So I just got back from my first proper ride (80km) on my new Ninja 400 and I thought I would give a quick overview on my thoughts. Bear in mind that I'm not a very experienced rider and I've only owned one bike prior to this, a Honda CBR250R. With that in mind here are my thoughts...
1) Breaking in the engine....the manual suggests that you shouldn't exceed 4000RPM for the first 800 km. On the motorway in 6th gear I was doing 80 kph in a 100 kph speed zone. Obviously not very safe so I quickly discarded the manuals advice and carried on at 100kph. Googling for the best way to break in an engine brings up a whole plethora of differing advice so I just rode the bike gently keeping it below about 7k RPM.
2) Handling...I was expecting the Ninja to be nimble and handle very well through traffic and into corners based on what others have said but I was still surprised by how good it is. This thing feels more agile than my Honda... 10/10 here
3) Power...as mentioned above I didn't really push the bike but when I did twist the throttle a little bit I felt like the bike really wanted to get up and go. There is definitely enough low down power and torque to make commuting easy and I can't wait to see how the top end feels once Ive run the engine in.
3) Ergonomics....I'm about 5ft9 and the bike felt pretty comfy to me. I did feel a little bit more squished up compared with my Honda but nothing major. The seat is comfortable but my ass was starting to hurt a bit by the time I got back from my 80k ride. I also had to adjust my gear lever quite a bit (thanks youtube for showing me how to do this) as the setup from the shop meant I could hardly fit my boot between the footpeg and gear lever to change up. I'll have to work out how to do the rear brake lever as well.
4) Other stuff....the dash on this thing is very tricked out and it was cool playing around with the different settings. I like having a gear indicator on a new bike while I get used to it as well.
Also, the bike seemed to either be running hot or the normal operating temperature is only 1 or 2 bars from the top of the gauge. My Honda's normal temp is exactly 1/2 way so I was surprised to see the temp gauge moving so far up. Having said that it is a really hot day here so that is probably affecting the bike a bit.
The mirrors on the bike are good and I had good visibility behind me. If anything the mirrors might stick out a little bit too far and might make filtering through tight traffic a bit harder but I guess we'll see.
Thats about all I can think of. Hope that helps someone out a bit
1) Breaking in the engine....the manual suggests that you shouldn't exceed 4000RPM for the first 800 km. On the motorway in 6th gear I was doing 80 kph in a 100 kph speed zone. Obviously not very safe so I quickly discarded the manuals advice and carried on at 100kph. Googling for the best way to break in an engine brings up a whole plethora of differing advice so I just rode the bike gently keeping it below about 7k RPM.
2) Handling...I was expecting the Ninja to be nimble and handle very well through traffic and into corners based on what others have said but I was still surprised by how good it is. This thing feels more agile than my Honda... 10/10 here
3) Power...as mentioned above I didn't really push the bike but when I did twist the throttle a little bit I felt like the bike really wanted to get up and go. There is definitely enough low down power and torque to make commuting easy and I can't wait to see how the top end feels once Ive run the engine in.
3) Ergonomics....I'm about 5ft9 and the bike felt pretty comfy to me. I did feel a little bit more squished up compared with my Honda but nothing major. The seat is comfortable but my ass was starting to hurt a bit by the time I got back from my 80k ride. I also had to adjust my gear lever quite a bit (thanks youtube for showing me how to do this) as the setup from the shop meant I could hardly fit my boot between the footpeg and gear lever to change up. I'll have to work out how to do the rear brake lever as well.
4) Other stuff....the dash on this thing is very tricked out and it was cool playing around with the different settings. I like having a gear indicator on a new bike while I get used to it as well.
Also, the bike seemed to either be running hot or the normal operating temperature is only 1 or 2 bars from the top of the gauge. My Honda's normal temp is exactly 1/2 way so I was surprised to see the temp gauge moving so far up. Having said that it is a really hot day here so that is probably affecting the bike a bit.
The mirrors on the bike are good and I had good visibility behind me. If anything the mirrors might stick out a little bit too far and might make filtering through tight traffic a bit harder but I guess we'll see.
Thats about all I can think of. Hope that helps someone out a bit