New Bikes

So, John is currently on a Honda CBR 125. It's an appropriate ride for a guy his size in the city, and he's managed to make it efficient for 2-4 hour highway rides. He has been planning to upgrade. The bike is officially paid off next month, but now it's time to move up to something a little bigger, that is more practical for highway travel.

Image used courtesy of Honda Motorsports

The 2009 Honda CBR 125R. $3,599 *MSRP.

Comes in Metallic Black and Flat Red,
Metallic Black and Pewter,

White and Metallic Black,
and White and Motocross Blue and Red.

The rub, for anyone who doesn't know about motorcycle laws in Canada, is that if you move above 400cc, you're going to pay a huge insurance premium for it. I'm 5'11", so the idea of getting a 125cc bike was just never realistic. So, after trying out several bikes for size, I'd decided that the Kawasaki Ninja (Ninjette) 250RR was the best size for price value. However, a motorcycle manufacturer in Canada finally had the brains to bring in a 400cc bike: yep- Kawasaki. The price difference is about 50% more, but you get the power for it, and it's dual headlight setup is a lot nicer to look at.


Welcome to the Kawasaki Ninja 400R.

Image used courtesy of Canadian Kawasaki Motors Inc.

It comes in Metallic Spark and Flat Black or Kawasaki Green and Flat Black. It will be going for $7,499 *MSRP at the top of 2011. And yes: it has a trunk. This is way more realistic for a long-distance ride, and a lot more realistic for someone my height- I easily hold up a 125, and a 250. I can hold up a 650 with little effort, and despite the price tag, I've comfortably held up a liter bike. The 400 looks like the bike for me. I don't see the point in starting off with a 250 as a starter bike, only to have to upgrade to a 400 a year later and have to suck up the $5000 price tag on the 250. My only concern with diving right into the 400 is that Kawasaki loves to market the 250 as its starter bike- which is part of what makes advertising it so lucrative. Then again, the 400 hits the market just months before our trip. So? We shall see what kind of funding we can get, or how good a deal I can swing with the dealer. ;)

Some people get really stuck in the sport bike vs cruiser debate. I do really like the Honda line of baby cruisers (the CMX250C Rebel is a seriously comfortable ride), and if you wanted to do an in-between bike and go with a sport touring, the DN-01 and the Goldwing are both viable options- but they're horribly expensive, and not worth the price tag if you want to ride separate bikes. I'm looking for something I can use as a commuter bike, too. And while both sport bikes and cruisers have their own brand of badass, I just prefer sport bikes. If I had the money, though, I think I'd be investing in a Rebel. I don't think I will ever want to exceed 400CC, nobody really needs the extra power if they're keeping their rides street legal, and I really hate noisy bikes.

I live on a corner that has constant bike traffic, and nothing is more irritating. A lot of people, unfortunately, have their pipes straightened aftermarket, to make their bikes obscenely loud. There's some claim that noisy pipes save lives. Personally, I think that noisy bikes just cause unnecessary deafness and need to be taken off of the road. True, drivers are particularly blind when it comes to bikes, but a lot of those bikers put themselves in blindspots, ride the line and sometimes the shoulder- they ride where they shouldn't. I've seen that way more than I've seen incompetent car drivers interact with bikes, and I've nearly been flattened on the road 'more than once. All I can say is that those bikes don't come that way, there is a noise restriction on bikes, and these people are all breaking the law. I hate it as much as you do. Anyway--

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'Ta for now!