two fifty magazine - issue 2

S M A L L B I K E S W I T H B I G A P P E A L

M O T O R C Y C L E M A G A Z I N E

I S S U E # 2 2 0 1 0

T W O F I F T Y

L O I S O N T H E L O O S E | B I G S U R T O M A L I B U | A V E N U E O F

T H E G I A N T S | T E C H H E A D | W H AT T H E FA Q ? |

S K I L L S A N D T H R I L L S | T H I N K B I G

R I D E S M A R T | A N D M O R E . . .

w w w . t w o f i f t y m a g . c o m

Welcome to the second issue of Two Fifty Magazine.

Well, we said it would evolve, and evolve it has! This issue of Two Fifty takes on a new look, and a new, albeit familiar, mis-sion: small bikes with big appeal. Whereas most magazines focus on big bore, high cost bikes, we focus on the most versatile, most prevalent, and (we think) most exciting of rides, the small displacement motorbike.

Take a global snapshot of the motorcycle market and you realize that not only are small displacement bikes the most popular motorcycles, but in many markets (notably parts of Asia and India) they are the most prevalent form of any motorized transpor-tation. In fact the Honda Cub, coming in at a whopping 50cc, is the most popular mo-torized vehicle the world has ever known (60 million, and counting). Of course, small displacement bikes are not only about utility, and economy, although that is certainly true of the class in general. When it comes to moving the spirit, these bikes run with the best of them.

The class leader in North America, the Ka-wasaki Ninja 250R has better acceleration than all but the most powerful cars, it has better fuel economy than any hybrid car on the market, and can cruise all day on any road and highway this continent has to of-fer. If you happen upon one in the twist-ies, where motorcycles are really meant to be, in the right hands it can keep up with just about any other bike, regardless of class. It’s a great beginner’s ride, sure, but it’s also the consummate rider’s motorcycle, the pure ride.

EDITOR

Thiago Valente

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSBob Atkins

James R. DavisMark Hunter

Lois PryceElizabeth Rodeno

Ryan SalleeGarrick Staples

Mark VenekampMatthew Woodruff

WEBSITEwww.twofiftymag.com

PUBLISHER / PRINTERMagcloud

www.magcloud.com

© Two*Fifty Magazine

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Elizabeth Rodeno conquering her demons at Butttonwillow Raceway. For more on her experience see page 6.

COVERPHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE VANHAPwww.vanhap.com

You may find a young rider learning the fun-damentals on one, as he makes his way to school; you may cross a veteran racer hon-ing his skills, as he carves through a canyon on one; or you may see one fully loaded on a cross-continental trek; they are versatility personified. And in these times, where belts are being tightened, and oil resources are a valuable commodity, they are as relevant as they are exciting.

Issue #2 of Two Fifty Magazine takes us from the beautiful shoreline of California, to the treacherous depths of Africa; from the excitement of one rider’s first lap around a race track to the yearly gathering of the Ninja 250 Rider’s Club, this year in the Av-enue of Giants.

From Trans-African treks to casual rides, essential riding skills to all-out racing, basic maintenance to major modifications, and ev-erything in between, we have you covered. Two Fifty brings you the stories and pictures from the world of small displacement bikes, their devoted riders and the clubs that bring them together.

Two Fifty is a new magazine and is con-stantly looking for collaborators. If you are interested in building a magazine from the ground up, contact us (see the Off Topic section).

And of course, ride on and write on,

Thiago Valente

Editor

IN THIS ISSUE

CALIFORNIABig Sur to Malibu

8

TRANS-AFRICALois on the Loose

18

RIDE REPORTAvenue of the Giants

34

SKILLS & THRILLSThe Newbie and the 250

6

4CLUB NEWS

26WHAT THE FAQ?

42OFF TOPIC

14THINK BIG RIDE SMART

40TECH HEAD

CLUB NEWS

� TWO*FIFTY ISSUE 2

This is our way of giving back to the forum, by giving away gift certificates to NewEnough.com

2010 brings with it a new year-long contest, the 2010 monthly picture contest. For the next ten months, along with a couple of ‘spe-cial’ contests, there will be a monthly picture contest.

The basic rules are simple, you will submit a picture that includes at least one Ninja 250. Additional rules and stipulations will be given with each contest.

The winning picture chosen from of each of the twelve contests will then be used to create a 2011 Ninja 250 calendar. Thumb up

Also, each monthly winner will be given a $20 gift certificate to NewEnough. There will also be one or two additional year-end contest awards, to be announced later.

Ninja 250 Riders Clubwww.ninja250.com

Spring, the vernal equinox, arrived today which means that it’s time to start riding more regularly. So, the biggest ever ‘win free stuff ’ contest is back! This is our way of giving back to the forum, by using donations from the community to the Ninja 250 forum through NewEnough.com.

* If you don’t have a Ninja 250 anymore, don’t despair!!! *

This contest is simple, take a picture of a Ninja 250 in front of a USPS location . If you live overseas, then the local equivalent is al-lowable for entries. For each picture you take, you will earn one point.

So, the rules are simple ~ any active forum member (once the have an activated profile) can participate. This contest will run from the Vernal Equinox until the Autumnal Equinox, which is from the first day of spring until the first day of fall.

Vernal Equinox Mar 20 2010 1:32 PM EDT

Autumnal Equinox Sep 22 2010 11:09 PM EDT

Prizes:

1st - $125 gift certificate to NewEnough.

2nd - $85 gift certificate to NewEnough.

3rd - $65 gift certificate to NewEnough.

4th - $45 gift certificate to NewEnough.

5th - $30 gift certificate to NewEnough.

That’s a total of $350 we will be giving back to the active participants of the Ninja 250 rider’s club forum!

Post OfficesPicture Contest

Golden Rule Rally

TOP 15 (Current Standings)

Rider

teknokruncher 12 28mattwood1221 11 26Blazerhair 3 16laurainmonterey 3 13AP 3 12funkshn 3 12JonP 7 12Agent K 1 11F15_in_GA 2 11Ivan 1 11rmi03 1 11Sunny Fla 1 11twigtech 1 11XBeemerRider 1 11splitthewind 2 10

# Meets Score

Monthly Picture Contest

ISSUE 2 TWO*FIFTY 5

The Newbie And The 250BY ELIZABETH RODENO

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE VANHAP

After I separated from my husband at 43 I decided that I wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. With the help of a friend who rode, I bor-rowed his helmet and went to take the MSF course. I had been on the back of a mo-torcycle exactly twice in my life, the month prior. I sat in the class, the only one who had never ridden a bike, wondering which way you turn the throttle. Somehow I managed to pass the written test.

ISSUE 2 TWO*FIFTY �

What ever you

do, don’t go past

second gear.

“”

Then the real test arrived: actually riding the bike. I was given a Honda 150 which I could barely hold up. The first time I actu-ally drove across the parking lot was a scary thrill. The whole day was exhausting. I did ok on some of the skills. I failed miserably on the slow speed turns and U-turns. The coach kept pushing me to go faster. I was totally petrified. I failed the final riding test and was told to come back the next day and take it again. I think the coach liked me and let me slide on the test. I passed but I am not sure I should have.

Prior to getting on the bike I had delusions of grandeur thinking I could ride off on a V-Strom or SV650. After struggling with the 150, which I dropped repeatedly, I realized the only bike for me was the Ninja EX250. I found a 2007 in Candy Plasma Blue at the dealer near me. I talked the dealer into de-livering it to my house as I couldn’t imagine riding it the 20 miles home.

Since I lived in a neighborhood with little traffic, I was able to practice going round and round and round and round; shifting, braking, stalling, falling. I dropped that poor little bike so many times. A neighbor always seemed to be there to help me pick it up. I think he found it quite entertaining.

For months at a time she stood in the garage unloved. I was so fearful that I couldn’t ride her alone.

One friend, a veteran rider, took me out a few times. At the end of a session he told me “What ever you do, don’t go past second gear.”

Finally I made a decision that I had to get out and ride. I found a female rider who would put up with me. She didn’t tell me what to do or what not to do. We just rode. I followed her. She waited patiently for me to pick up my bike every time I dropped it. Slowly but surely I got more confident riding the curvy roads above my house. It took me months to finally venture on to the freeway. To this day I try to avoid the freeways as I much prefer to ride mountain roads.

Last year I decided I was going to become a better and more confident rider. I enrolled in Reg Pridmore’s School at Streets of Wil-low in Rosemond, CA. Since I had no one to accompany me I decided I was going to ride there. I had never been on such a long ride but I was determined to do this. So off I went on my little blue bike sporting two small saddlebags, wearing my pink leathers. Not normally direction challenged, my ner-vousness led me to get lost somewhere on Route 126 trying to get to Rosamond.

By the time I found my way it was dark and the winds had picked up. I figured I would

head east until I hit the 14 freeway. Coming out of complete darkness I was happy to see lights ahead. As I cruised along I realized I was riding by a prison. The image of me on my 25hp bike in pink leathers in front of the prison made me chuckle. Finally, after battling 30mph winds on the freeway in the dark, I arrived at the glorious Devonshire Inn. What have I done?

The next day I arrived trembling at the track. Listening carefully and following the lead rider I made it around the track a few

times. Then they let me go and boy did I go. I don’t remember what turn it was but I looked where I wasn’t supposed to go and low-sided. My bike was inop-erable. Mortified and very

humiliated I called a friend on his way to the track to see me. I told him to turn around and get his ramps. I wasn’t riding home.

My friend helped me fix my bike. I accompa-nied him to the big track at Willow Springs a few weeks later. Fearful once again I was de-termined to make it around. I just got better and better. Even as the liter bikes left me in the dust, I felt like the little Ninja that could. My track addiction was born.

Since then I’ve been riding a lot and going to Buttonwillow with friends who are teach-ing me a lot. My friend Bernie and his son, Javelin Broderick, a 13 year old racer, have become my coaches. Having raced a 250, Jav gives me lots of pointers. Now my friends put the bug in me to race my little bike. I’m taking a New Racers Class and planning on entering a WERA race next year. God help me.

I’m still pretty frightened when I get on my bike, seeming to never have enough confi-dence but I get out there and ride and ride. I fall down, crash in a corner or two and get up and go back to conquer the track. I’m not trying to be the fastest. I am committed to being as skilled and as confident a rider I can be. I’m looking forward to my next track day and scared about my first race. I may come in last but from where I started it will seem like first place. [250]

SKILLS AND THRILLS

Big Sur to Malibu

Views wax more and more epic, the sheer cliff faces appearing as barriers to Rivendell, with taste-fully sculpted, arched bridges spanning rocky di-vides. The road bends form a stage for riding he-roics; weaving in and out of the hillside, cutting inland before sharply winging back toward the bony cliffs, Highway 1 is choice tarmac.

BY RYAN SALLEE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYAN SALLEE

Big Sur to Malibu

lthough I’ve lived in California for most of my life, Big Sur might as well have been in Greece. In my

twenty years of local residence, California’s central coast remained a mystery. Is Big Sur a city? A region? A frame of mind? I in-tended to discover en route to a group ride arranged by my future mother-in-law in the Santa Monica mountain canyons surround-ing Malibu, more than four hundred miles south of home in San Francisco.

In the days leading up to the trip, I still hadn’t pinned down a route. I knew for cer-tain only that I wanted to ride through Big Sur. On the way down or the ride home? Unsure. All the way on Highway 1 or just a quick grazing of the coast? Who knows. The route I really wanted would take more than ten hours, tracing Highway 1 from Santa Cruz to San Luis Obispo, and I feared a time paucity panic reminiscent of the first day of my Seattle trip. US 101 would usher me to my destination in half the time and seemed the logical option.

A

“

”

10 TWO*FIFTY ISSUE 2

Logic is overrated. With all the providence of a hormone-gorged adolescent on prom night, I picked the long way.

In an insincere display of prudence, I took inland freeway south until Santa Cruz. To bridge my path to the coast, I had to take Highway 17. The 17 is a bit nutty, which suits its destination. For a freeway, it’s cra-zy twisty, narrow and teeth-gritting quick. And traffic isn’t light. Around one sweeping right-hander at 55 mph, brake lights bulged red as cars squeezed left past a stalled big rig in the right lane. Fortunately that was the last of 17’s drama. As Highway 1 came into view, the sky opened, wide and blue, sun still rub-bing its eyes open in the early morning.

Curiously, it wasn’t until Monterey that I caught my first clear view of the ocean. Just a skip further south and I was in Carmel, which from the highway doesn’t impress with poshness the way its obnoxiously up-

pity full name suggests. Signs in-sist it’s Carmel-by-the-Sea, which I hope to never hear uttered aloud. Still, I dared pull over for gas and coffee in the Highlands and fired off a couple of text messages to my treasured fiance, just to brag about my vacation while she was trapped at work.

Between Santa Cruz and Monterey, CA-1 bears a modest and sedate line through sprawling farm lands. Countless produce stands dot the road side and advertise enticing prices for fruits and veggies that shame grocery store impostors. If only my saddlebags had room to spare. And refrigeration.

I got back to Highway 1, still not sure what constitutes Big Sur. But just a few minutes south of the Carmel Highlands, I got a clue. In an instant, the coast transforms. Hillsides steeply plummet into the brilliantly blue sea with innumerable craggy islands too small to stand on giving the effect of a sprawl-ing global landscape miniaturized and con-densed, presented as God might see the world.

