road rage
We probably all have experienced road rage at some time, in the car or on the bike. I'm usually not too bad with that, especially when I'm on the bike. However, today, one incident just really got me riled up today. I don't know why I got so pissed today, it was just someone cutting me off. However, like Ray mentioned in another article, it really affects your thinking for a while. For the next 2 minutes or so, I was definately riding like an asshole. And not just that, I was definately not paying close attention to the surroundings as I should have been doing, and that lasts even longer.
Although it can be hard at times, we need to try to remain calm at all times. It will make us better drivers, and keep us safer.
Tires for the Kawasaki Ninja 250
The Kawasaki Ninja 250 is a very popular bike for it's beginner friendliness and it's value. Two of the popular tires for the bike are Pirelli mt75 and the Pirelli Sport Demon. The mt75 is a 100/80 front and 120/80 rear. The Sport Demon is a 110/90 front and a 130/90 rear. The bike comes stock with Dunlop K630 at 100/80 front, 130/80 rear. The mt75 tires actually match the wheel size exactly. The k630's are slightly bigger for the rear. Supposedly, the old stock Dunlop tires were discontinued, so Kawasaki decided to use the next closest cheap option.
I cannot offer any performance comparison between the mt75 and the Sport Demon as I have not ridden the bike with Sport Demon, but I do know both are much better than the stock k630's. When we were doing maintenance on the bikes last week, I took a couple pictures of my ninja 250 with the MT75 and my friend's with the Sport Demons for a visual comparison of the 2 different tire sizes. Personally, I think the front with the Sport Demon looks a bit too large and doesn't look as good. Also, you should beware if you are considering getting Sport Demons for the ninja250 that for this tire size, you have to raise your front fender as the tire is too large.
take caution when riding in the rain
It's been raining quite a bit the past few weeks here in southern California. As a result, I haven't been riding much. I don't like to get wet, and I don't like the added danger when it rains.
On Tuesday morning, I get a call from a friend saying he will be late for class because a motorcyclist had an accident right in front of him and he is helping the biker out. From the description, it sounds like the bike's rear wheel lost traction under braking (slippery surface, it was raining kinda hard) and crashed as a result. The motorcyclist then slid into a car, and I think the car ran over or hit his wrist. He got out easy, I think a chipped bone in the arm or shoulder, and some other minor cuts and bruises. I helped the motorcyclist ride his bike back to his apartment later that night.
Remember, when it rains, the road has reduced traction, especially over painted lines and man-hole covers. So take it much easier than under normal driving/riding conditions!
On a side note, I got to ride a Honda Rebel 250 for about 5 - 10 minutes as a result. It looked much better than the old rebel 250 I rode during MSF. The bike looked decent, and had enough power for regular street riding (I just rode it about 5 - 10 minutes on surface streets to get it to the destination). Compared to my ninja 250, at those speeds, probably similar power, maybe a bit less. But it gets that power at a much lower RPM. However, the bike seemed much louder than the ninja 250. I don't know if the exaust is stock or not.
Bike Maintenance
Haven't posted in a long time cause I was really busy with school at the end of the quarter. Then had a week of spring break, and now the new quarter has begun. I went to a bike maintenance day hosted by a friend last weekend. I managed to chain the engine oil and filter; glued the crack on the upper fairing from my crash 2 years ago; cleaned and lubed the chain; and adjusted the throttle free play.
With the new engine oil, shifting is a bit smoother again. Rough shifting or missing gears when shifting is one of the indicators that the oil could use a change (for those bikes with wet clutch, which is most of them). The much better throttle free play was also helpful. It's giving a better response, cause it had too much free play before.
And we even had a great BBQ for lunch. It was a nice day.
This is about me and my little bike: Kawasaki Ninja 250
