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Ninja 250r to Ninja ZX6r transistion 3000 miles impression

8K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  Gofer 
#1 · (Edited)
Good morning all I figure I would do a personal testimony of the transition from the little Ninja to the middle child the ZX6r.

Well let me first start off saying man this riding season was my first and I have had a lot of fun and I'm happy to get into the sport. There have been times where I have scared myself and traffic has scared my but Thanks only to God I am able (So far) to be here.

Well let's get started right?

Well I originally bought my ninja 250r back at the end of april beginning of may. This was my first ever motorcycle and the first time I had been on two wheels other than the 2 day course at MSF since I was 7 (I didn't like riding bicycles). WHen I first took the bike off the lot from WOW Motorcycles in MArietta i was scared stiff stalled about 10 times and generally didn't know what to do. After riding around in parking lots getting my hand coordination down I figured "Hey I've got the get the bike back down to my house" (I live about 64 miles south of the dealership. So I hopped on the freeway and nearly crapped my pants at how bad I was at riding. I was stiff, nervous and for the most part not smooth whatsoever.

Now I ride a lot and I mean a lot. I rode everywhere to work (34 miles away) Pleasure riding for two or three hours at a time and anything in between. So over the next 4 months I went from 900 miles from the dealership to around 7800 ( Told you I have been riding). Of course I have had my fall the first week I got it but not ther mishaps since then.

Over time I started developing the automatic responses to situations. People suddenly stopping or moving over in front of me, people running lights and just generally bad driving here in Atlanta. (Which is notorious for bad driver IMO) Now I am to the point I react with no thought. For instance I'm on the blind side (Or the passenger side of a tractor trailer) He starts moving over I automatically slow down and let him have his way. Many instances like that occur with passenger cars SUV"s and anything in between. On top of the automatic defensive driving responses my body does everything without me even knowing it. There are plenty of times when I am riding and I shift without knowing it. I know longer have to look for the green light of neutal to know that I am in neutral. SO the experinces garnered in those 7200 miles was justified.

Like I stated earlier I ride alot and the majority of it is highway. So I went on the internet and asked around on forums what would be a good upgrade bike. I received a variety of responses from you don't need to upgrade to get whatever you want and all others in between. Long story short I decided I wanted a 600cc supersport and again I scoured the internet looking for transition stories and pretty much more of the same. I thought to myself I really need a more powerful bike and I don't have the luxury to keep upgrading every time I get bored or whatever the case may be. I took the advice of expreineced riders and started looking at the SV650 and Ninja 650r and I was going to get one of those until I searched on craigslist and found a 2007 ZX6r for 4000 grand reason why it was so cheap, there was a lot of cosmetic damage. SO I got a deal. (Im in the process of repariing)

After buying the bike once again I had to get it home. At first I was nervous about what the throttle and braking responses were going to be. BUt I kept in mind what the previous owner told me and that was to keep it below 10K RPMS's which is where the powerband is on that bike. So I drove it home and around town and then to church that night. No problems whatsoever. Everything in my honest opinion was predictable from hand position to engine response. The bike reacted in such a predictable way that my confidence flourished and subsequently started taking more risks higher speeds etc. Until reality set in that "Hey I have a family can't be having that type of fun" So now I ride just to ride and go to the place I need to go.

All and all haven't had any problems thanks to the graces of God. I pray for traveling mercies everywhere I go and I believe He is watching over me. But I digress lol (Not trying to get into a religous debate just telling you what I believe and why I do it) I am enjoying myself even more and it feels good to be able to do highway speeds without the rumble of 250 and I think because of riding the 250 for so many miles it may the learning curve on the ZX6r that much easier and my defensive driving has goot a lot better. Do I still have stuff to learn? Absolutely!!! But I am happy at the point I am right now and I am glad I am taking this route of learning the sport.
 
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#2 ·
Welcome the fold, man...

This is a pretty track heavy site. So, actually, quite a few people here ride track. (I plan to next season.) and there a certainly things on the track that transfer onto the street and some aspects where it's more track only, because you simply shouldn't be going that fast on the street.