Views wax more and more epic, the sheer cliff faces appearing as barriers to Riven-dell, with tastefully sculpted, arched bridges spanning rocky divides and completing the Lord of the Rings motif. The road’s bends form a stage for riding heroics; weaving in and out of the hillside, cutting inland before sharply winging back toward the bony cliffs, Highway 1 through Big Sur is choice tarmac.

A shame it draws so many tourists. I don’t mind sharing, but the road was often hogged by long lines of inconsiderate lallygaggers. I don’t demand slow drivers pull over the mo-ment they see me itching to get by, but by-passing a series of perfectly suitable turnouts is infuriating. “Don’t make me be rude,” I thought out loud in my helmet, “Don’t make me act uncivilized.” Another ignored turn-out? Sorry clown, enjoy my high beam. I’m usually quite prudent in my passes, always waiting for legal opportunities, but double yellow painted lines lose their meaning when painfully slow Tour America Winnebagos stubbornly disgrace roads like that.

Hours flipped by like a Hollywood mon-tage dubbed in Spanish (I tend to sing and think to myself in Spanish when I ride long distance). Before I’d tired of the world-in-a-bowl scenery of the Big Sur coastline–as if I could–Highway 1 dumped me onto the southern end of US 101. I spent seven hours riding to San Luis Obispo, a distance saner routes could cover in three. But there’s no doubt the Big Sur excursion merited the time suck.

Another three hours of US 101 separat-ed me from my destination, so I hustled. There’s nothing unpleasant about the free-way, but without the distractions of Tolk-ien vistas and RV circumnavigation, time dragged. Fuel neared empty as I approached Santa Barbara, and I wanted to make a

stop in the fair city to see if it’s as beautiful inside as its

veneer. But I rolled into town at the peak of

rush hour traffic, which clogs the

ISSUE 2 TWO*FIFTY 11

city of 100,000’s only major asphalt artery. Instead of stopping to enjoy a minute of the stunning seaside city, I spent the next half hour splitting narrow halls between crawl-ing cages, my eyes furiously scanning motor body language five seconds ahead.

Lane splitting is mentally exhausting after just a couple of minutes, so I was properly frazzled by the time I reached Ventura. I exited the freeway and gave the bike its last drink of gasoline before reeling in the last miles of the 101 freeway.

My real reason for being in Southern Cali-fornia is too embarrassing to admit (baby, ahem, shower) but I had the fortune of a good excuse to skip on the future-in-law family outing to Meryl Streep’s latest theat-rical assault on masculinity. I’d been set up on a blind moto date (purely platonic) with a group of experienced gents. They were billed as “old man sport bikers,” but none of them were on trick knees or anything. To my knowledge.

Because we started the day early “to beat the traffic, the heat and the Harley riders,” I lay-ered a thermal under my jacket. Mornings in San Francisco are always chilly, but I quickly learned that Southern California in August is always hot. Before we’d even left the meet-

ing point, the thermal layer was in my tank bag and I was still a bit sweaty-sticky under my gear. Must. Create. Air flow. Before too long–maybe a little too long–we left morn-ing coffee behind to carve some canyons.

I left the path finding to the two locals, both of whom were mounting 1,000cc uber-bikes, one a Yamaha FZ1 and the other a Honda RC51. Four of my bikes wouldn’t equal the horsepower of one of theirs, and so I hoped we wouldn’t endure much superslab before hitting twisty bits where the 250’s power def-icit might shed relevance. I didn’t cry a tear when we ignored the freeway on-ramp and, way before I expected, rolled to a stop at the base of Decker Canyon Road. My chaperon leaned and yelled over the bellow of his Yo-shimura pipes thrumming a V-twin rhythm, “We’ll take it easy,” before ripping around the first bend.

Decker Canyon is steep and intensely tight, with hairpins stacked atop each other as the road climbs up, up and away from civiliza-tion and into the mountains north of Mali-bu. Good thing the guys leading me took it “easy” as I had to push to match their pace. Brake late and hard, pitching all my weight onto my wrists and into the handlebars, lean into a corner and there’s no way to keep up without separating ass from seat. Weight in-


side, trailing the front brake, peg the apex and break open the throttle, wah-wah-wah, upshift for a few revs and immediately downshift, strangle the brake lever for the next lascivious bend.

After thoroughly separating ourselves from society, we veered east on Mulholland High-way. I didn’t know it, but I was being es-corted to a popular stretch of Mulholland locals know as The Snake and which com-prises bends and road quality worthy of a racetrack, chiseled into the sloping canyon wall and marked by terrestrial sculpting more perfect than the contrived Disneyland Matterhorn.

At the base of the course is The Rock Store, a business that attracts motorcyclists of all sorts and allegedly Jay Leno and other celeb-rities on occasion. I couldn’t say what The Rock Store’s business is, because while we spent ten or fifteen minutes wandering the parking lot, I didn’t bother to go inside. Out-side, a display not too unlike the usual lot at Alice’s offered some firsts for my eyes. A Vincent Rapide tricked me into thinking I’d spotted a mint Black Shadow. Across the lot, a cherry Indian stood apart from the Har-leys, dressed in a shade of brown that went extinct decades ago.

Commonly, my escorts ride up and down the Snake three or four times on a weekend excursion. It’s worth indulging. We decided to run back to the top for photos, but the RC51 had killed its battery. The two of us that didn’t leave our headlamps shining while we wasted time in The Rock Store’s lot took back to the road anyway and the Honda rid-er assured us he’d join when the bike started.

We loitered at the top, where I snapped some shots and noted the delicate ecosystem of highway, motorcyclists and cops, both hu-man species cohabiting the narrow stretch of asphalt in peaceful harmony. The police weren’t on the scene as predators eager to

chase riders with hungry citation quotas. To the contrary, I witnessed a CHP cruiser pull onto a narrow gravel shoulder to let a mo-torcyclist pass from behind. The only prey was an endless supply of tasty corners that seemed to have multiplied like rabbits. Ag-gressive riding’s no problem on Mulholland. Just population control.

I surveyed the road, the landscape and the motos that traced the skinny lines in dis-tant hills around me. After what must’ve been near a half hour, the rider with a dead battery rolled to the top of The Snake will fully juiced electrics, having signed a liability waiver to demo the Zero S electric motorcy-cle its manufacturer was showcasing at The Rock Store. The bike looks hot, compact and capable. Granted, the sound it makes is less stirring than a plug-in leaf blower, I fig-ure I’ll happily make the electric jump when there’s infrastructure to recharge with the convenience of a petrol fill.

After tear-arsing back down to The Rock Store, a dash of smart phone Googling as-sured me the dead Honda could be bump-started. The bike’s rider, trusting my cautious advice, rolled downhill, allowing gravity to massage speed into the wheels. Around the first corner, out of view, and still no inter-

... the Snake comprises of

bends worthy of a racetrack,

chiseled into the sloping

canyon wall and marked by

terrestrial sculpting more

perfect than the contrived

Disneyland Matterhorn.

“

”

RIDE REPORT


nal combustion rumbling. Silence. Pushing the bike uphill won’t be fun. More silence. And a minute later, prowww-arrr-prrr-arrr-prowww, the Honda willed itself to rejoin the living.

We turned to Encinal Canyon Road to guide us to Zuma Beach. Unlike earlier roads, En-cinal carves longer, sweeping blind turns that allow for more speed…provided there’s trust the corners don’t sharpen. It’s all new to me, so I backed off the throttle and pru-dently trusted the turns only as far as I could see ‘em. The local literbikes excelled, and for the first time that day I was left behind. No worry, as Encinal is dead-simple to follow to the ocean.

Our posse picked up a fourth bike and a third old man sport biker, who also brought with him no fewer than a thousand cubic centimeters of displacement. A short tour of Malibu’s beaches and the Pacific Coast Highway brought us to Kanan Road for more canyon carving.

Those canyon roads are seriously special and not only challenged but completely demol-ished my belief that California’s Bay Area is home to the West Coast’s best tarmac. Scorched hillsides and desert flora might not beat San Francisco’s greens, but the turns are just phenomenal and much more tightly packed than I’m used to.

To traverse the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California is to endure a con-stant barrage of angry corners, some so long and sharp they seem to form infinite loops that somehow connect to the next se-ries of bends which alternately flirt with the canyon’s ledge.

On our final run, we passed by a Toyota MR2 on its own group joyride that also flirt-ed with the canyon ledge. The ledge was not amused, and the driver was left with both front wheels dangling over the lip of the road, the back held down by the luck of a mid-mounted engine and two friends stand-ing on the rear bumper. Don’t see that in San Francisco.

SI had thirty-six hours of rest off the bike before diving into another day-long ride to return home. I’d fulfilled my desire to see Big Sur on the way south, so surely I could shorten the return trip and just endure free-way, yes?

Absolutely no.

I took the long route home. The skies were overcast the entire day, and traffic was no lighter on a Monday than it was on the previ-ous Friday –get jobs, people– but the coastal roads are unmissable. For the pleasure, a day is a fair price to pay. [250]

RIDE SMART


Tips and Techniques from Safety Expert James R Davis

Think Big, Ride Smart

TIP

#25

7 Standing on your PegsControl AND Visibility

As many of you know from reading other of the safety tip articles I have written, Cash and I have found ourselves riding for dozens of miles at highway speeds while standing on our pegs. In our cases, the usual reason for doing that is that we are a long way from a place to pull off the road for a break when the sky opens up and it begins raining on us - hard. It is almost impossible to see clearly through the raindrops accumulating (actual-ly washing in waves) down our windscreens

and our helmet visors. We stand on the pegs to improve our ability to see - our visibility. (Cash has declared that that is one reason she is glad not to have forward controls be-cause standing on the pegs is one behavior we sometimes need to do.)

It is well known that standing on your pegs while negotiating difficult pavement (or dirt) at slow speeds can aid in your control of the bike in that it is far easier to move a bike to one side or the other without having to move yourself with it.

But there is one other time you might wish to consider standing on your pegs while moving, even at highway speeds, and it again

RIDE SMART


involves enhancing your visibility - this time for others. Suppose, for example, that you are riding down a two-lane road that’s marked with a line between traffic mov-ing in opposite directions and you notice a commercial area to your right. What are the odds that an oncoming car, particularly one with their left turn blinker flashing, might decide to turn left across your path to enter that area?

That’s right, the odds depend on whether or not the driver of that oncoming vehicle notices you or not.

Your BEST behavior in that condition is to slow down in anticipation that you might have to stop or dodge that left-turner (with a cell phone glued to his/her ear). But that might not be enough and is not the only thing that you can do to increase your odds out there.

You can make yourself more visible! In advance, you can do that, (and by law you

must), by having your headlights on, and you can wear light colored clothes with re-flecting patches. Rather than in advance of needing to, you THEN can also turn on a headlight modulator or flash your brights on and off. (I don’t like that last idea one bit because it might be interpreted as a signal by you giving the other driver ‘permission’ to encroach on your right of way.) You can also gently swerve from side to side within your lane.

Or, you can simply stand on your pegs!!! That certainly makes you more visible to others. It does not destabilize the bike. It cannot be misinterpreted as a signal giving away your rights.

On the other hand, if you happen to get into an accident and there are witnesses who saw you standing on your pegs, you will need to be ready to defend your actions in court. Particularly non-riding public ‘under-standing’ of what you were doing out there

standing on your pegs will vary from ‘show-ing off ’ to ‘stunting’ to ‘racing’ (regardless of whether or not you are speeding), and probably not a single suggestion that you were trying to make yourself more visible in order to diminish the likelihood that an accident would occur.

Here is one expert witness who will stand up for your side and describe such behavior as being rational and intelligent instead of ‘rider error’.

It doesn’t need to be said, but just in case ... If that driver does make a left turn in front of you while you are standing on your pegs, you sit back down as you aggressively use your brakes.

“I laid it down” Is a Crock

More charitably, it is an excuse.

I recently had a message posted on my board from a long-time rider which said the following:

“I laid it down one time on purpose.

I was entering a green light intersection about 30mph when I saw what turned out to be a drunk driver entering on my right intending to run his red light.

I ran thru 3 options in my head:

1) If I keep going he will T-bone me;

2) If I try and stop I will T-bone him;

3) Lay it down and hit him with both of my wheels and the whole bike between me and his car.”

I took Option 3, destroyed my helmet on his A-pillar, destroyed his left front fender/wheel/ door, landed on my tailbone after flying over his car.

TIP

#22

6

Bottom line: totaled Harley, totaled Plymouth, totaled Bell helmet, cracked tailbone, opened up head, 10 days on a board in the hospital. I never ride without a helmet now.

His ‘logic’ was reasonable, though badly flawed, but worse by far it sounded like a recommendation to others to consider do-ing the same thing. On balance, it was a crock of ...

This is the kind of story that a newbie must learn to filter and dismiss instead of believ-ing. It is especially difficult for them given the ‘story’ includes a rational and obvious bit of good advice (to always wear a helmet).

His ‘option 2’ was the ONLY viable and certainly the safest choice he could have made. If you are going to crash you want to do it at the slowest possible speed and that happens only if you use an emergency braking maneuver. By ‘maneuver’ I mean that you squeeze the front brake hard, then harder, then harder still without locking up the brake, and by using the rear brake mod-estly and then with less and less pressure so that it, too, does not lock up. And it means that you keep your head and eyes pointing straight ahead, the bike pointing straight ahead, and you lean forward to lower the bike’s center of gravity.

Let’s look at the whole idea of ‘laying it down’. Do you wonder where a person learns how to lay a bike down on purpose? I mean, I have never heard of a class, certainly not an MSF class, that teaches a rider how to do that. Yet, it seems, this rider knew just how to do it in an emergency situation. Isn’t that fantastic?

