[NJA400]

Hello All,


New member here in NE Florida. Just acquired a brand new Ninja 400 (black, No ABS) after a 20+ year hiatus from riding. Marriage, kids and other priorities took precedence. A common theme, I know. What a thrill to get back on a bike after all these years. I must have been smiling for hours after the ride home.


The 400 is an incredible machine that fits the bill perfectly for this mid life rider. Enough power and handling to satisfy for years to come, and a price tag that (to me) is an absolute bargain. A truly brilliant offering from Team Green.


This is a great site which helped answer a lot of my questions going in to the purchase. Now off to get mired down in the hard vs soft break in debate.


Cary

 

[Dabby90]

Welcome to the forum Cary! The site has been a huge help to me thus far and will continue to be. Hopefully the same goes for you!

 

[Mr Mike]

Hello All,


New member here in NE Florida. Just acquired a brand new Ninja 400 (black, No ABS) after a 20+ year hiatus from riding. Marriage, kids and other priorities took precedence. A common theme.Cary

Yup same bike, and similar story...

You will find 4k rpm hard to swallow, do your best... Bikes hella fun.

Be careful man don't get crazy till you get you street legs back... More cell phones on the roads then 20yrs ago.

 

[NJA400]

Thanks guys! Yeah, a lot of self restraint for the next few weeks. Absolutely agree about the number of distracted drivers out there these days. Though navigating my 600R through the streets of south Florida twenty years ago was some excellent preparation.


Sitting on my new ride on the dealer's lot, about to release the clutch for the first time in decades, I contemplated the route home. A quicker route through traffic and highway, or a much longer and forgiving path. I chose the latter for exactly the warning you gave. Glad I did. A few small errors here and there, but overall I was pleased at how the basic skills stuck after all these years. Much credit to a confidence inspiring bike.


Ride safe!

 

[Kiwi Rider]

:welcome:

 

[Mr Mike]

Thanks guys! Yeah, a lot of self restraint for the next few weeks. Absolutely agree about the number of distracted drivers out there these days. Though navigating my 600R through the streets of south Florida twenty years ago was some excellent preparation.


Sitting on my new ride on the dealer's lot, about to release the clutch for the first time in decades, I contemplated the route home. A quicker route through traffic and highway, or a much longer and forgiving path. I chose the latter for exactly the warning you gave. Glad I did. A few small errors here and there, but overall I was pleased at how the basic skills stuck after all these years. Much credit to a confidence inspiring bike.


Ride safe!

The skills you need to relearn are distance to stop markers, Re-Learning curve speeds and all the simple stuff that gets you in trouble, your new 400s super light and has stopping issues the " new tires " that are a bit slick so keep leaning pressures off them till they wear in a bit - 100 miles.

You are already aware of the dangers the street pose, Pot holes, oil, liquids, smooth reflective surfaces, uneven pavement at on/off ramps that try and track your front wheel. I recommend hitting a parking lot and re learn minor turn slides and fish tails " at very slow speeds of coarse " and keep in mind your mirrors are out a ways when splitting lanes.

At first till you get your neck back to a limber state to quickly look back at every lane change, stay out of high speed traffic and leave allot of error distance.

Your reaction times will come back fast as well as your ability identifying drivers that are potentially hazardous - in the old days you would make eye contact with drivers so they know your there - Not today... with hands free cells they can look right at you then steer right into you and not even realize it. so always pass with a clear ability to lane change if needed. that and the other ten thousand things you forgot about...

It will take at least 2 months for you to get most of your safety skillz back so keep that in mind, and within 4 months your old skill will start matching the bike.. old retuning riders are amongst the highest risk of accidents because we try and ride to how we remember our previous abilities were, but it takes time for them to catch back up.

You use to look back " when our necks were much more flexible " with confidence and made the lane change - for now look back twice, cause you'll be surprised that it takes a while to get that 180deg neck turn skill back, and to make sure you brain processed what your eyes think they saw.

Just take it easy over the next couple months so you can re-absorb all the old skills, be safe man.

 

[NJA400]

Excellent advice. Thank you for taking the time to compile this.