Update your bike in your avatar. :p
 
#3 ·
Let's also be honest how many people truly go to the track? And of those that do how many of the track riding tactics truly work on the street? I would say each answer is quite low.
Everything ive learned at the track makes me a better street rider, learning how to handle a bike at the limits makes you infinitely more in control when dealing with an emergency situation on the streets and just generally more skilled as a rider.

I also feel the same way about learning how to do wheelies/stoppies, so when something causes the front wheel to come off the ground or you've got the back wheel in the air in a panic stop it all feels second nature and you're still in control.

you sound like someone who uses a race bike for commuting, and probably has 4" chicken strips on both sides of the tire (not that chicken strips are an indiciation of skill, but massive ones are certainly an indication of a lack there of)
 
#4 ·
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect what you have to say but at the same time I've had plenty of emergency situations like I stated. And yes I do use it to commute and yes I do push the bike to its limits when rounding an entrance ramp or the twisties on the backroads down in south georgia. So that is no more an indication of skill than veterency of battle scars. On top of that you're not going to be pushing the bikes limits on the roads as you would on the track and you don't have to worry about people suddenly coming to a stop or someone cutting in front of you or moving into your lane. You do however on the track have to be aware of the other riders around you and react (In the same way as you would on the street) appropriately. Now given that track days are few and far in between especially here in Georgia I wager how higher are the chances that emergency situations are going to happen were you are given the oppurtunity to learn from? On the street or on the track?

I really don't understand the mentality that you have to learn everything on the track so that you can react properly? I mean you didn't become a better car driver by going to the track did you? Same concept different execution. You become a better rider/driver/player/writer whatever the case maybe by constantly doing that item and realizing your mistakes. I agree that track days people can learn from but constantly riding the city streets can also teach. Either way crashing in any instance can maim or kill you that I think we can agree on.
 
#5 ·
Dog be praised you've made it this far, R'Amen!
You have no idea what you learn at the track without actually having been there. Those of us who have gone to the track will, I presume with a great degree of unanimity, tell you that you learn a ton of stuff that is helpful on the street while there. You have no idea what riding on the track is like, so try not to opine on what the benefits of such are.
And yes, drivers that have track time under their belt, just like track riders, are also far more skilled than those who have not.
 
#13 ·
He bought a250R, rode it for about 7k miles, then god told him he was ready to move up to a ZX-6R and keeps him safe through some golden light of divinity and he doesn't need to go to a track because the virgin mary cries at the waste of tires and gasoline.
 
#8 ·
You push the bikes to it's limits!? You've been riding for what? 8 months and have just 10,000 miles under your belt.

Honestly? You don't know what the heck you're talking about, you don't have the slightliest clue as to where the limits of that bike are.

KTHXBYE.

By the way, I find 600ss to be scarier than literbikes, 600s are deceptive, they feel slow and once you get into the powerband wham!
 
#9 ·
I've tracked every single bike I've owned within the first 1,100-1,200 miles of owning them since starting riding after MSF last summer: '09 Ninja 250R (2 trackdays), '08 GSX-R600 (2 trackdays), '08 848 (1 trackday....should've been 2, thanks alot leaking radiator!!).

Once you get constant instruction in a controlled enviornment, you'll realize just how valuable track riding is and how much more of a margin of safety it creates for you on the street.

Yes, you can become a proficient rider by riding street only......eventually. But your overall skillset will improve at a significantly faster rate by having instructors pointing out opportunities for improvement / suggesting different approaches, compared to someone else who only rides on the street and has no clue if they are truly doing things right (but figures they are because they've 'survived this long').

Get that new-to-you bike down to Jennings GP (FL/ GA border off I-75), or look into track school/ trackdays at Road Atlanta if they have any. It will truly open your eyes to how much there really is to learn.

Best of luck to you.


-Christian
 
#10 ·
OP, congrats on the upgrade.