Let’s suppose that you really did want to lay down a bike while it’s moving at highway speeds. Which control would you use? There is no ‘lay down’ button on your motorcycle so it must be one or more of the other con-trols. Since this rider wants to end up with his wheels hitting the car ahead of him, my guess is that the bike has to be made to

turn 90 degrees from its direction of travel. The only controls that you have to change direction are the handlebar itself. And, at highway speeds, you have no choice but to use counter-steering. So, it must be that you use counter-steering to lay a bike down. But my experience has taught me that when you change direction you actually move in a dif-ferent direction. If this rider merely pressed hard on, say, his left grip, then his motor-cycle would have moved dramatically to the left, not just swiveled in place within his lane of traffic and switched the front end of the bike from pointing dead ahead to pointing directly to the left.

But if the bike actually moved away from the track he was riding in, and aggressively so, then wouldn’t that actually be a panic swerve? And if a panic swerve COULD be performed such that you would miss the col-lision altogether, why wouldn’t you simply do that instead of going further and ending up on the ground?

The fact is that if you could use a panic swerve to avoid an accident you would do so instead of ‘laying it down’. This rider already claimed that that was not an option because it was not listed.

In order to end up on the ground your tires have to lose traction. That happens, as you know, if you overuse your brakes. Skid marks are clear indicators when that happens. And the brake that is easiest to overuse is at-tached to the rear wheel. Its at least a coin-

cidence that when you skid the rear tire your bike’s rear end tends to yaw to one side or the other, particularly if you are also using the front brake. And the result can easily be that the rear tire, not the front one, is what slides out from under you while you tend to stay in the same lane you were traveling in at the time. Surely it is more likely that in order to ‘lay a bike down’ you use the rear brake instead of counter-steering.

But if you skid your tires you no longer are getting maximum stopping power from your brakes. Instead, you have reduced your rate of deceleration by about 25% from what it was just prior to the start of the skid.

Now I don’t know about you but if I had my preferences I would want to be slowing as quickly as possible when faced with a crash and that means I would not want my tires to skid at all.

But what if you could increase your rate of deceleration by sliding on the side of your motorcycle instead of on its tires? Well, the problem with that is that steel (and plastic) have less friction when scrubbing against as-phalt than does the rubber of its tires. So that a sliding motorcycle which is on its side instead of on its tires will slow even less quickly than if you simply skid your tires.

You know what I’m saying ... ‘laying down’ a motorcycle is NOT a deliberate event on the street. Instead, it is an after-the-event expla-nation, an excuse, of what happened which is designed to save face. In short, it is BS.

RIDE SMART


Covering Those

Control Levers

A function of speed, not style

If you have read some of my other articles you know that I am a strong advocate of covering the front brake lever while I’ve been essentially quiet about whether or not you should cover your clutch lever while rid-ing.

Further, you probably know that I prefer to use two fingers to cover my brake and, when I do cover my clutch, I prefer to cover it using all four fingers. So, what’s the deal? What’s the logic that explains these differ-ences?

First, let’s look at why we cover a lever. Whether it’s the brake or the clutch, the ONLY reason we cover these controls is to reduce reaction time when we need to oper-ate them. In exchange for reduced reaction time we pay a price - we have less control of

the corresponding grip when some of our fingers are covering a lever instead of being in contact with that grip.

The next question is not as obviously an-swered as the first one: When should you cover those controls? The answer is that we cover them whenever we might have need to quickly use them, but NOT when quick usage of the control (or simply covering it) can be dangerous.

The brake lever is the one that most of us cover virtually all the time. Is there a time when it should NOT be covered? You bet. At slow speeds, particularly when making turns. In these cases the use of your front brake is often so counter-productive or dan-gerous that you are far better off having the fingers of your right hand wrapped around the throttle.

Another time you want to keep your fingers off the brake lever is when you are about to surmount an obstacle in the road. If you take a firm jolt to the front or back wheel you must not lose your hold on the grip and having all of your fingers wrapped around it is your best insurance against that happen-ing.

So, it follows that in general you want to cover your front brake lever anytime you might have to stop quickly. In other words, almost always if your motorcycle is moving faster than you can run.

But should you cover it with two fingers? Three? Four?

The answer to that question raises no end of controversy amongst seasoned riders. I suggest that you use as many fingers as you are comfortable using over an extended pe-riod of time. In my case, I use two fingers. If I try to use three, my hand gets cramped as I try to maintain the other one in con-tact with the grip. If I use four fingers then without a wrist rest to give me positive con-trol of my throttle I find myself unable to smoothly control speed and my thumb will cramp over time. Since the right grip is itself a control (throttle), it is my preference to use two fingers to cover the brake lever and two to maintain contact with the throttle. Further, using two fingers GREATLY re-duces the odds that in a panic I might try the dangerous practice of ‘grabbing a hand-

ful’ of brake.

When to cover your clutch lever is a little more subtle than when to cover your front brake lever. However, since the left grip is not itself another control, when you do cover the clutch you should use all four fin-gers. And, of course, the clutch lever can be squeezed until it contacts the grip. That means that if you use less than four fingers to cover the lever you can trap the other fin-gers between the lever and the grip.

The clutch is not used simply to disengage power from the rear wheel. Its friction zone is used to act like a vernier control of speed and it is far more subtle in doing that job than the throttle is, particularly at slow speeds. Thus, covering the clutch makes sense at slow speeds.

At higher speeds, however, covering the clutch is essentially useless. The price you pay to cover the clutch at higher speeds is a diminished control of the left grip. Since the brake lever should be covered when travel-ing at any reasonable speed, it makes sense to me that the clutch should not.

And, like the brake lever, the clutch should NOT be covered if you are about to sur-mount an obstacle in the road. This, to min-imize the chance of losing control of the grip altogether.

Cover the clutch at slow speeds

Cover the brake at higher speeds [250]

Jam

es R

Dav

is James R Davis is a recognized expert in the field of motorcycle safety and dynamics.

He has over 50 years and 500,000 miles of accident free riding, and is a former Certified MSF Instructor. His articles have been reproduced in publications all over the world, and on his web site (www.msgroup.org). Davis has worked with the motorcycle division of various police departments, and has given safety presentations for the US Navy.

He continues to lecture at motorcy-cle organizations throughout the US and is active on his forum board.

TIP

#11

5

One Woman

One 250cc Motorcycle

Ten Thousand Miles from London to Cape Town

LOIS ON THE LOOSE!

TEXT BY LOIS PRYCE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LOIS PRYCE

Adventure of the Congo River Crossing

On October 14th, 2006 Lois Pryce set out from London

to ride the length of Africa on a Yamaha TTR250. Four

months and ten thousand incredible miles later she

reached Cape Town, South Africa.

Upon her return, Pryce compiled her harrowing tales into

the captivating book “Red Tape and White Knuckles“.

In a special contribution to Two*Fifty Magazine, Pryce

presents us with an excerpt from the book accompanied

with photographs from her travels.

FEATURE


they go back and forth, selling and buying between Brazzaville and Kinshasa, they sell cheaper then everyone else, and they smuggle things too. They are trouble, very aggressive when they are all to-gether like that. You must not talk to them’

I watched them arranging themselves and their strange collection of wheelchairs and tricycles, piled up with goods. Africa is probably the worst place in the world to be disabled, but they were getting on with it, survivors making something of their pitiful lives. But they all had the look that I now knew so well, the cold, empty eyes of the Congo.

A few able-bodied chancers were diving off the wharf into the brown swirling water and swimming round to the other side of the boat, where they clambered aboard to avoid paying for a ticket. One of them was even carrying a sack of rice while he carried out this manoeuvre, holding it on his head and swimming with his free arm. Then a burst of shouting and banging drew my attention away to the top of the gang plank where an elderly woman and one of the deck hands were in the midst of a fist fight. She punched him in the chest, then he shoved her up against a bulkhead, her skull making a dull clanking sound as it came into contact with the rusty iron wall, fortunately she was wearing a large and elaborate head-dress which hopefully softened the blow. But she was not to be deterred and came back at him with a right hook in the face, which he returned immediately. It was the Rumble in the Jungle for the twenty-first cen-tury; Ali and Foreman had nothing on these two as they continued to

n Brazzaville port the usual hoo-hah involving small men with big rubber stamps was particularly drawn out and

painful, requiring a constant stream of cash and an industrial scale of photocopying. By the end of it even Ricky, my self-appointed helper was starting to look a bit stressed, and we lost his friend Kevin somewhere along the way when he got roughed up and thrown out of an office by angry hulk of a man in a grey uniform.

Eventually Ricky beckoned me to follow him on board the ferry, and I rode up the rickety gangplank, clanking my way on to the boat. It was a rusting old iron heap that comprised no more than a covered deck and a few rows of seats for passengers. I parked my bike facing out towards Kinshasa and stared over the water, feeling more apprehensive than ever before on my journey.

There were plenty of men and women coming aboard, carrying enormous sacks of grain on their heads, several men who were al-ready drunk at nine in the morning and a surprisingly large number of cripples dragging themselves around on their withered limbs, or being pushed on board in homemade Heath Robinson style wheelchairs. I asked Ricky why there were so many of them and he sneered distastefully.

‘They are trouble, big trouble. They can travel cheap on the ferry, so

I


batter each other, sometimes rolling on the floor but always coming up for more. It was turning into quite a commotion as more passen-gers boarded the ferry, pushing their way past the scrapping couple. In the end some of the heftier looking males on board, including Ricky, steamed in and successfully pulled them apart.

‘What was all that about?’ I asked Ricky when the excitement had died down. The elderly woman was sitting alone, perched on a sack of rice, her face clouded with fury.

‘Oh nothing, she is his mother, they are always fighting’ he explained with a shrug.

Ricky bid me farewell, he had other business to attend to, more scams and fixes to take care of, and no doubt, more fights to break up.

‘Good luck in Kinshasa’ he said, shaking his head.

Now that Ricky had gone and the drama of the fight had subsided the attention was turned towards me and I was soon surrounded by a curious crowd. They formed a circle around me and the bike and stood there staring, except for one particular man who was steam-ing drunk and insisted on lurching towards me and draping his arm round my shoulders. Each time he did this I would hop round the other side of the bike, but he always followed, staggering and slur-ring after me, sending me skipping off back to the other side until I was trotting non-stop around the bike with him in hot pursuit. It was straight out of Benny Hill; the only thing missing was a nov-elty theme tune. This ridiculous carry-on continued for some time

until one of the young men in the crowd hauled him away with a few choice words and a look of disgust. Drunks, the disabled, old women; there was no respect for these weak, lowly members of so-ciety in the Congo. It was survival of the fittest, quite literally the law of the jungle.

I thanked the man for coming to my rescue and this dialogue prompted a wave of questions from the crowd. As each one spoke, it encouraged the others and soon I was under siege from a non-stop interrogation. Where was my husband? Where was I from? Where was I going? And again and again, Where was my husband? I told various lies by way of response, but my inquisitors were quick to warn me that I shouldn’t even be thinking of going to Kinshasa, repeating everyone’s warning; it was ‘very dangerous for a woman alone’. I made up a lie that my husband was waiting for me there, but they wanted to know why he wasn’t with me, where he was exactly, where would we be staying? I was thinking on my feet and made up a fantastically elaborate story which they seemed to buy, but I still felt thoroughly unnerved and as the crowd swelled, moving in closer and the questions and warnings came thicker and faster I felt distinctly panicky. Overcome with dizziness and nausea, I forced myself to breathe slowly and deeply and stay calm but it was easier said than done. It seemed to me that by taking this ferry to Kinshasa, I was jumping out of the frying pan and into the blazing, fiery depths of Hades. When the boat cast off from the dock my heart was thump-ing fast at the thought of what awaited me on the other side of the river.

LOIS PRYCE

LOIS ON THE LOOSE


The crowd continued to stare at me, but the questions subsided and mercifully everyone’s attention was diverted to a scuffle on top of the roof where one of the ticketless chancers was hiding out. I had seen him swim round, climb aboard and then leg it up a pole on to the corrugated iron roof. But the deckhands had seen all the tricks before and it wasn’t long before he was rumbled. There was burst of shouting above us before a lithe black body sailed past, landing like a bomb in the churned up water. Whether he jumped or was pushed, I didn’t know, but he broke into a fast front crawl and it looked highly likely that he would make it to Kinshasa before the rest of us.

The crossing of the river took half an hour and in some way I wished it would never end, that I could float indefinitely in limbo, that I would never have to make my nerve-wracking entry into this most awful of African nations. As we left Brazzaville behind and the hazy image of Kinshasa’s tower blocks became steadily clearer, I became more and more fraught. Now I wished the boat would just hurry up and get on with it and spare me this slow and dreadful countdown.

I could see the chaos of Kinshasa port before we even touched the bank. As the boat edged in to moor, people were already jumping on from the quayside, making daredevil leaps across the water. The port officials were screaming orders to no avail, everyone was yelling at each other and throwing their sacks of rice and bulging Chinese laundry bags on and off the boat. I sat on the bike and waited for the mayhem to subside, before making a speedy run-up the ramp. But I didn’t get very far. My passage was quickly blocked by a mob of aggressive, shouting men who were grabbing hold of my arm, waving fake IDs in my face and yelling orders at me: ‘Show me your passport! Get over there! Where are you going? Stay there! Show me your papers!’

