Fabulous stuff Sachin! Wishing you many amazing miles with the mean machine.

PS: Time to change the dp

You deserve it as well bro

congrats on the bike

it was a great read!!!
good to see ur enthusiasm

safe riding

congrats bro have a safe journey Enjoy your Trip

@ Sachin - Congrats. Im doing the same thing with regards to the savings and will hopefully be in a position to book one by next year end. Ride safe. Hope you have fun in Rajasthan. Waiting for the trip log.

P.S. - This is one Midori you can get high on everyday. Cheers mate.

Okay bhai but do take me to the hospital when my back breaks after touring on it. :P

Anyway enjoy your Midori to the fullest.

Awesome choice and nice write up man.
Ride safe

U inspired me really

added it to my wishlist!!!

Gee! Missed reading this thread!
And no I didnt read the full thread either for two reasons... One it will dilute my memories of getting Spark home! and Two, saala kitna likha hain! :P

Congratulations! And now that the world is not ending soon, go slow and have fun with the bike.
Psst: Chuck the 300V and switch to Motul 7100 instead!

Congratulations for the green hunk !!
Your story is inspiring and i'm awestruck by Midori , great write up , the pros & cons are well put down, unbiased i'd say [ which is very difficult when you are all gung ho about your new machine].

Ride Safe & enjoy your Ninja !!
Cheers
Saaki

It's an awesome motorcycle and I am sure you can start dreaming now and work towards owning it sooner. Let me know if you need any help.

Yeah, I guess it is time to change the DP. Soon!

Thanks Buddy

Thanks Buddy Rajasthan trip was enjoyed to the fullest!

All the best JayD for your dream bike. Rajasthan trip log would come up by next week!

Thanks Carlitos. Have read your R1 log and loved it! Ride Safe buddy!!!

Hope your dream comes true!!!

You always miss reading my logs :P
Seeing you ride Spark on a couple of occassions inspired me to go ahead and own one!

Those PBK guys add Veedol. I stopped them from doing that and went with Motul. That time in Ghatkopar only 300V was available. Next time, Motul 7100 is what I would add.

BTW - When do I get a chance to ride beside Spark :P Jisne inspire kiya usi ke saath ab tak bike nahi chalaya

Thanks Saaki
There are pros and cons in every bike so there is nothing to feel shy about when you pen it down. Also, cons can be fixed or minimized.

Date: 22nd Dec - 1st Jan
Destination: Mumbai - Rajasthan - Mumbai
Total Distance Covered: 3540 kms

ODO Reading - 4600 kms (Approx.)

It is because I had to ride to Rajasthan in Dec'12, I wanted the delivery of my bike any how at least 2 weeks prior to the ride. I had to ensure Run in was completed, 1st Service is done, Luggage options, Installation of Frame Sliders, etc everything in 2 weeks before the long trip.

Luckily all went well and I was able to start my RJ trip on my N650 with everything sorted.

So let me not bore any one of you anymore and rather write how the ride was

With N650 on open NH-8 highways, I was in for a treat. The bike is meant for such roads and I had an amazing time riding her. I can't believe the amount of power plonked in this parallel twin. No matter which gear you are in you always have ample torque and HP to make your ride pleasurable.

Ground Clearance - I scrapped the exhaust twice in the trip and first time riding solo. Wait! Don't conclude on the low GC part just yet!
1st time when I scrapped it was because I had to take the bike over a divider
It was couple of kms before Bahurch, guys who have rode their bikes on NH8 would know this dreadful stretch which always has traffic jam. My mistake was I did not go from the wrong side and rather went right into the traffic and then got stuck for 1 hour. I saw an opening in between the divider and we decided to go from wrong side to avoid any further delays. As soon as the front tire went over the divider, bike's exhaust pipe touched the ground and the rear wheel was suspended in air partially because of which I could not move the bike any further. My fellow rider pushed and tried to lift the bike to move it little forward and I managed to cross the divider. Unfortunately this was the only way we could have escaped the traffic as truck drivers said they sometimes end up spending the entire night here due to traffic.

2nd time was when I was slightly more fast than usual while braking for a speed braker and I scrapped.

Managed to touch 202 kmph in one completely open stretch while going to Longewala and came back to usual cruising speed. The bike is completely stable even at high speeds making your ride more enjoyable. I did not red line each gear to reach this speed. This was achieved while I was cruising at 100 kmph in 6th gear and then gradual increase in throttle got me to this speed. Again, the power in the bike left me completely speechless.

