How to make commuting fun

From the Money Week that landed on my mat this morning, "How to make commuting
fun", an article on the £3299 Kwak Ninja 250:

"It's a quality machine that offers as much fun as you can have on two
wheels."

I think I should take their financial news with even more of a pinch of salt
than I already do.

--
TD
1991 VFR400R NC30 (black and red)
2001 ZX-9R (red and black)
1999 M5 (neither black nor red)
Missing: SOB, Unreliable Italian exotica, Lardy tourer

 

It looks a bit small and extreme to be a daily commuter, but, like the
RSV, it's probably a hoot to take once in a while.

Got good reviews in the bike press this month as well.

 

"AndrewR" <> schreef in bericht

It looks a bit small and extreme to be a daily commuter, but, like the
RSV, it's probably a hoot to take once in a while.

Got good reviews in the bike press this month as well.

 

With its 33bhp, do you really think it's interesting?

Certainly I believe that a 400 is a good way to make a mortal feel like a god.

--
TD
1991 VFR400R NC30 (black and red)
2001 ZX-9R (red and black)
1999 M5 (neither black nor red)
Missing: SOB, Unreliable Italian exotica, Lardy tourer

 

I always wanted, but was too big to live with, a VFR400. Had a play on
one a few times and loved it every time, but I looked like Simoncelli,
without the fuzzy hair.

 

I agree with that and I think the 250 is probably a good start,
especially if it's going to get even harder to get a full power
licence later this year.

Not sure about this, though - how much smaller than the R6 and the
ZX-6R could they go before they started producing mini-motos? I loved
my CBR4 and on the road it really could hack it with bigger bikes, but
it felt physically biiger and more comfortable over distance than the
RSV does ... and you could see stuff in the mirrors and it had a
hoooge amount of under-seat storage.

 

They'd never sell them though. A 400 with 100bhp would require a full
licence and probably wouldn't be any cheaper to buy than a 600. So
everyone would buy the 600.

 

I don't do new bikes, but I sat on this year's CBR600RR at the Hendon Bikesafe
show and I was absolutely /shocked/ at the tininess of the thing. And I'm not
exactly a big guy.

Interesting, the NC30 has no visibility in the mirrors, meh storage, and after
100 miles or so, it's definitely time to stop and stretch.

--
TD
1991 VFR400R NC30 (black and red)
2001 ZX-9R (red and black)
1999 M5 (neither black nor red)
Missing: SOB, Unreliable Italian exotica, Lardy tourer

 

It depends on the rider. 33 horses should get you close to 100mph which is
as much as many people need. The weight at 152kg and the low seat make it
ideal for smaller riders. ( Nina ? ).
Ideal for first time users on a restricted licence, which means there
should be a good supply of cheap used ones with cosmetic scrapes in a
year or two. Like the man said, little bikes can be a hoot.

There has been a big hole in the market between 125 and 500 for too long.
A 350/400 model with a bit more power would be nice so long as they can
keep the weight down.

 

Lame. A parallel twin. What's wrong with the bonkers 21k rpm four-pot
they used to make?

Hmm. 33bhp and 152kg? Sounds like an underpowered lardy old bus. 33bhp
is in derestricted RS125/Mito territory it's at least 13kg heavier than
the 12 year old 250 in my garage.

A ZXR400 made something like 65bhp and cracked 140mph. The nearest
equivalent I can think of to that kind of performance, if not the
delivery or the handling, is something like an SV650. Not really a hole
in the market, just a different offering to plug the same hole.

 

That reminds me, I really must phone the clinic about those test
results.

 

The reason for the awesome 400cc bikes was essentially Japanese legislation,
which made it very difficult to get a license for a >400cc bike. Apparently
there was also some reason that made keeping a bike for longer than a couple
of years almost uneconomical compared to selling it and buying a new one (I
think it was an excessively stringent MOT), which resulted in loads of
near-mint bikes arriving in Europe as grey imports. Kawasaki went one better
and actually imported the ZXR properly. AFAIK the 400cc restriction no
longer exists in Japan, or at least it isn't as erm... restrictive any more,
so there's no incentive to keep the class alive when you have such stunning
600cc bikes.


Geo

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Gyp

Yeah, I can see how that would explain it...

 

Mind, it is a parallel twin, producing some learner legal 25kW. Rider
position is set by high handlebars, so not exactly a sreaming 250.

*wants* as a trackbike.

 

I remember a 1996 article in a Spanish magazine. It was about sportbikes and
what they should be in the future, 10 years after. They said "light as a
600, powerful as a 750". Looks like that even pipe dreaming they couldn't
imagine current 600 and 1000.

BTW, yesterday I tried a K8 GSXR 750. Felt like best of both worlds.

 

<lip wobbles>

<goes to the garage>

 

Where that one's concerned, the past perfect is entirely appropriate.

 

General rule of thumb is that 30bhp gets you 100mph, but obviously
there's a difference between a small bike that's been designed to hit a
ton 'naturally', and a larger one that's designed to go rather faster
but has been strangled.

 

'She had gone to the garage' ?

D.