If they were attempting to intimidate me, they were succeeding, but I knew immediately that my usual tactic of smiling patiently and be-ing extra polite would have no currency in this situation, and I’d long since realised that damsel-in-distress mode doesn’t work in this part of the world. Chivalry is a rare commodity in Africa, and the women are as tough as the guys; they have to be, considering their position in the pecking order, which is somewhere above the animals, but below the men. As I sat there on the bike with my engine running, slipping the clutch on the steep ramp, I knew there was only one way I was

going to get out of this situation unscathed. It was time to dig out and dust off my hard-nosed side; if I didn’t I was likely to burst into tears, and that would be the worst thing I could do. I got the feeling that people had stopped crying in the Congo a long time ago.

It was a strange sensation to make a conscious decision to act like a seriously stroppy bitch, as there’s not much call for this kind of ac-tivity in my regular day-to-day life, but it was reassuring to know that I could draw upon it in an emergency. I stayed sitting on the bike, made what I hoped was a don’t-mess-with-me-face and started yell-ing at everyone, telling them where to stick their fake ID cards and to get the hell out of my way. I was almost laughing as I heard myself; I sounded quite ridiculous, but amazingly, it worked. The men made a feeble show of being threatening, but then slowly, one by one, they skulked off into the crowd, leaving me free to ride up the ramp and into the fenced off yard where the real trouble would begin; dealing with the men with the genuine ID cards.

There were no signs suggesting where I should go, all the buildings were unmarked and equally shabby, and to make matters more con-fusing none of the men who claimed to be customs and immigration officials were wearing any kind of uniform. There was no way of telling them from the hordes of dodgy fixers that I had success-fully banished at the quayside, and once again I found myself at the mercy of yet more shifty, steely-eyed men. To add to the fun, there was now the added delight of being mobbed by legions of money-changers waving wads of Congolese Francs in my face.

Luckily I was taken in hand by a young chap by the name of Jean-

FEATURE


Paul who I immediately liked, partly because he spoke English and partly because he was a bit chubby and showed the beginnings of a slight paunch under his too tight T-shirt. There was something quite sweet about him, but I was forever wary about who to trust and once again had only my instinct on which to rely. But my instinct had been getting a good workout lately and it came up trumps again. Jean-Paul never left my side, guiding me over the hot coals of the D.R.C’s en-try formalities, most of which were conducted on the bonnet of a decrepit seventies Mercedes under a fierce midday sun.

Customs went pretty smoothly, aside from the unwanted attentions of a one-legged officer who called me into a vast, gloomy hangar on the pretext of examining my bike and made various lascivious suggestions, some of which involved me sitting on his stump. Merci-fully, Jean-Paul came to the rescue and steered me back outside into the glaring sunlight where a man from immigration wanted to have a word with me.

Perched on the bonnet of the Mercedes, he appeared to be proof-reading every page in my passport. He turned to me, his eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses for maximum intimidation and I could see the reflection of my pale, anxious face staring back at me. It oc-curred to me that I couldn’t be more out place.

‘So, where were you before you came here?’ he said,

‘I was in Brazzaville, in Congo’

‘And before that?’

‘Gabon’

‘And before that?’

‘Cameroon’

He said nothing, but flicked through the pages in silence, studying the dates of my visas and stamps to see if they matched my story.

‘Let me see your vehicle papers’ he demanded

I fished them out of my luggage and he laid everything out on the bonnet, double-checking and cross-referencing every single date, right back to when I had entered Tunisia, before copying it all down into a book.

‘But you say you come from England. Where did you go from Eng-land, not to Tunisia no?’

‘I took a boat to France, and then another boat to Tunis’

‘There is nothing in here of France!’ he slammed my passport down on the bonnet triumphantly, and I realised how the car had become so dented.

‘If you’re English you don’t get stamped in France, it’s in the EU’ I said, trying not to sound too much of a smartarse. I wanted to add ‘duh!’ at the end of my statement, but I feared it would not help my cause.

He obviously had no idea what I was talking about and continued picking through my papers, determined to find something - anything - untoward that would provide him with the evidence he needed to extract a big, juicy bribe. Meanwhile, sensing that cash would soon be changing hands, the vulture-like money-changers were circling again, but as Jean-Paul shooed one away another would appear in his place. Oh sweet civilised Europe! I thought, with a sudden pang for its open borders, its temperate climate and its single monetary policy.

Confounded by the European question, the immigration officer instead quibbled over smudged visa stamps, questioned the sloppy handwriting of the Nigerian officials, tested me to see if I could remember what dates I had entered and exited each country, and accused me of lying when I failed to recall each one correctly. Jean-Paul was hopping around, trying to reason with him on my behalf, but was blatantly ignored or barked at occasionally. The sun was

LOIS ON THE LOOSE


blazing high in sky now, even the broken-up tarmac beneath my feet was radiating heat but our man from Immigration was immune to the fierce rays burning down on us, and continued to interrogate me as I perched on the car bonnet feeling distinctly weak and light-headed under the glare of the cruel Kinshasa sun and its equally cruel bureaucracy. How is it possible, I marvelled, that this amount of attention to detail is lavished on completely unnecessary red tape and bullshit while the rest of this country’s affairs are in a state of complete meltdown?

The immigration officer didn’t like it, but eventually he had to admit it: there was nothing he could get me on. My papers were whiter than white, except for my faked Cameroon exit date which had sailed past his supposedly eagle eyes. He slammed my documents down on the car bonnet and made an invisible nod that meant I was free to go. I smiled at him, enjoying my mini victory; my spotless admin had tri-umphed over corruption! But my euphoria was short lived as it was now the turn of the policemen, and they wanted to see the contents of my luggage laid out on the ground.

Jean-Paul began a plea in my defence, but was banished to the side-lines as they picked over my belongings. The money changers were still hovering but they were blending into the crowd that had come to watch me unpack my kit. I recognised some of the faces; the one-legged customs man and a few of the guys that questioned me on the ferry were there, as well as some of the disabled men in their hand-pedalled carts. With a quick glance I approximated that my audience averaged about 1.75 legs per person.

‘This is for me, yes, a gift for me?’ said one of the officers, an older guy with a cunning, lined face. He was holding up a bottle of liquid soap.

‘Er yes, I s’pose so’ I shrugged. If soap was all he was after, I had got away lightly.

‘And this,’ said his younger sidekick, flicking through my French/English dictionary, ‘I like this, I learn English yes?’ he giggled.

‘Yeah, sure, knock yourself out’. If all went to plan I would be in Angola in a couple of days and my French dictionary would be re-dundant. In fact, these guys were doing me a favour, lightening my load, just as long as they left me my Portuguese phrase book.

‘Why are you here in Kinshasa, where are you going?’ the older of-ficer asked me with a hint of suspicion. ‘You are married yes?’ he seized my left hand and stared at my wedding ring. I was getting used to being grabbed by complete strangers, and I barely flinched.

‘I’m meeting my husband, he’s here in Kinshasa’ I replied, rolling out the old line.

‘But where is he? Why is he not with you?’

I started to launch into my elaborate cover story, but I couldn’t re-member the full details. To make matters worse, I was surrounded by various people to whom I had already told all sorts of lies, and with the overbearing heat and the pressure of the situation, I was becom-ing confused about what I had said to whom. Thankfully one of the guys from the ferry unknowingly came to my rescue.

‘Her husband is at the embassy, the embassy for Great Britain’ he shouted to the policeman. This was just the cue I needed.

‘Er... yes, yes, he’s at the embassy’ I concurred

‘But why is he not with you?’ the officer simply couldn’t understand how this could be.

It was all coming back to me now and my fabrications tripped off my tongue. Luckily, the finicky immigration officer was not present to challenge my quickly rewritten history.

‘We were travelling together, but when we were in Brazzaville, I had to go back to England, and while I was away, his visa ran out, so he came here. Then I flew back to Brazzaville and now I am catching up with him.’

‘So he came through here, through Kinshasa?’ the policeman sound-ed suspicious.

‘Er yes’

‘He is riding a motorcycle, like you?’

‘Yes’ I said, a little uncertainly. This was one nosey police officer.

‘I have not seen an English man on a motorcycle here’ he said, his eyes narrowing.

‘Uh...’ I tried to avoid his stare, not knowing what to say. But I was saved by his colleague piping up.

FEATURE


‘Yes, yes! I see him, he is with a friend, yes?’ he said, turning to me. ‘Two motorcycles, big motorcycles, one is red, yes? They are here two weeks ago!’

What on earth was he on about? Then the realisation dawned on me; he was talking about the two motorcyclists from Portsmouth that I had heard about. They were ahead of me by about two weeks and unbeknownst to them, they had saved my bacon in a most miracu-lous fashion.

‘Yes, yes, that was him!’ I agreed a little too eagerly.

The policemen both nodded, reassured and I suppressed a roar of laughter at this coincidental stroke of good fortune.

‘But why do you go back to England without him’ asked the older officer.

‘Well,’ I said, putting on a sad face and lowering my voice, ‘my grand-mother died over Christmas so I had to go back home for her fu-neral’.

It worked every time. A murmur of sympathy passed through the crowd and this band of cruel, hard men poured out their condo-lences. One thing they knew about in this country was death.

‘Ah, I am very sorry. Very sorry about your grandmother’ said the older policeman, now gripping both of my hands.

I nodded and thanked them for their kindness, trying to look suit-ably grief-stricken. I didn’t feel too guilty as both my grandmothers had been dead for years, and I’m sure they wouldn’t have objected to me misusing their identities to help me out of a hole such as this.

Despite their burst of compassion, no amount of dead grandmoth-ers were going to stop the police getting on with the business in hand and they continued to rifle through the rest of my clobber, choosing a few more ‘gifts’; a cigarette lighter and a marker pen but I didn’t mind too much; I was just relieved they possessed such humble tastes. Looking pleased with their haul, they wandered off, examining their prizes, leaving me to pack up and go. The Demo-cratic Republic of Congo was mine for the taking. [250]

The Bike - 2005 Yamaha TT-R 250

Stock Specs: Displacement: 249.00 cc Engine type: Single cylinder, four-stroke Fuel system: Carburettor Cooling system: Air Gearbox: 6-speed Transmission: Chain Fuel capacity: 9.46 litres Seat height: 36 inches

The Modifications: Kouba Link - To reduce seat height 22 Litre Tank - 350 mile range (on tarmac) Bash Plate Exhaust Guard Wind Shield Aluminum Top Box from Potterton’s Cases Custom Rack for the top box Andy Strapz Expedition Panniers - 40 litres New Wheel Bearings New Brake Pads New Tires Super Heavy-duty Inner Tubes Sheepskin Seat Cover