Try this: take your Ninja6R to the track, then come back and tell us what you've learned and if it does/doesn't make you a better rider overall.

Believe me, it does; track riding makes a rider 10x better. why do you think race car drivers are the best drivers? i.e. F1, rally, etc. just stating an example. anyway, ride safe and have fun with the new Ninja. its a great bike. post some pics of your progress fixing it up.
 
#11 ·
Let's also be honest how many people truly go to the track? And of those that do how many of the track riding tactics truly work on the street?
Even among my local riding friends, I'd say 90% of them do at least one trackday a year. Its not so much the track-specific skills that help on the street. Its the fact that a trackday generally boosts your skills and confidence 1000000x what anything on the street will do. Seeing what you're actually capable of on your bike makes the everyday traffic stuff seem stupid simple.
 
#12 ·
Before you start riding, you have no idea what you don't know about riding.
After you buy your first bike, you ride for a while and start to think you know stuff.
Then you move up to a b***** bike and realize how much you didn't know.
You ride that bike for a while and start to feel like you really know what you're doing.
Then you go to the track and realize how much you still don't know (and that you never realized you didn't know it.)

You're not telling us anything that we haven't heard a million times before and that the majority of us haven't experienced. I have twice the number of miles done as you do, as well as three track days under my belt, and I'm still impressed every day with how much I still have to learn. With 20k miles and three track days, I'm a toddler. You're not even walking yet, you just don't realize it.

Now that you have some experience and are starting to gain some confidence, you are statistically at the most vulnerable time in your riding career to have a serious accident. Riding on the track and really learning the limits of what your bike will do will make you a much more confident, aware street rider. Instead of having practice at reacting to things at 60 mph, you now have practice reacting at 130. Can you imagine how much that improvement in reaction increases your margin of safety on the street?

Do you know how I know what people here are saying is true? Because I was you a year ago. I could pull up old posts and PMs of mine and they would sound verbatim to what you've written. You're selling yourself and what your bike is capable of really short. I'm not telling you that you have to go to the track. If you don't want to, don't. But don't pretend you have any idea what the track will or won't do for you, because you know absolutely nothing about it.
 
#19 ·
Now that you have some experience and are starting to gain some confidence, you are statistically at the most vulnerable time in your riding career to have a serious accident.
That was me this summer, totalled a bike, trip to the hosptal, messed up collar bone for life, 20K med bills. Wreck was in early June, I managed to heal up enough and buy a new bike to make my first trackday in July. I am 1000% sure if I had been to the track before June I would never have had the accident. For me my two trackdays were not about going fast but learning body position and HOW TO HOLD A LINE EVEN WHEN YOU THINK IT WON'T STICK, which is very very helpful on the street. OP you won't understand until you do a trackday, it is money well spent at least once.
Good luck and be safe on the new bike.
 
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#14 ·
7k miles is fine. If he doesn't want to ride track so what? It's not for everyone. Sure, you'll learn the limits of your bike in a safe manner, but not everyone wants to learn the limits. If he's pushing himself on the street then I'll have no sympathy when he bins it. I was that way too, before I went to the track last year. Now I ride pretty conservatively.

Personally, I've become a "track monkey" as mandrex puts it. Going paycheck to paycheck on my spending money (bills and joint stuff are separate. I'm not going into debt from it). I'm lucky that winter is coming up as I need to build up more cash flow before next season.
 
#15 ·
His point was pretty much there is no need to go to the track as it doesn't help you on the street at all. With a heavy dose of holly rolling thrown in for effect.
 
#18 ·
I don't track yet and even I know that even one trackday means more than 10,000 miles worth of street riding. If you learned something at msf basic riders course or advanced riders course what makes you think you won't learn from a trackday?
 
