Low & Slow's Ninja 250 project

[beatr911]

Nice going Vic! Good luck this weekend!

[low&slow]

Thanks Garth! I hope you have another successful event there in Lacey WA.

I just got back home after a week of working in Kentucky and will be heading down to Carmel tomorrow afternoon. I'm very excited to be competing in another Vetter Challenge and will post a report after the event runs on Friday.

[jkv357]

Best of luck Vic!


Jay

[Grant-53]

Best wishes to you and the other riders.

[low&slow]

I rode down to Carmel Thursday afternoon for a get-together at the Vetters' home with all the competitors. It was great to see my friends from previous competitions( Craig, Alan, Fred Hayes, Josh Chen) and to meet our own Redyaris in person. It was fun and all the bikes met the 4 paper grocery bag carrying requirement. Fred had to run with metal panniers on his 2 diesel bikes to meet the current Vetter Challenge rules.
The next morning we topped off our tanks and reported to the starting point for the 2012 Quail Gathering. There were many fabulous bikes: Nortons, Triumphs, MV Agustas, Laverdas, Ducatis, Vincents, Brough Superiors and many other vintage and collectable motorcycles. The ride was beautiful thought the start was misty and the roads were wet and slippery. One rider had a get-off and fortunately was not badly hurt.
After the first stop, my bike didn't start up immediately and Craig passed me while I was still trying to get it started and was technically disqualified for being passed by the designated follower ( Craig). I finally got it started about the middle of the pack and stayed with the fast pace of the group the rest of the ride. I was disappointed as I thought I had at least a small chance at winning or getting a high placement.
The next stop was at the Talbot winery where we got a guided tour. Conditions on that leg were very windy but all the streamliners handled it very well. We proceeded the Laguna Seca racetrack where we rode 2 laps of this famous venue. Then on to the finish and lunch with all 6 Vetter Challengers reporting to the gas station for the official top-off. I didn't record the official results but I know Fred used less a gallon for the ~116 mile ride, Alan used about 1.1 gal, Josh- 1.24 gal, me- 1.25 gal., Craig-~ 1.4 gal and Ron /Redyaris- I can't remember. The ride was fun and the pace was fast; it was the fastest pace I've ridden the Ninja at with speeds up to 85 mph and lots of hard acceleration to keep up and prevent being passed by Craig. I ended up with a 93 mpg run, I wanted to break 100 mpg but I can see how hard it is to achieve this under these difficult conditions. Kudos for to all the Vetter Challengers for another great event.
I rode home and had a pretty good run: 122.4 miles/.9 gallon= 136 mpg.

[sendler]

Sounds really fun. I hope I can make it to Ohio. Does anyone really need to run 85 mph on a regular basis?

[low&slow]

Sendler, The event was awesome. I hope you can make it to Ohio, Craig, Alan, Fred Hayes, the Perenthians, Redyaris, and others ( including me) will be there. And the conditions there allow for better fuel economy compared to Carmel. Craig's rules, the fast pace set by the CHP , and that the ride is more about sporty riding than fuel economy makes this event challenging for a hypermiler.

[Bruce]

Thanks for the update. Looks like the Ninja 250 is the way to go.

[low&slow]

Thanks Bruce.
The Ninja 250's are a good starting point but IMHO not the ultimate. The Ninja's are reasonably efficient , plentiful and can be purchased at a good price with some searching and bargaining. If I were starting from scratch I would look for a cosmetically damaged Honda CBR250. They are significantly better than the Ninja 250 for fuel efficiency with their single cylinder, FI and better low end torque. Look at what Sendler has done with his. HIs impressive performance has been achived currently without radical streamlining like I have done on my Ninja.
I would agree that for a low budget hypermiling project bike the Ninja 250 is a winner.

[Stan]

Congrats! I was just thinking this morning that it's been a while since I saw this thread active. Will have to read up on the CBR250...