LOIS ON THE LOOSE

For more on Lois Pryce’s incredible adventures, and

to order her books go to www.loisontheloose.com

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Cold weather preparation I want to install frame sliders My bike was wrecked but it wasn’t my fault Service Manual Do I really have to follow this break-in period? Do I have to do this 500 mile service? What is the correct way to apply choke at startup? Warming up your engine What is the engine idle speed? How do I adjust it? What can I do if I flood it? Why does my bike take so long to reach normal running temperature? What kind of fuel should I use? How do I check my oil? My oil pressure light comes on during heavy braking How does the reserve tank work? Why performance mods might not be good for you Loud pipes save lives - is that true? I Need Recommendations For Tools/Parts Sup-porting Your Bike While Servicing Speed @ rpm calculator Speed, rpm & acceleration explained EX250 parts diagrams I bought a bike that’s been sitting for a while. What now? How should I go about preparing my bike for winter storage? Troubleshooting 101:General engine troubleshooting How to jump start your bike from a car AAA-type roadside as-sistance My clutch lever rattles when I rev the engine My oil pressure light comes on during heavy braking My engine is running poorly Why does my bike take so long to reach normal running temperature? Why does my gas tank sometimes whine when I stop? I’m hearing a noise from the right side of my engine Supporting Your Bike While Servicing I bought a bike that’s been sitting for a while. What now? Wiring schematics & diagrams My bike won’t run General things to look for if your bike won’t start Wiring schematics & diagrams Understanding/troubleshooting the safety switches My battery is good, but when I turn on the ignition I get no power When I try to start my bike I hear a chattering noise My bike tries to start but won’t, and I see white smoke coming from the exhaust My bike starts initially, but the carbs flood very soon thereafter What can I do if I flood it? My bike has been sitting for a while, and I can’t get it started How to tell if your battery is dead My battery is dead; how do I bump/push start my bike? My battery is dead; how can I bring it back to life? Tires 101: An Introduction What tire makes are available that fit the 250? Tires for 08--> About wider tires Where can I buy tires online? What tire pressures should I use? What sort of pressure gauges are available? How do I warm up the tires? I think my tire is losing air What can I do if I get a flat out on the road? How long do tires last & when to replace them Mounting & balancing tires yourself Tire Mounting Hints & Tips How can I balance the tires by myself? Removing/replacing the rear wheel Reinstalling the front wheel How do I scrub in new tires? How do I adjust chain/rear wheel alignment? Do 120-width tires really work better on the rear? Do taller/wider tires work better than the stock sizes? Can I put a front tire on the rear? Ride height and different tire sizes How do I raise the front fender to fit a 110-width tire? I want better traction on ice & snow How to shim the cush drive Greasing the axles & wheel bearings A brief guide to bearings Replacing the wheel bearings I want to remove the paint from my wheels for a polished look I want to paint my wheels I want to mount up bigger wheels I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand Supporting Your Bike While Servic- ing So how do brakes work, exactly? How do I bleed the brake lines? How do I change the brake fluid? Stainless steel brake lines upgrade The brake disc How do I replace the brake pads? What replacement pads should I consider? Master cylinder/caliper seal rep lacement – every 2 years What is this brake torque link? I want to wire extra brake lights into those empty rear sockets I want a brighter brake light I want tail lights with more brightness & contrast Brake light system overhaul with LEDs Where can I get a flashing brake light? Re- placing clutch & brake levers How do I adjust the rear brake lever? I want adjustable clutch & brake levers My brakes are not operating normally Torque Values How often should I lube the chain; what should I use to do so? How do I clean the drivechain? How do I measure chain slack? How do I adjust chain/rear wheel alignment? When does the chain need replacement? How do I replace the chain? Re- moving/replacing the rear wheel What replacement chain/sprockets should I consider? I want to change my gearing Do I need a different chain if I change my gearing? How do I change the front sprocket? My front sprocket “wobbles” How do I adjust the shifter? Speed @ rpm calculator How to shim the cush drive Greasing the axles & wheel bearings Replacing the wheel bearings A brief guide to bearings Service Schedule Torque Values I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand EX250 parts diagrams Troubleshooting EX250 parts diagrams Do I really have to follow this break-in period? Warming up your engine Do I have to do this 500 mile service? Engine Oil How do I adjust the valves? Changing the spark plugs & brands to avoid My oil pressure light comes on during heavy braking Checking engine mount bolts What’s the redline of my bike’s engine? What is the engine idle speed? How do I adjust it? What is the correct way to apply choke at startup? What can I do if I flood it? Why does my bike take so long to reach normal running temperature? What are those tubes hanging down from the bike for? An overview of the cooling system How do I service the cooling s y s t e m ? W h y p e r f o r - m a n c e m o d s m i g h t not be good for you How do I re-place the s i g h t g l a s s ? H o w long will a Ninja 250 en- g i n e last? Cam c h a i n tensioner mainte-n a n c e How to build your o w n track bike What is i nvo lved in re-m o v i n g / rebuild-ing the engine? I want an e n g i n e stand for my 250 I want to put a bigger engine in my Ninja Just how small is a 250 en-g i n e ? Service Schedule Torque Values I Need Recommendations For Tools/Parts I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand Supporting Your Bike While Servicing What is the correct way to apply choke at startup? What is the engine idle speed? How do I adjust it? What can I do if I flood it? What kind of fuel should I use? How do I install a fuel filter? Removing idle mixture screw plugs How do I adjust the idle mixture? How do I synchronize the carburetors? How does the reserve tank work? How far can I go after putting the fuel petcock on “reserve” Draining the carbs How do I drain the fuel tank? Hose routing for California emissions/3 line fuel tanks Rebuilding the petcock/fuel tap How a carburetor works: Carbs explained How do I work on the carbs? How do I avoid working on the carbs? Carburetor photos How do I clean the air filter(s)? Why performance mods might not be good for you Aftermar-

WHAT THE F.A.Q.?

I’m a Beginner, what Mods should I do?

Modding a bike is fun, especially if you’re one who likes to tinker. It’s part of “making it your own”, even if the mods you do are small, simple or (heaven forbid) free. The trick is to not get into a situation where you’ve mucked things up so bad that you then have to pay a mechanic to undo the damage.

Typically, the majority of folks on this board recommend mods that are safety-related, including the most important one, rider training, because riding skills transfer from bike to bike.

Here’s what other people might tell you to do:

Wider tires

Carb jet kit

“Performance” air filter

Full exhaust

HID headlights

Fender delete

These aren’t necessarily the best mods for a very big portion of new riders, as this bike is their starter bike that they’re gonna sell in like 3 months. If you aren’t going to keep the 250, don’t mod it, because you will NEVER get that money back. Also remember that if you decide to post up your mods, not everyone is going to agree with you or like what you’ve done. Get over it, cause it’s your bike, and you are the only person who needs to be happy with it. (If you require validation from strangers on the internet, you have other issues.)

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WHAT THE FAQ?

ket air filters and pods I want to improve my carburetor jetting I Need Recommendations For Tools/Parts What is carburetor ice? Torque Values EX250 parts diagrams E-Z shifting for beginners My bike jolts forward when I put it in gear after first starting it; is this normal? Lubing the cables Adjusting the throttle cables Adjusting the clutch cable Replacing the clutch cable How do I adjust the shifter? Replacing clutch & brake levers I want adjustable clutch & brake levers Servicing and replacing an adjustable clutch lever Understanding/troubleshooting the safety switches Checking the clutch safety switch Cleaning and servicing the clutch switch My clutch lever rattles when I rev the engine What’s that noise coming from the clutch? Why is my transmission ‘clunky’? Wet clutch Q & A Can I ride my bike home if the clutch cable breaks? How do I refurbish a slipping clutch? I wanna do a track day Learn to Ride Faster Preparation for track riding Track day Q & A How to build your own track bike Spares to bring to a track day Preparation for a track day Riding Hallett circuit August, 2007 First day at Sears Point A day at the Keith Code Track School Road Atlanta September, 2007 Track Day Experience or Boy, Am I Stiff Now Track Day Experi-ence 2.0 or I wish Wes, Jeb and Leon were here Racing: The next step for adrenaline junkies Race Report May, 2002 Category: Track Days How do I remove the fairing, fuel tank, etc? How to keep the bodywork hardware organized Replacing body fasteners/bolts I want to remove the rear fender 1 I want to remove the rear fender 2 I want to extend the rear fender I want a new windscreen Removing & replacing bar ends I hate these mirrors What do I need to know about keys? How to replace the ignition switch I want to remove the decals from my bike How do I wash the bike? Painting Body plastics repair guide Updating faded plastic parts My upper fairing stay is broken I want a pad for my seat I want to reshape my seat I want a custom seat What can fit underneath the seat? I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand I want to install frame sliders Body color by model year My swingarm is ‘dented’ What are those tubes hanging down from the bike for? How do I eplace the sight glass? I want to put mesh grills on my fairing vents I need to remove a stripped screw I want to get some new pegs Adding lower footpegs How to build your own track bike I want to make my bike into a streetfighter How does the reserve tank work? How do I drain the fuel tank? Rebuilding the petcock/fuel tap Hose routing for California emissions/3 line fuel tanks I need to realign my forks and front wheel How do I install forks? Basic Controls What is the correct way to apply choke at startup? Lubing the cables Adjusting the clutch cable Replacing the clutch cable Can I ride my bike home if the clutch cable breaks? Adjusting the throttle cables Throttle cable dis/re-assembly Reattaching the speedometer cable & retainer Speedometer Error My bars move side-to-side when I take my hands off Removing & replacing bar ends I want to get some new grips Installing heated grips I want to get some new pegs Adding lower footpegs I want a louder horn What do I need to know about keys? How to replace the ignition switch How do I adjust the shifter? How do I adjust the rear brake lever? Replacing clutch & brake levers I want adjustable clutch & brake levers Servicing and replacing an adjustable clutch lever Checking the clutch safety switch Cleaning and servicing the clutch switch I want a throttle lock/cruise control Installing a Sigma bicycle computer My clutch lever rattles when I rev the engine My handlebars shudder when I ride I need to remove a stripped screw I’d like to know more about clipons Installing Woodcraft lowered risers Woodcraft rearsets shifter adjustability fix Category: Controls & Cables Wiring schematics & diagrams Battery stuff Lights & Bulbs What are these wires that aren’t attached to anything? How to tell if your battery is dead Why your bike needs a battery How does the charging system work? How to check the fuses I want a louder horn Alternator Information Waterproofing your electrical connections Installing an accessory fuse box Making your accessory wires ‘switched’ How do relays work? Opening your garage door with your light switch Installing heated grips How to replace the ignition switch Installing a Sigma bicycle computer Soldering 101 How to read a multimeter Installing a voltmeter Installing connectors for your wiring Understanding/troubleshooting the safety switches My sidestand switch doesn’t work right Checking the clutch safety switch Cleaning and servicing the clutch switch I want to make my bike into a streetfighter I want a small flashlight so I can see my stuff EX250 parts diagrams I’d like to improve my bike for touring I want a new windscreen I want a custom seat I want to reshape my seat I want a pad for my seat Tank Bag Tail bag Saddle bags Ventura rack Hard luggage Evolution of a touring bike Cold weather preparation Heated cold-weather gear Hippo Hands Installing heated grips I want a throttle lock/cruise control I want a small flashlight so I can see my stuff Dale Borgeson’s Motorcycle Touring For Beginners Iron Butt Association’s tips to long distance touring Ninja 250 Rider’s bookshelf About our forum layout Why do I have to check the FAQ? How can I log into the FAQ? How should I post articles? An in-depth guide to posting Proper posting, or “Why did I get flamed?” How do I add images to my article? How do I add HTML to my article? How do I submit a profile? What is the board usage policy? How do I join the club? Club merchandise Dona-tions Club Support Subscriptions Things to know before you buy a motorcycle What protective riding gear should I have? Should I take an MSF course? How much does it really cost to own a motorcycle? Why 600cc+ sportbikes are NOT beginner bikes I’m gonna save big money by buying an EX250 What do I need to know about insurance? Should I pay for the “extended warranty”? AAA-type roadside assistance Is it better to buy new or used? What do I need to know about buying a used bike? How to sell your bike Can I import a motorcycle into Canada? Why bikes die I want to get a bike but I don’t know the “process” I want to get a bike but my parents won’t let me How can I haul my bike on a truck/trailer? [edit] Thinking about a Ninja 250 What is a Ninja 250? Differences between New Generation and Classic bikes Can I get some stats/specs for the bike? Ninja 250 testimoni-als and stories What kind of performance can I expect from a Ninja 250? What kind of gas mileage can I expect? Am I too big for this motorcycle? Am I too small for this motorcycle? How does the EX250 handle freeway riding? Shouldn’t I consider a bigger bike? Won’t I want a bigger one later anyway? What are some other good beginner bikes? How does the EX500 compare to the EX250? Buell Blast vs Ninja 250 What about the ZZR250; how does it compare? What are the different models of the EX250? What colors were available? Comparisons and Reviews of the EX250 I have a 1986-1987 model. What’s different? How long will a Ninja 250 engine last? Is it a good investment; will it retain its value? Used ex250 price calculator Just bought a Ninja 250 living with the bike technical info/maintenance First days: Living with a motorcycle Motorcycling flowchart: Not becoming a statistic What are some good riding techniques? I want to improve my riding skills. What exercises can I do? I can ride just fine after a couple beers, right? Right?? What is the meaning of some of this bike vocabulary I’m hearing? What do I need to know about keys? How do I wash the bike? I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand My bike jolts forward when I put it in gear after first starting it; is this normal? E-Z shifting for beginners My bars move side-to-side when I take my hands off How far can I go after putting the fuel petcock on “reserve” What are those tubes hanging down from the bike for? Should I use the side prop or centerstand when I park? Why does my gas tank sometimes whine when I stop? Cold weather preparation I want to install frame sliders My bike was wrecked but it wasn’t my fault Service Manual Do I really have to follow this break-in period? Do I have to do this 500 mile service? What is the correct way to apply choke at startup? Warming up your engine What is the engine idle speed? How do I adjust it? What can I do if I flood it? Why does my bike take so long to reach normal running temperature? What kind of fuel should I use? How do I check my oil? My oil pressure light comes on during heavy braking How does the reserve tank work? Why performance mods might not be good for you Loud pipes save lives - is that true? I Need Recommendations For Tools/Parts Supporting Your Bike While Servicing Speed @ rpm calculator Speed, rpm & acceleration explained EX250 parts diagrams I bought a bike that’s been sitting for a while. What now? How should I go about preparing my bike for winter storage? Troubleshooting 101:General engine troubleshooting How to jump start your bike from a car AAA-type roadside assistance My clutch lever rattles when I rev the engine My oil pressure light comes on during heavy braking My engine is running poorly Why does my bike take so long to reach normal running temperature? Why does my gas tank sometimes whine when I stop? I’m hearing a noise from the right side of my engine Supporting Your Bike While Servicing I bought a bike that’s been sitting for a while. What now? Wiring schematics & diagrams My bike won’t run General things to look for if your bike won’t start Wiring schematics & diagrams Understanding/trouble-shooting the safety switches My battery is good, but when I turn on the ignition I get no power When I try to start my bike I hear a chattering noise My bike tries to start but won’t, and I see white smoke coming from the exhaust My bike starts initially, but the carbs flood very soon thereafter What can I do if I flood it? My bike has been sitting for a while, and I can’t get it started How to tell if your battery is dead My battery is dead; how do I bump/push start my bike? My battery is dead; how can I bring it back to life? Tires 101: An Intro-duction What tire makes are available that fit the 250? Tires for 08--> About wider tires Where can I buy tires online? What tire pressures should I use? What sort of pressure gauges are available? How do I warm up the tires? I think my tire is losing air What can I do if I get a flat out on the road? How long do tires last & when to replace them Mounting & bal-ancing tires yourself Tire Mounting Hints & Tips How can I balance the tires by myself? Removing/replacing the rear wheel Reinstalling the front wheel How do I scrub in new tires? How do I adjust chain/rear wheel alignment? Do 120-width tires really work better on the rear? Do taller/wider tires work better than the stock sizes? Can I put a front tire on the rear? Ride height and different tire sizes How do I raise the front fender to fit a 110-width tire? I want better traction on ice & snow How to shim the cush drive Greasing the axles & wheel bearings A brief guide to bearings Replacing the wheel bearings I want to remove the paint from my wheels for a polished look I want to paint my wheels I want to mount up bigger wheels I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand Supporting Your Bike While Servicing So how do brakes work, exactly? How do I bleed the brake lines? How do I change the brake fluid? Stainless steel brake lines upgrade The brake disc How do I replace the brake pads? What replacement pads should I consider? Master cylinder/caliper seal replacement – every 2 years What is this brake torque link? I want to wire extra brake lights into those empty rear sockets I want a brighter brake light I want tail lights with more brightness & contrast Brake light system overhaul with LEDs Where can I get a flashing brake light? Replacing clutch & brake levers How do I adjust the rear brake lever? I want adjustable clutch & brake levers My brakes are not operating normally Torque Values How often should I lube the chain; what should I use to do so? How do I clean the drivechain? How do I measure chain slack? How do I adjust chain/rear wheel alignment? When does the chain need replacement? How do I replace the chain? Removing/replacing the rear wheel What replacement chain/sprockets should I consider? I want to change my gearing Do I need a different chain if I change my gearing? How do I change the front sprocket? My front sprocket “wobbles” How do I adjust the shifter? Speed @ rpm calculator How to shim the cush drive Greasing the axles & wheel bearings Replacing the wheel bearings A brief guide to bearings Service Schedule Torque Values I am having trouble putting my bike on its centerstand EX250 parts diagrams Troubleshooting EX250 parts dia-grams Do I really have to follow this break-in period? Warming up your engine Do I have to do this 500 mile service? Engine Oil How do I adjust the valves? Changing the spark plugs & brands to avoid My oil pressure light comes on during heavy braking Checking engine mount bolts What’s the redline of my bike’s engine? What is the engine idle speed? How do I adjust it? What is the correct way to apply choke at startup? What can I do if I flood it? Why does my bike take so long to reach normal running temperature? What are those tubes hanging down from the bike for? An overview of the cooling system How do I service the cooling system? Why performance mods might not be good for you How do I replace the sight glass? How long will a Ninja 250 engine last? Cam chain tensioner maintenance How to build your own track bike What is involved in removing/rebuilding the engine? I want an engine stand for my 250 I want to put a bigger engine in my Ninja Just how small is a 250 engine? Service Schedule Torque Values I Need Recommendations For