#20 ·
Ive never done a track day (I want to tho!!!!!) and I have around 35k under by belt in 4years 10k on my 96 ninja 500r the rest on my :gsxr. Mostly highway and trips around NC, SC, VA, and WV. I used to think I had a decient bit of knowledge under my belt. I started daily riding this summer for school and still am. I am pleased to tell you I didn't know a thing about riding. The amount of knowledge I've learned this summer scares me. It make me think about all the stuff I don't know. Up untill now i've never really had the intrest in track riding, but that was because there was a lot I needed to learn about riding in general. I've pushed my bike as far as I want to on the street and I know most of the people on the forum could ride circles around my on a 250.

Go for a track day. I would dare to say you would like it.

And keep us updated on the new bike.

You sounded like me when I first got into riding. Now i'm wanting to sell my :gsxr and hopefully (fingers crossed) end up with a sad panda face (SV). lol


*Side note- Is sad panda face a nickname for the SV or just Jo's bike?
 
#22 ·
OP, you actually wrote a good post to start this thread, right up until the end and in subsequent posts when you started trashing track days despite never having done one. If you had left that part out, the replies to your post would have been completely different (except the tl dr posts. lol).

I have roughly comparable experience to yours. I have about 10k miles and 7-8 months experience riding (though all of mine has been on a 250). I did my first two track days last month. I thought that I was really pushing my bike on the street... but found out that I was very far from pushing the limits of my bike.

The biggest benefit (of many) that I took from going to the track is a vastly increased confidence in the abilities of my bike. Lean angles that I thought were near maximum don't seem drastic at all. Despite doing emergency braking drills in parking lots and empty streets, I've also gained a ton of confidence in fast, hard braking at higher speeds. This all translates to a much better ability to handle emergency situations and to just plain cruise twisties more safely.
 
#23 ·
My apologies everyone. I did make a generalization and jumped the gun on what it means to go to track days. I understand the value of going to a track day as far as cornering and other aspects of riding and will one day go to one when my money is right. But for now I will learn as much as I can from those who have been riding for years on the street.

I meant no harm by my words and what I meant to say was and after I have read through my whole entire post and not see it was that I don't believe going to a track day should be a precursor to upgrading to a b***** bike especially those who have a situation that is similar to mine. I believe after riding a 250 after a certain amount of time then you should be able to get a bike (within reason) that you want. I wouldn't say go from a 250 to a BMW
S1000 but I think a 250 to a 600 is more than enough of a jump to keep one happy for a long time. Practice makes perfect in any instance

I'm going to be honest with you I have never been that coordinated in my life. Shoot I had a hard time riding a bicycle in fact I haven't ridden one since I was seven. Couldn't get the balancing thing down yet so I gave up on trying to ride in that fashion. But I hopped on a motorcycle and had a blast learned extremely fast and took to it like it was a natural extension of my body. Not saying I am a good rider because I am far from that but I am competent in my abilities to avoid emergency situations and.

Sorry to type all of this but when you're at work at boring job you find stuff like this to do you know? Plus I wanted to redeem my comments and explain where I Was coming from
 
#25 ·
I meant no harm by my words and what I meant to say was and after I have read through my whole entire post and not see it was that I don't believe going to a track day should be a precursor to upgrading to a b***** bike especially those who have a situation that is similar to mine. I believe after riding a 250 after a certain amount of time then you should be able to get a bike (within reason) that you want. I wouldn't say go from a 250 to a BMW
S1000 but I think a 250 to a 600 is more than enough of a jump to keep one happy for a long time. Practice makes perfect in any instance
Your right I agree a track day should not be required to jump up. Heck I went from a 650 to ZX6 within 10 months of riding. I did however total said ZX6R four months later so be careful when you start feeling comfy, it will bite ya. I would save your $$$ for the track, once there you WILL realize what you have been missing out on, which is the amazing performace that the 6 can deliever. Oh what fun it is to really tip it into a corner and lay that stinker over at speed, nothing like it, I'm getting all jazzed up just typing about it! I guess it's like practicing a sport vs playing a game it's just not the same, the street being practice and the track where you can hang it out. That track time will help you out in traffic land when you have to dodge whatever. You will have an idea of what amazing things you and your bike are capable of and be able to get out unscathed. TRACK DAY "DO IT" :)

Be safe.
 
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