Fuel Efficiency - During 4k run in I managed to get close to 29 kmpl. However in this trip there was no more run in barrier so I was riding the bike as I would always ride it.
Below is the stats of the fuel that was consumed for riding 3540 kms in 11 days. I still have close to half tank (8 Liters) fuel remaining so mileage N650 gave is 24.85.
Round it off to 25 kmpl, I say Apparently this mileage is same for CBR250R and N250R riding with me in the trip so all 3 bikes gave same mileage. What more can you ask for :P


In one full tank, least I could do is 240 kms & Max I could do is 320 kms when I had less than 4.5 litres remaining in the tank.
Super impressed when the FE part as I have not expected 25 kmpl when I bought it.

Brakes - Okaish but Kawasaki should consider bringing in ABS at least as an option. It is must in such bikes especially in Indian riding conditions. Hopefully, Galfer lines and EBC HH Brake pads will make it better.

Tires - '12 N650 is given Dunlop Roadsmart tires and they performed well in all conditions I took it. Off-road, No road, sand, tarmac - the tire does the job well. I did manage to lock the rear tire on one occasion during hard braking and the bike's rear end did slide to one side but as I left the brake it was back to normal. One second heart in mouth situation kind of :P

As per owner's this tire can last upto 15k kms of-course depending on riding style and terrain it might vary. Cost of a pair is close to 25K. With the natural rubber cost getting reduced, I hope to see 15-20% reduction in this cost in near future.

Headlights - I have already swapped stock with Philips Xtreme Vision and I am happy with the bulb. It is sufficient to light up the road till 120 kms speed with my light smoke visor and I don't intend to go faster than that at night anyways.

Seat and Overall Comfort - What to say in this department. The bike excels here. Couple of my friends who rode the bike said, "It Feels as if you are sitting on a sofa / chair and riding the bike" Yes! That how comfortable the seat of this bike is. I think I can ride good 150 kms at a stretch without any issues.

Luggage - Finally ended up with Sriku's Dirtsack Overnighter bag which has approx 25 L capacity and was good enough for the 11 days trip. I would most probably be buying this soon for my future trips!

Cornering - Still cant comment as hardly got proper corners to comment on this aspect of the bike.

6th Gear RPM and Speeds [As seen on Odo]
4000 rpm - 90 kmph
5000 rpm - 110 kmph
6000 rpm - 130 kmph
7000 rpm - 150 kmph
8000 rpm - 170 kmph
9000 rpm - 190 kmph
10000 rpm - 200 kmph

Mostly on NH you would always find yourself riding between 90-130 max and usual short burst if you see open strecth. I think this will continue to be my riding style as I like to ride not fly

Sometimes my mind thinks whether it is more fun to ride a lower cc bike fast or a higher cc bike slow. CBR250R and N250R riding with me in this trip were always in my RVM during this trip and I did not ride slow intentionally for them to keep up. I was riding as I was suppose to ride and perhaps some how all 3 different category of bikes managed to stick together.

All pics and Log would be added separately by next week. Ride Safe!

Great Trip there, was reading your updates on FB... anyway's without redlining bike can go till 200kp/h impressive, and the thing which I was interested most was Cornering!!! Damn! you said nothing about it.

How much brake interval (km) for Ninja650 on a long tour ? waise, brighter part for me I got one advantage over you got an "ABS" lol ""Anyways nice log sirji, I know Bnay was on ninja250 then who was on CBR250 ? Deepan ride's Karizma na ?

Cornering, I have not done as did not find the right roads to do that. I'll update later as I get my chance. It's heavy and not exactly meant for sharp cornering abilities so I would not exploit this too much.

What do you mean by brake interval? Service interval is 6000 kms.

See, even your TVS Apache has ABS but Kawasaki in India does not have ABS. I think it is mainly because of they do not want to increase their product inventory hence, ABS is not present for India. To avoid issues in stock they have limited bike coming to India only to Green color and non-ABS version.

Looks like you did not read the updates properly, It was Bnay's Ninja but Bnay was not there in the trip. Deepan was riding Bnay's Ninja. CBR250R in the above pic is owned by Priyank Mamtora (Silent Xbhp member :P)

hello dude
very nice trip log
when are you planning to ride to south india
how was the feeling when you were riding at 200kms/hr, i think you will have a thought running in your mind that something suddenly is going to show up, i have to slow down but we dont listen to it very often.
25kms is a really good FE
i have been following your posts dude
waiting for the pics.
happy riding