Good Beginning ModsHere are some decent first mods for newer riders. Keep in mind that, given proper maintenance, the bike works just fine as it is. Your Nin-ja 250 doesn’t have to be perfect right away. Concentrate on making it safe and roadworthy, and on you learning to ride it, before you get caught up in what other people think you should do.

New tires - If you have an F series EX250 (88-07) the stock Dunlop K630s never were that great in the first place, and by now they’re old, anyway. If you have a newer J model (08-->) then you have to decide whether the IRC tires (09+) are OK for you. Whatever you do, don’t replace the stock tires with the same model. The bike was built to a low price point, and the tires reflect this. Check the FAQ tire models page for your bike, and get a set that’s appropriate for your riding style. Tires are part of the suspension and the brakes, so not only do they help handling, good tires also allow you to stop better.

Conspicuity - This is a general term to describe “being seen”. Check the Gear section of the FAQ, along with Electrical & Lighting, which features items such as better brake lights, headlight bulb upgrades, headlight modulators, and better horns.

First Mods That Are A Good IdeaFlush mount front signals - Look better and lessen the possibility of the signal stalks punching a hole in the fairing. (If you have a 2006 or newer model with flexible stalks, this may not apply to you.)

Brake lights in pods and/or extra brake lights

Seat - Spencer or DIY mods make distance riding way more com-fortable and are pretty inexpensive.

Horn - Because the stock one sucks.

Taller windscreen - Considered by many to be a must for extended high-speed riding.

Gel grips - Reduce vibration from the bars; notice that doesn’t say ‘eliminate’.

15 tooth front sprocket - Reduces cruising rpm and makes the bike more useful overall.

Mods You Should Avoid Until You Know What You’re DoingExhaust - Don’t touch it.

Intake - Remove the idle mixture screw plugs and adjust. Anything else, see Exhaust.

HID headlight - In order for HID to work correctly, the reflector has to be designed to work with the bike. No one makes such a thing for the Ninja.

Performance mods in general

Mods To Do After You’ve Been Riding a WhileSuspension - This is the performance mod that will provide the most benefit. Start with Sonic springs in the right rate for you, along with new fork oil. For the rear, check the reviews of various shocks that people have used on the 250. If you have the funds, an aftermarket shock such as Works Performance or Hagon (bolt-on) or Fox (modi-fication sometimes required) will be a big improvement.

Brakes - If your bike is over four years old, it’s time for new brake lines, anyway. You might as well make them stainless steel. They give better feel and performance for the same amount of money. There’s nothing terribly wrong with the stock pads, but upgrading to an aftermarket set of HH pads will give you better stopping power. Be advised that putting on new pads and stainless lines necessitates practicing quick stops, otherwise you WILL lock up the front in an emergency. Practice, practice, practice.

It’s really hard to tell if what you did is better when you don’t have a baseline for comparison. For instance, there is a tendency for new riders to make their suspension too stiff. It might be all right for that Saturday morning jaunt through the woods, but if you take off for Peoria one day, you may find that your body hurts more than what you’d like it to.

This is why it’s important to first ride for a while and get a feel for what the bike (and you) can do. Figure out what works well, what feels a little off, and where it’s not performing well. Then you can reasonably address the issues.

?

WHAT THE FAQ?


How Do I Add Running Lights Without Relays?

What’s this for?This is a way to add running lights to your bike without having to use any relays. This project uses stock turn signals (2005 & older only). You could do the same thing with flushmounts, although finding the right sockets may be difficult.

Where to startOur owner had a Yamaha with DRL’s from the factory and wanted to set up the same thing on his Ninja. They work by using a dual fila-ment bulb in the front signals. One filament is for the running lights and the other is for the turn signals. All you need to do is change the front lights to accept a dual filament bulb and run a wire to the signal lights for the running lights. At first, he was just going to change the light socket pigtail from a single contact to a double contact. (1)

Light socket pigtails are available separately, but the problem is with the light socket itself. The pictures below show that the single con-tact bulb (2) alignment pins are at the same depth, while the dual filament bulbs (3) are at two different depths.

Because of this, you have to change the socket to accept the dual filament bulb. When you take the turn signals apart you’ll discover that the original sockets are crimped into place. In order to change the sockets, you have to cut the old ones out. If you don’t want to hack up your socket bases (in case the mod doesn’t work) buy two socket bases to use as “guinea pigs”. Used signal assemblies are pretty easy to come by.

In order to remove the old sockets, you have to cut notches in the lip of the socket inside the base, then carefully pry the socket loose from the base. (4)

With the old socket removed, you can see how they are crimped into the base. (5)

Picture 6 shows the base, ready for the new socket.

Source some sockets from your local auto parts store. The brand here is unknown; they were just laying around for a while and finally got used. (7)

Since the sockets won’t be a perfect size match, mount the new sock-ets with epoxy into the bases. With the new sockets in place, you need to tap into the running light circuit. If you look at the wiring

5

2 3 4

6 7

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WHAT THE FAQ?

schematic, you’ll find that a good place is into the wire feeding the meter lights. The wire is red with a blue stripe and can be found in a six-pin connector under the right side of the instrument panel. You will need to remove the fairing to access this connector. (8)

Tap into the wire and add a second splice to run a wire to each front signal light. (9)

Run the new running light wires along the stock turn signal harness-es to keep things neat. You can see the new running light wire and connector secured with the stock signal wires on the right side. (10)

Install the turn signals into the fairing. You can see the extra blue running light wire with the stock signal wires. (11)

Re-install the fairing and connect the wires. (12)

You can retain the stock wiring for the turn signals, and if you ever need to return to the original set-up, all you need to do is change the turn signal bases back and remove the extra wire.

This installation uses #2357 bulbs (28w high/8w low). There are other options. The lights seem to be no less visible in the day than the tail/brake light, and add better lighting in dusk/dark conditions.

See the FAQ for a short video clip of the lights in action.

(http://faq.ninja250.org)

An AlternativeYou can get a pair of relays known as Magic Blinkers from Custom Dynamics that uses your stock front signal lights as always-on run-ning lights, then changes one to flashing when the signal is switched on. They work fine with the Asian Signal flush mount front signals.

The installation does require some wiring knowledge. Wiring instruc-tions are online, and a wiring diagram is included in the package.

Another AlternativeIf you find some flushmount signals that have 3-wire sockets already included, then hooking them up is just a matter of following the wiring instructions. It does positively change the visibility of your bike in the front. (13)

8 9 10

11 12 13

WHAT THE FAQ?


Stuff you needOnce you decide to change the oil in your bike, the process is not that difficult. First, gather together the needed supplies. You’ll need oil, a filter and a drain pan. The silicone spray lube is for the cables, and any other external moving parts, such as the foot pegs, levers, etc. Also shown in photo 1 are chain lube (you should always have some around) and fuel stabilizer, since these pictures were originally taken for a winterization article.

One other thing that you will have to have before you start changing the oil is a torque wrench. This is mandatory. Learn how to use it before you change your oil for the first time. Don’t practice on your drain plug.

The ProcessWarm up the engine by riding it. Turn off the engine and let it sit for a couple minutes. Place the bike on the centerstand. Removing the lower fairing is optional. Some people prefer to do it because it’s

quick, gives you a bit more room in which to work, and minimizes mess; others think it’s not worth the effort, so it’s up to you; it’s held on by 7 bolts.

First, remove the drain plug and drain the oil into a suitable 3+ quart pan (don’t burn yourself). Removing the oil filler cap will help the oil drain faster. Let the oil drain until it’s obvious that no more is going to come out. This will usually be 5+ minutes.

The drain plug and filter bolt (2) can be quite stubborn to remove, so use a 6-point socket (17mm for the oil filter and drain plug) and long-handled ratchet (3). A 6-point socket is superior to a 12-point because it fits the bolt/nut better, providing more surface area and less chance of rounding off the head. In some more drastic cases a breaker bar may be helpful. Do not use your torque wrench to loosen the drain bolt; torque wrenches are only for checking torque as you tighten a bolt.

Make darn sure you are turning the wrench in the right direction. Make sure you don’t spin the bike or pull it over on top of you while you’re putting pressure on the ratchet. If the bolt is so tight that you

F.A.Q. - THE BASICS: How Do I Change the Engine Oil?

1 2

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WHAT THE FAQ?

really have to pull hard on it, get some help so these things don’t happen.

After the oil drains, remove the filter bolt and plate, just in front of the drain bolt. More oil and a dirty filter element will come out. Be sure to keep all the springs/grommets in order. Once the oil is drained and the filter removed, check the filter for debris. If you see metal particles or other debris, it could mean serious engine damage is occurring. This filter looks clean (5), so it’s time to install the new filter and o-rings.

Before replacing the filter, install new o-rings on the filter bolt and plate. Coat the O-rings with oil before installation. Not doing so could cause a tear when you put everything back on (4).

Note that many riders do not replace the small o-ring at every oil change; if you don’t separate the bolt from the plate, you should maintain a good seal (7).

Once the o-rings are in place, insert the bolt back into the filter plate. The oil filter assembly consists of the bolt/plate, a spring, a washer, the filter element, and the filter retainer (6). Note that the washer

has a tendency to stick to the filter; check for it before pitching the old filter.

Place the spring over the bolt, follower by the washer as shown.

Then, place the filter element on the bolt. Dip your finger in your new oil and spread a bit around the two inner grommets on the filter, where it rides over the bolt. Then add the retainer as shown.

The filter assembly is now ready to install. Dip your finger in your new oil and spread a bit around the large o-ring to prevent it from catching and being pulled out of its groove as you tighten the assem-bly. Screw the bolt into the crankcase, making sure the o-ring stays in place. Tighten the filter bolt to 14.5 ft/lbs.

Diagram 14 shows the filter assembly.

Make sure the drain plug washer is installed on the drain plug and tighten the drain plug to 14.5 ft/lbs (the same as the filter bolt). Use a new drain plug gasket (92065-097 GASKET, 12X22X2). Many people don’t replace these every time, but they’re cheap. Stock up. When you reuse the crush washer, you run the risk of oil seeping out around the already compressed crush washer. Why skimp on a $0.33

5 6

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WHAT THE FAQ?


part (92065-097 from ronayers.com)? Two alternatives are Hyundai part #21513-23001 or Nissan #11026-01M02.

The torque value of 14.5 ft/lbs is very important. Don’t over-tighten it or you risk stripping the threads out of the engine case. This is difficult to fix.

After you have both the filter and the drain plug installed and prop-erly torqued, open the filler cap on the right side of engine if you haven’t already. Fill with 1.5 quarts of your favorite oil. Wait a min-ute, then add a very small amount of oil at a time until the level in the sight glass is up to the upper mark. Replace the filler cap. Start the engine, make sure the oil light goes out, and let the engine idle for a minute. Shut the engine off and wait a few minutes before checking the window again. Add oil as necessary to bring the level up to the upper mark (when both wheels are on the ground) (11). Repeat until the oil level is consistently in the center or higher of the view window. Keeping the oil at or close to the upper mark is desir-able, but do not overfill it, as you could blow a gasket. This is why you’re adding oil bit by bit.

You may also want to check the old oil for any contamination or debris. Dispose of old oil responsibly. (Recycle)

Make sure you check for leaks, and check your oil level frequently. Ride it for a few minutes and check for leaks again. Make sure there is no oil leaking from around the filter assembly or drain plug.

