Comments on: MD First Ride: 2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 (Part Two) (Bike Reports) (News)

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 18:15:31 +0000

Nope. I have zero interest in a WR. Wouldn’t take it if it was free. Just pointing out that paying more generally gets you more… You pay more for better build quality. You pay more for less weight. You pay more for more power (or in this case similar power)…

I like to know what a Ninja 300 with a $6600 msrp would be like. ?? Aluminum frame? Ram air? Fully adjustable suspension at both ends? 40+ hp at the tire?

By: AFW

AFW — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:41:49 +0000

12,200 sportbike sales in 2 quarters, that is low. Thought it’d be 100k plus. The motorcycle market hasn’t recovered as well as the automobile, probably the heavy discounting and 0% interest rate are keeping auto sales buoyant. North America doing better than the black hole of Europe, hope Europe doesn’t sneeze and we catch the flu.

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By: Norm G.

Norm G. — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:42:25 +0000

re: “one of the best-selling motorcycles in the USA. Hmmm I totaled your numbers and get 12,200 total sportbikes from all mfg’s. That sales volume doesn’t even seem like it would pay for the tooling.”

to help further put that 12,200 number in perspective, everybody should know by the end of q3 this year the AUTO INDUSTRY has basically sold 12 MILLION vehicles (6 zeros). do the math, that’s 1000 times the number of units sold…!!! trust me, you don’t even want to know what percentage of those cars were MERCEDES and BMW. the rumors of the economy’s demise (at least here in the states) are greatly exaggerated.

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By: mechanicuss

mechanicuss — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:58:30 +0000

“…one of the best-selling motorcycles in the USA.” Hmmm I totaled your numbers and get 12,200 total sportbikes from all mfg’s. That sales volume doesn’t even seem like it would pay for the tooling. Yegads, HD sold 145,391 units alone in the first half of 2012. Low sportbike sales could be due to the aging of the population, slow economy, pure boredom with it (most kids I know of the age that could enjoy the sport simply stay indoors all day plugged-in to some online game), or attrition. Attrition?.. Daily for several months a kid would peal around traffic in front of my house (long down hill straight) and pass 4 or 5 at a time and you could hear him wail into the distance. My wife said he was dancing on the edge and I said aww leave him alone he’s living large. Well, she called me at work and reported that he finally T-boned a pizza delivery boy at the next intersection and was killed. Oh well, have fun out there while you can, Prodigal Son – get you one of these…

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By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:14:34 +0000

The Ninja will be faster, especially up top (WE has an 85mph top-speed). Most Sopermoto riders are thankful that their bikes only hold 2 gallons of fuel too. They’re not comfortable for any length of time at highway speed and let’s face it, most Americans will see a significant portion of their ride time at those speeds.

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By: mickey

mickey — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:02:24 +0000

“Interesting how we seemed to get along just fine riding our 50s, 70’s, 80’s 90’s 100’s and so on and so on without real issue to us at least.”

Started riding in 65. There wasn’t much between 50 and 650cc back then. I started on a 50. When I had progressed up to a 305 it seemed huge. But we never road them anywhere. 50 miles from home at most. The 305 seemed big but it was really still small. You are right…. perception. Then I got a 350 and then a 450 then a 750 and on the 750 I could travel state to state with ease in comfort.Then a 1000 and I could travel cross country with ease in comfort… with luggage and a passenger.

I had the opportunity to sit on a restored ’67 305 recently. It was a mini bike lol. I guess if you are not really going anywhere, with anyone,a 300 cc bike will get you there eventually. But I could never go back. Sure it was enough , big even, when I was 16, but I can tell you I could never be happy with a bike that small again, at least for serious riding.

Yes the U.S. is the same size it was in 1965. Some of us are just riding around more of it these days.If a 300 was all that we wanted/needed, it’s all the mfgs would build. Truth is even 46 years ago we weren’t happy with 300s and wanted more. Heck just in this thread people are wishing that this was a 400/450/500.

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By: todd

todd — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:35:40 +0000

You didn’t pay MSRP for a WR did you? Maybe you will for the Ninja but dealers need every incentive to move the WR – not that it’s a bad bike, in fact they often get higher praise because of the lighter weight, higher quality, and more powerful motor than the Ninja.

-todd

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By: RRocket

RRocket — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:04:38 +0000

That may be true..but not by a huge margin. The WR250X regularly put down 26-28 RWHP on the dyno. The Ninja won’t make much more. Certainly not enough to overcome the 80lb weight difference.

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By: Dirck Edge

Dirck Edge — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:06:19 +0000

The Yamaha WR250X and R have the most powerful 250cc street legal single-cylinder engines, but they clearly make less horsepower than the twin in the Ninja 300.

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By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:53:37 +0000

You know, back in the 70′s and before there were countless small bikes. To a 16 year old a 300cc bike was gettin’ real close to BIG. Interesting how we seemed to get along just fine riding our 50s, 70′s, 80′s 90′s 100′s and so on and so on without real issue to us at least. The US is still the same size, give or take so what we have here is perception and what motorcycles mean to riders and the general public as a whole. Used to be you wouldn’t catch Joe Average American on a Harley dressed for a rumble but today it’s rather quite a popular fashion.

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