2022 Kawasaki Ninja 400.



And her twisted sense of humor. Don't know WHERE she gets it...

This is the younger one that just found out about her medical issues. She's definitely keeping positive attitude!

Her positive attitude and sense of humor is encouraging.

Her plate reminds me of my daughter when she got her license and we told her that the only car she could drive was her mothers Datsun Maxima Station Wagon. She asked if she could put personalized plates on it if she paid for them. She chose "KNOTMYN"

Pretty bike, but I don't get the license humor.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Pretty bike, but I don't get the license humor.

flashguy

Yeah, I'd have added an extra letter to make it clearer:

VBR8HR

What a wonderful motorcycle for a young person, I hope she enjoys many happy miles on it!

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Pretty bike, but I don't get the license humor.

flashguy

Yeah, I'd have added an extra letter to make it clearer:

VBR8HR

Took me a bit but yeah... vibrator

Tag would've made more sense on a Bonneville...

Looks like a fun little bike and a good way to clear her mind on bad days.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
What a wonderful motorcycle for a young person, I hope she enjoys many happy miles on it!

She'd hug you for saying that, she's 55.

Her first road bike was a 250 Ninja. After riding it for a couple of years, she sold it and bought a Yamaha Bolt.

The Bolt's primary attraction was the seat height as she's pretty short. Unfortunately, the weight, cruiser handling and that pooch of an engine were major downsides and she wound up selling that too.

She missed riding a lot and when this 400 Ninja came in at the dealer, she snapped it up. With the supply problems everyone is having their inventory has been somewhere between sparse and nonexistent for months so "dealing" wasn't an option.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfe 21:
Tag would've made more sense on a Bonneville...

Well, it is a twin cylinder bike, so similar 'vibe' to the Bonneville. It's just a much higher revving, high performance 'vibrator'!

Looks like a good time and good humor!

That is super cool.
I wish at least one of my kids shared my passion for riding.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
What a wonderful motorcycle for a young person, I hope she enjoys many happy miles on it!

She'd hug you for saying that, she's 55.



The Bolt's primary attraction was the seat height as she's pretty short. Unfortunately, the weight, cruiser handling and that pooch of an engine were major downsides and she wound up selling that too.

She missed riding a lot and when this 400 Ninja came in at the dealer, she snapped it up.....

Well 55's young to me!

I had a 300 Versys, I sure wish Kaw would put the 400 motor in that!

That's a super fun bike. I rented one for a track day and had more fun on it than any 600 super sport or liter bike.
They aren't silly fast so you can really push them without getting into trouble or at go to jail speeds but fast enough to get the giggle factor going.

The fastest growing lightweight class were I race has a large and growing number of these. and the good news is they seem incredibly tough (like the SV650's). She'll like it alot I would guess.

My friend just bought the naked version of that.

He's real happy with it.

61° and wall-to-wall sunshine this afternoon, so I took The Vibrator for a little spin.

What a peach! The semi-crotch rocket riding position wasn't as uncomfortable as I feared altho coupled with the granite seat I wouldn't want to ride it all day.

Lil' sumbitch scoots! After 5 miles of secondary road to get used to it a little and warm it up good, I turned onto Route 1 and let it eat. The road tips downhill at that point and on the FJ if I go WOT and bang the gears, I'm just touching triple digits by the bottom of the hill. The Ninja hit 85 and was still pulling with another gear to go. 12,000 redline and it's happy to go there any time you want.

I found that it feels happy around 5-6000 RPM which is a hair over 60 MPH in 5th. Never really found the need for 6th, altho it's torquey enough to cruise at 55 in 6th. I expect it gets pretty good mileage under those circumstances. I did a 5th gear roll-on from 50 while passing a car and it pulled hard right up to 75 without a downshift.

Handling is VERY tight. Absolutely no hunting or feeling of it wanting to wander or shake it's head. It's much closer to the ground than my FJ and it was a little unnerving to pitch it into a corner the first couple of times, felt like I was WAY over in knee-dragging territory. Again, absolutely rock solid whether accelerating, braking or neutral throttle.

One of my unofficial benchmarks for handling is how fast I'm comfortable slaloming in and out of the dashed line in the middle of the road. The FJ gets to be a handful at much over 40. The Ninja was nailing it at 50 and with a bit of practice I think I could do it at 55.

I'm VERY impressed. WAY more bike than the 250 version she started out with a few years back. With a more comfortable seat, I could see myself riding one of them.