NotesWhen the bike is on its centerstand the level in the sight glass will be lower. When both wheels are on the ground the level will show a more full reading. (The bike is tilted forward and isn’t level when on the centerstand, so the level appears a little lower.) The recommend-ed check method is with both wheels on the ground, but there’s only a small variation between on and off the centerstand; as long as you’re in the middle of the sight glass or above with either method you’re fine. Be happy and go ride.

A common mistake when putting the oil filter assembly back to-gether is to forget to replace the small washer (part #92022 in the diagram above). Many a rider has finished draining his/her oil pan only to find a tiny surprise at the bottom, or to find it stuck to the bottom of the old filter. Should this happen to you, there’s no need

9

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WHAT THE FAQ?

to worry; one of our administrators admitted to riding 20,000 miles without his. However, it’s really better to have it in there. Reinstall it at your next oil change. One good way to remember is to staple it to your manual at the oil change page.

O-rings: Your new filter will usually (not always) come with two new O-rings. It’s fairly obvious where the larger one (#671 in diagram above) goes, inside the filter assembly cap. The small one (#670) is supposed to go on the bolt that holds the whole assembly together, but if you leave the bolt attached to the cap (#14025) there’s no need to change this O-ring. Hang on to it, though, on the very off chance that the old one starts leaking. Most club members rarely change it and never have any problems.

Airbox drain hose serviceOil vapor and pressure in the engine crankcase are vented through a hose into the airbox. The idea is to burn the oil vapors off during normal engine operation. Sometimes liquid oil collects in the bottom of the airbox, instead of being burned during engine operation. To prevent the airbox from filling up with excess oil, there is a drain tube in the bottom of the airbox to allow the excess oil to drain. Oil in the airbox can be completely normal, especially if you do a lot of high-speed riding (15).

This oil should be drained periodically, although don’t expect much to come out under normal circumstances. There is a drain plug at the bottom of the hose. Find the end of the hose, right down by the swingarm and clutch release lever on the right side. You won’t need to remove any body parts to get at it. You’ll find a metal clip holding the plug in. Use a pair of pliers to squeeze the clip and move it up the hose. You can then use the pliers to pull the plug out. Just twist it a little; it’s not threaded. Drain any oil that may have accumulated in the tube. Have a rag or small container handy to catch the oil. Re-place the plug and move the clip back in place to hold it in.

Often forgotten: Checking the oil screenThis is something that should be done at least by the second or third oil change on a new bike, and on the first on a used one. [250]

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15

BY MARK HUNTER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK HUNTER & MISHA (RURUGGER)

Avenue of the Giants

Onboard with Mark Hunter for the Ninja

250 Rider’s Club 2010 GRR Awards Meet

Golden Rule Rally Awards - 2010

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RIDE REPORT

Day 1, Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Although I have gathered everything I would need for a week on the motorcycle (and a fair amount of stuff I wouldn’t need), pack-ing this morning seems to take forever. I fi-nally get rolling about 1:00 PM. The weather is good in L.A. but I worry about what lies ahead for me through the desert up to the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The desert is indeed warmer, even hot, but not nearly as hot as it might be in late June. I lucked out. I am used to making this trip on weekends, when the traffic is heavy. Today I have the road nearly to myself, and the Ninja feels good underneath me. Once I leave the town of Mojave the Sierra Nevada, low at this point, becomes a continuous wall to the west, and the desert spreads out endlessly to the east. I eat up the miles and, except for a gas stop in Lone Pine, ride straight through to Bishop.

There I stop and buy beer and cheeseburg-ers for when I reach the Benton Hot Springs, almost 40 miles further along. I take U.S. 6, an isolated two-lane highway dominated by big rigs and bordered by the occasional lonely ranch. At the campground I have the

cheeseburgers and beer while soaking in my own private spring-fed redwood hot tub. I look out at green meadows and lush trees, then low volcanic mountains covered with sagebrush and the occasional pine tree, then the late sun on 13,000-foot Boundary Peak, on the Nevada border. I spread my sleep-ing bag on a picnic table and sleep soundly beneath the stars.

Day 2 I wake early in the strong morning light and go for a short walk, looking at the rusting mining and farming implements, the old graveyard, the scalding-hot creek. Night-hawks and orioles add color to the sky. I take one more long dip in the hot tub be-fore getting ready to go. Last night I hung my armor on the wooden wall surround-ing the tub. Now, after I have packed up the bike, I start to put on my armor pants. Out from the pants fly at least fifty moths! I don’t know what they found so attractive in there, but dozens of them crawled in during the night. I pick up my jacket - same story. Moths everywhere.

This is my high-altitude day. Off I go, west on highway 120 to Mono Lake, riding from

Avenue of the Giants

the dry land toward the wet. The old, or-ange rocks of the mountains near Benton are quite different than gray Sierra granite. There are very long views of pretty, empty land along 120, then first views of Mono Lake framed by a burned-out forest with just blackened trunks remaining. The 40 miles passes quickly and beautifully, with only a couple of vehicles encountered on the whole stretch. On highway 395, I’m try-ing to make time, passing cars when pos-sible. I ride through the beautiful flat valley at Bridgeport, so fertile and full of creeks, and gas up there. Soon 395 is following the boisterous, clear Walker River down toward Nevada. In a small town a mule deer doe ambles across 395, breaking into a slow trot when vehicles get closer. It reminds me that a motorcycle-versus-deer accident usually turns out quite badly for both parties.

I turn onto highway 89 climbing up, up past gorgeous valleys, up to Monitor Pass, where aspens and wildflowers frame snowy peaks. Then I’m descending into the watershed of the Carson River and on toward Marklee-ville for lunch. Upward again on 89 to a big, high, beautiful mountain meadow where I turn north along the headwaters of the Truckee River toward Tahoe. The road of-

RIDE REPORT


fers gorgeous views for a long time as I go up the west side of the lake, followed by that pretty drive along the Truckee River to the town of Truckee.

I cross Donner Pass, start down the west-ern side of the Sierra Nevada, and get on highway 20 for a long, fast ride descending through pine forests to the warmer, oak-and-pine foothills. I get to see old friends in Ne-vada City, and it’s off to my brother’s house in Fair Oaks for a late arrival and some man talk before bedtime.

Day 3 (GRR Day 1, Friday) I look out the window upon awakening, and there’s rain. No! Rain means extra hassle packing the bike. I get the never-before-used rain covers onto the saddlebags and put on my rain jacket. I head for Ryan’s house to meet the others who are riding to the Gold-en Rule Rally (GRR). Along the way, the rain covers come loose from the saddlebags and flap behind the bike. I get off the freeway and fix them, sort of.

While checking and filling my oil, I man-age to shift a saddlebag so it contacts a hot exhaust pipe, creating a three-inch hole and some melted plastic contents inside the bag. Sigh.

Ryan’s girlfriend is preparing a very compe-

tent breakfast for the Ninja riders who are present. Finally all five riders have arrived and been fed, and we’re off. The ride progresses from urban freeways to vast flat farmlands, a twisting route along a pretty creek, then up through low mountains to Napa Valley. We ride a few miles west through the lush vine-yards to highway 29 to gas up. We intended to take that road north, but traffic is disas-trous, so we double back to Silverado Trail and take that north instead. For many miles it’s a fast, lovely ride alongside the vineyards and wineries, and at Calistoga it joins up with 29.

Immediately 29 changes from a straight, urban, traffic-clogged road to a steep, hell-ishly twisty, traffic-clogged country road. I’ve seen small intestines that were straighter than this. The passing lanes are a hoot, as they corkscrew around the mountainside in a nutty fashion. 29 eventually becomes a more ordinary country road, and in Middle-town we turn west on a quieter road through the forested mountains.

It’s a typical good ride, with twisties large and small. After a stretch of relatively high-speed turns south of Kelseyville there comes a sharper left-hander, and there one of our five riders low-sides into a bank of jagged, fist-sized stones. The bike takes the brunt of the rocks, and the rider (all the gear, all the

time) walks away from the accident. It takes quite a long time to get the bike started, be-cause it was slow and difficult to pick it up from that rocky bank so there’s raw gas all through the engine. His bike is, cosmetically, far short of perfect, but after some initial hesitation it runs well, and all five of us are still on the ride. A few miles farther along, a wild turkey flies across the road at eye level and I miss it by a few yards. No more mis-haps today, please!

We reach U.S. 101 and head north to Ukiah. It goes from a flowing freeway to a country highway to a bottle-necked urban parking lot. We have good food and beer at Ukiah Brewing, then begin a headlong rush up 101 toward Garberville. OK, it isn’t always a rush. 101 becomes a single lane through “downtown” Willits, with traffic jams wor-thy of L.A. It’s odd how this major road goes from 4-lane freeway to country lane, and back again, so many times on its way north. It’s not really a relaxing ride, although the scenery is awfully nice.

Finally, Garberville arrives. We gas up, go over to the grocery store, and Emily and Laura arrive minutes later from their sepa-rate ride north. After an extended expedi-tion in the grocery store (everyone ridicules my choice of Natural Ice beer, so I switch to Olympia) we have 30 miles of good freeway,

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RIDE REPORT


following the South Fork of the Eel River, then the merged Eel, to Redcrest. After the unpacking we dine on pasta, salad, beer, and brownies. And use the hot tub. In the cabin’s bathroom, I open my toilet kit to get my razor, and out fly two large gray moths. Good luck to you, Eastern Sierra moths, in your new home in the Redwoods!

Day 4 (GRR Day 2, Saturday) Full breakfast!

My idle time is spent emailing and trying to get a cell phone connection (I had to ride south a few miles). Dizo arrives from the Canada, and now we are eight. At about 11:30 the official GRR group ride begins. Eight Ninjas head to Fortuna to gas up. It’s a beautiful ride through the valley of the Eel River. Then up lovely Highway 36 to the Mad River burger stand for lunch: good food, slow service. We backtrack to Van Duzen River Rd, where a woman chases a panicked cow, or vice versa, through a small farmyard. Then to the microscopic hamlet of Zenia, where we stop for a picture at the post office, baking in the heat. Then to Gar-berville. There is much gravel, rough pave-ment, and even patches of missing pavement in the hours after we leave 36. But there is also lots of great riding. We have continuous stunning views of peaceful, green farms and

forests, with clear-running rivers. A couple of deer are seen. Turkey vultures circle over one of the tighter turns with a steep drop-off. Coincidence?

At a highway junction, as I try to maneu-ver my bike at 1 MPH out of the pack of stopped Ninjas, I drop it slowly onto the right side. Embarrassing. Then we’re off to the food store. I lash a 12-pack of Eye of the Hawk to my back seat. My pathetic bungee net is reinforced by Alberto’s far better bungee net, much to the relief of all the Ninjas, who are showing extraordinary concern at the fate of the beer.

Then we ride to The Avenue of the Giants! What a ride, through impossibly big, tall red-woods lining the road edges, turning bright day to dusk, soaring above us to a narrow sliver of open sky. I expected to see ewoks and imperial troopers zipping through the trees (a famous Star Wars sequence was filmed on this road.) The curves are ordi-nary on this stretch, but the experience is extraordinary, especially when you look up-ward while in motion. We drop our food at the cabin and ride the Avenue a few miles back to the Founders’ Grove for a walk, tak-ing the short nature trail. Impressive wildlife and plant life are viewed.

Tacos for dinner. Laura slaves in the kitch-en. The hot tub is utilized. Many beers are

consumed. Although the GRR plaque is missing (in advance of the rally this time, instead of after the rally), a brief ceremony is performed nevertheless. Ryan graciously accepts the award, and an imaginary tiara is placed on his head.

Day 5 (GRR Day 3, Sunday)Full breakfast!

Then much bustling about to get ready to check out. All are disgruntled that the w-ifi at this place is inoperative today. The iPhone-enhanced among us are equally powerless, at least until we get out of this cell phone dead zone to a place where they can get coverage.

We take group pictures at the Redcrest post office (curse you, Hickman, for this post office picture contest – we find ourselves stopping at way too many post offices.) Then Laura and Emily make their farewells and head south along the coast toward San Francisco. In retrospect, they will be known as “the smart ones”.

The remaining six ride north to Fortuna for gas, then begin the epic transit of Highway 36 to Red Bluff. A roadkill deer a little way into the ride reminds us of the ever-present possibility of deer strikes in this country. We set a fairly spirited pace; traffic is light,

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RIDE REPORT


and cars and trucks are mostly friendly about pulling over for us. Leaving the Eel River be-hind at Fortuna, we follow the Van Duzen River for a long time, then visit the Mad Riv-er and Trinity River later in the trip. The first part of the ride repeats a segment we did yesterday, with some downright challenging turns. After we leave the tiny village of Mad River, the road is new, faster, with bigger sweepers. It climbs and drops over endless high ridges carpeted in pines and firs. Even in the heat, snow clings to a few summits in the Trinity Alps. The group snakes through the curves in a lovely dance. The sheer scale of this road is amazing: all the twisties any rider could want, on and on. Over the hours the redwoods give way to lush pines, and those pines give way to the scrawny, grayish digger pines that are typical of dryer inland California. Near the canyon bottoms there are some epic sweepers that go on for what seems like a quarter-mile and far more than 180 degrees, giving you plentiful time to find your groove. The last part of 36 is all rolling, tawny grassland and oak trees. Near the end the road becomes 3-D, with steep dips and rises tossed into the curves. It’s a long, long journey, especially since we arrive at the end in suffocating heat (about 105 degrees). But it’s a truly great ride.

