet, Glover, Lumberjacks shoes and A* Jacket and clocking 40 km/hr. I decided to give a skip to the gloves & the jacket for the time being and will wear them in phased manner so that they get confused slowly!!
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- One of my colleague asked if I had brought the bike for my kid for the future.
More to come in the coming days ..

At last I will be realizing my long standing dream of owning a superbike. Although only 25% of this dream will become reality (since it is only a 250) it is still keeping me excited.

Will make a down payment on the ninja next week. Called up PBK and prices are up by 6k, thanks to the budget.

Edit - OTR price of the NINJA is now 3.17L in blore.

Checked out some riding gear at Cramster yesterday and will pick up a pair of gloves and a riding jacket when the delivery date is 'round the corner.

Reading through most of the pages, but have one query.

Do I need sliders for the bike or is it only required for track use or when the bike is used for corner carving? I intend to use the bike only for long rides with fellow owners on weekends.