We do the obligatory photos beneath the ad-visory road sign that says twisting road, next 140 miles. At a restaurant several of us soak our shirts in the restroom, in preparation for the heat ahead. Mounting the bikes, we first putt to the Red Bluff post office for a pic-ture (curse you, Hickman, it’s hot out here!) and then get onto southbound Interstate 5. That’s a serious road full of people trying to make serious time, and our group of six shoots along at 80 and 85 MPH indicated, sometimes faster. My engine is turning 10K RPM and I’m using up some oil. The farm-lands and orchards stream by endlessly. We stop twice at rest stops to re-soak our cloth-ing, which makes a huge difference. That rushing hot air is just like a blow dryer on the skin. To the east rise the Sutter Buttes, one of the smallest, and most ancient, mountain ranges in North America. The Sierra Nevada is a hazy shadow beyond them.

At a gas station near downtown Sacramento, our group divides: one to Tracy, one to San Jose, and four to various places in Sacra-mento. The fellowship is over, the GRR is history, but the memory remains.

Acknowledgments:

Laura, for heroic service in the kitchen, with gratifying results

Emily, for service as a DJ, cook, and morale booster

Ryan, for choosing such a cool place to rally, and being leader (AKA first victim) on all those twisties

Honorable mention to Ryan’s GPS

Day 6After a short night’s sleep at my brother’s house, I spend the morning lazing around. I decide to beg a night’s lodging from Laura and Emily tonight, then do a long day back to L.A. via Big Sur tomorrow. The infernal heat is still oppressing the Central Valley so I soak my t-shirt dripping wet, gear up, and hit the road toward Monterey about 3:30. Traf-fic south on I-5 is slightly heavy but manage-able. I look for a rest stop to re-wet my t-shirt but none appears until about 100 miles later. I get onto highway 152 west through the Pacheco Pass. Very strong winds have me weaving all over the road. The big rigs are not amused, nor am I. After the pass, for the rest of the trip, the winds remain fairly strong. Later the sun disappears behind a thick bank of low clouds, and it gets cold. Such temperature extremes on this day! I put on a windbreaker beneath my armor but I’m still wearing shorts. I get to Laura and Emily’s about 6:45 and warm up with a hot shower. We go out to dinner and end up at a Korean barbecue place that turns into a pretty interesting cooked-at-the-table meal. Back at Chez Cohan, after a little conversa-tion, I turn in early, anticipating a big day tomorrow.

Day 7I want a big finish to the trip, so here goes. I wake at 6:00 and go quietly about the busi-

RIDE REPORT


2010

Go

lden

Ru

le R

ally

The Golden Rule Rally is an annual event to celebrate the Ninja 250 community spirit by encouraging riders to meet one another.

The idea behind the rally is to get board members to meet each other while riding. This is rewarded by a points system. Each time you meet with someone you haven’t already met with before during the current rally period, you have just given each other a point. At the end of the rally, the person with the most points wins the rally. It’s that simple.

Last year, the Ninja 250 Rider’s Club had an impressive 56 meets occur over the course of twelve months! Ryan Saville (Ithaca00) was the winner earning him the honor of choosing the location of the Awards Banquet.

Each year, the GRR continues to grown in both participants, num-ber of meets and the top scores. The bar has been set very high for 2010.

ness of showering, dressing, and packing up the bike. I roll out and fill up at a gas station a few blocks away. Then, at 7:30 am, I point the bike south on Highway 1, riding quickly through a gray morning in Monterey, to the wilder shore to the south.

You never have the road all to yourself in Big Sur, and passing opportunities are rare, but traffic isn’t much of a factor today. For the next 74 miles this road will twist and turn, and I do my best to get into the rhythm. At sea level, low clouds hide every-thing above a couple of hundred feet. In the higher stretches of Highway 1, the clouds become fog and my heroic curve-carving gets a lot more timid.

The Ninja handles well on the thousand turns of Big Sur, and in some fog-free places I’m flying along the mountainsides above the ocean at 75 MPH. Yet I also stop often and bliss out at vista points and ran-dom pretty places. (Group rides are fun, but they don’t offer the luxury of stopping anytime you like.) It’s been a wet spring and the land is beautiful, with wildflowers fram-ing a calm sea. After the cliff-hugging, in the rolling tablelands that surround Hearst Castle, I stop just south of Piedras Blancas to check out the elephant seals, a must for anyone traveling here. Nearer the Castle I look for, and spot, the herd of zebras that often hang out here. A big herd of mule deer grazes in broad daylight a couple of miles farther down the road. Amazing what several decades of no hunting pressure can accomplish.

I take Santa Rosa Creek Road inland from Cambria. This is a beautiful ride on a rough, narrow, twisty little farm road. Highly rec-ommended if you’re ever near here. A few miles through vineyard country, then several more miles on the US 101 freeway, gets me to Santa Margarita, where I stop for fuel and lunch. This is a nice little cowboy town and is the last significant civilization before the western Central Valley (which some would argue is not really civilization.)

After lunch begins the long, lonely run east-ward through various mountain ranges and across the San Andreas Fault. The clothes that worked for foggy Big Sur need to come off in the ever-increasing heat. By the time

I come down the last of the Temblor Range into McKittrick, it’s broiling hot. I stop for cold drinks, then ride across the very bot-tom of the Central Valley to the Grapevine, so named for the extreme twistiness of the original highway through these mountains. From here until home it’s freeway, on Inter-state 5. As I-5 rises to about 4,000 feet the heat eases a little and the rest of the ride home is uneventful, except for a fool who decides that his truck can lane-share with me as he passes. Welcome back to L.A., I guess.

Now I’m home, 2,012 miles later, with semi-ruined saddlebags and a paint job composed primarily of bugs. I have tomorrow to de-compress, and I’ll need it, but wow! What a ride!

[250]


Some time ago, I bought a used Fox Twin Clicker rear shock from another member of the Ninja forum, and installed it on my bike. I recently had the opportunity to do a track day on it, and wow is it amazing!! But I am getting ahead of myself, first the story of my install.

The previous owner said he installed the external reservoir under the gas tank, but since I have the stock air box in, the reservoir wouldn’t fit. I investigated put-ting it in a different place under the tank, but couldn’t come up with a good place. I thought of putting in the tail, but the reservoir line wasn’t long enough. Finally, I decided to put the reservoir where the stock tool kit goes, and put the tool kit back by the brake lights. In order to get the res-ervoir routed I had to remove pretty much the whole right side of the bike, including the rear brake reservoir and the fuse box. It was a tight fit, but it came out well in the end. I also put a piece of clear plastic tubing around the SS line to prevent it from abrading anything.

When I first tried to put the twin clicker in, because the spring is a larger diameter than the stock spring, I had to remove the middle bolt from the unitrack and let it hang so there was more space for the shock to go in.

Before I got the twin clicker, I had pur-

chased a used EX500 shock to put in, but that just wasn’t feeling right for me. The bottom right image shows a comparison of the twin clicker vs. the 500, and the 500 vs. the stock shock.

I recently did a track day with Elite Track Days at Harris Hill Road in San Marcos, TX,.

The track is decently short with quite a few curves, which made it a ton of fun for the 250. I especially enjoyed turn 8 (Dam Turn), and coming out of the hairpin through turns 11, 1, 2, and 3. Turn 4 was one of the toughest of the track to do well - decreasing radius, and you come out on a steep downhill into turn 5, which made it quite interesting.

After running around the track for about 175 miles, I have to say that I love my sus-pension setup.

Along with the Fox shock, I have 0.70 sonic springs and GVEs up front. The suspen-sion never let me down, and even though I was running pretty aggresively, I never had anything hard hit the ground, includ-ing the center stand. The track had its share of bumps, and I never had a problem with keeping both wheels on the ground throughout.

BY MATTHEW WOODRUFF

Ninja 250 Upgrade: Fox Twin Clicker Rear Shock

SHOCK AND AWETECH HEAD


Is a gear indicator for a classic Ninja 250 possible?

GET IN GEARThe answer is a qualified yes.

I wanted a gear indicator. I know they aren’t neccessary and I know real riders don’t need them, but a wanted one anyway. I know there are the ones that compare speed (if you have an electronic speedom-eter) and revs and calculate what gear you must be in, but they sell for over $100 and I’m cheap. Plus they don’t tell you what gear you’re in if you pull in the clutch.

So could one be made that didn’t need the electronic speedometer (I have one, but that’s beside the point). Well, the answer is that if you have a couple of weeks of free time, a small machine shop, a digital oscil-loscope and some knowledge of digital and

analog circuity, such a device is possible as shown in the pictures.

It was something of a pig to get working right since the power supply of the Ninja is really dirty with all sorts of spikes due to ignition etc (and you should see what the horn does to it!). Eventually, with enough voltage regulation and noise supression (in-cluding chip capacitors on the pins of some of the ICs), it’s working reliably.

Gear change signals come from magnetic latch memory attached to the gear shifter.

If I’d known how much trouble it was going to be to get the d*mn thing work-ing 100% reliably I might not have started. The basic idea is simple but I spent days of debugging various glitches (like the neutral

TECH HEAD

BY BOB ATKINS

light coming on during 1st to second shifts). Initially it also changed gear indica-tion every time I crossed the railroad tracks due to the electromagnetic field generated by the overhead power wires.

I’m not going to make a kit and I don’t even have a decent schematic of the whole circuit, but maybe this will give others the confidence that it can be done if you have enough time to waste on it and you have the gear to debug the circuit. For the aver-age rider an electronic speedometer and one of the commercial kits that calculate gear ratios is probably going to be a whole lot less trouble.

ABOVE: The rat’s nest of wires that’s the heart of the indicator

BELOW: In neutral with gear “0” displayed

ABOVE: The gear shift position detector (2 sensors, 4 magnets)

BELOW: Click down into 1st gear. Upshifts increase indicator by 1 each time

OFF TOPIC


While lane splitting no less.Yesterday on my way home from work, I’m splitting lanes in some heavy traffic coming up on a school bus. Now, generally speaking, I do not split next to buses (of any kind) or semis while they’re in motion because the sides of those things are giant blind spots. And I’m wary of them when they’re stopped too.

So I’m coming up on this bus, which is stopped just like everyone else. All of a sud-den WHACK! That nice little red STOP sign on the rear panel of the bus pops out and

On my way home from work today, I stopped at the local liquor store for a 6-pack and strapped it on the back seat with my bungee net. This is a fairly routine occurrence. No big deal. I continue on my commute home in the city traffic of west Los Angeles. No big deal. As I slow down to turn right into my residential street, I feel something touching my butt. The 6-pack is shifting around be-hind me. Uh oh. Then I hear bottles rattling as I reach around with my left hand to steady or reposition it. The bottom of the 6-pack has slipped forward. Oh shit. It is now on its back ready to let the bottles fall off the bike. I look over my left shoulder just in time to see a bottle exploding on the street!

So now I’m in second gear, just about to turn right, glass exploding behind me, my left hand holding what remains of my 6-pack, and the car in front of me (also turn-

ing right) stops. I don’t think I can safely stop (no clutch!) and not throw beer bottles crashing in the street. Now I have to execute a turn with one hand. Big deal. I manage to slowly ease around the turn, around the car, around another car, get out of the way of an oncoming car, and ease up the road. This all happened pretty slowly. I never really felt like I was personally in danger. I was just try-ing to hang on to the bottles and not make a huge mess in front of my neighbors.

I keep moving up the block to my apartment building and try to shift into neutral without a clutch. I bounce between 1st and 2nd sev-eral times and finally, finally, come to a slow stop on the street. So far I’m feeling pretty good about turning one-handed, not crash-ing, and not dropping any more bottles; and I think I’ve done this without looking like a total retard in front of the inevitable and unfathomably large crowd of pedestrians walking their dogs.

I dismount, count 5 remaining beers (only 1 lost!!), re-bungee the pack, mount the bike,

turn around, pull into the driveway, stop, and push down the side-stand. I think I’m safe now but I’m nervous about leaning over the bike onto the side-stand because I don’t want the 6-pack to fall off again; so I, in 1 deft movement, throw back my right leg, steady the 6-pack with my right hand, lean the bike on to the side-stand, and dismount. BUT, as I get my footing, the bike is rolling forward a bit, pushing back the side-stand. Oh shit. I’m trying to stop the forward motion but I only have one hand on the handlebar. The bike, slowly, oh so slowly, because my right hand is occupied holding beer, has started mov-ing towards the ground. The left handlebar, slowly, slowly yet determinedly, touches gen-tly to the ground. The bike settles into the concrete. I hear a woman’s voice behind me. Everything is still. The word “fuck” exhales from my lips. I am no longer in that elite club. I am no longer a virgin. I have dropped my bike for the first time. *sigh*

But I saved 5 beers, dammit!

gets me right in the helmet. For-tunately I was practicing what I preach and not riding fast, so grabbing the front brake only stopped me instead of wreck-ing me. No damage to the helmet, and the only injury was to my ego. Cause the people in the cars around me who saw it sure did laugh their a$$es off.

Once traffic started moving

when the light turned green I went around the bus in an-

other lane. I didn’t bother yelling or waving my

arms or even try-ing to figure out if it was intentional or accidental. But now there’s one more thing to look out for, and I re-learned

that you really have to love riding to com-

mute on a bike.

BY GARRICK STAPLES

Save the Beer

BY AJ LAWLER

Hit a Stop Sign....


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