Ninja 250 comment
 

I have a youtube channel and a guy commented on a very old video of a rebel 250 I had. I mentioned an older ninja 250 that I had at one point and the guy made the following comment. I honestly think the guy was riding around with his feet on the passenger pegs. He also called the bike twitchy and unrideable in city traffic. I'm not sure what in the world he was riding or how.



"I have a 2016 Rebel 250. I also have a 2006 Sportster 1200L. I tried a Ninja 250 (the original Ninja 250, I think it was an '04 model) and it was HORRIBLE. The seat was too high, the handlebars felt like they were attached to the ends of the front axle, the pegs were about where the rear turn signals should be. It was miserably uncomfortable. Downright painful. And virtually unrideable in stop and go city traffic. It took a lot of effort to get my feet off those pegs. They were so far back my toes were pointed straight down. I almost dropped it a couple of times trying to get my feet off those awful pegs at a stop. Then you are sitting there at a light, all hunched over, all of your upper body weight on your wrists and shoulders, your neck bent back as far as it would go so you could see ahead. It felt like standing up looking up at the sky. The pain was unbearable. It was twitchy and hard to control at slow speeds. It felt so good to get rid of that abomination" :doh:

Almost sounds like the guy had a bike with aftermarket rear sets and didn't know it.
I put 500mi on a friend's 250 Ninja a few years ago and had none of those issues

That very well could have been what was up with the footpegs. It just sounded so extreme to me that it made me wonder if he was using the passenger pegs. My r6 wasn't even as uncomfortable or as extreme as he made out that ninja 250 lol

Sounds about right from a guy coming from a cruiser bike, or touring bike.
For me, (I have a cbr300r, and I'm 6'4" tall), the handlebars of most sport bikes are about 7" (half a foot) too far down and away from me.

I agree with him, that start stops are extremely uncomfortable on a sports looking bike.
On the other hand, I've ridden a friend's 900cc cbr, and the seating position becomes really comfortable at speeds of over 60-70mph, where the wind kind of balances out that forward lean.

I've also had the same experience with my toes pointing down, I think it's a tall person's problem, which can be really dangerous when doing sharp turns. More than once, I've had my shoe scrape the asphalt in a turn (still have the scrape marks to prove it) and it's scary.

This is a problem most tourers and cruisers don't experience.

Likewise, most sports bikes will never experience hitting the exhaust pipes on the asphalt in a turn, unless you're using a large aftermarket exhaust, and tilt your bike at crazy angles.

heres the thing. The ninja 250 isn't really a sport bike in a lot of ways, it's more of standard with a sport bike appearance. The pegs are right under you. Sure, it could be problem if you are a really tall person...Looking at some pics that would make sense. The way this guy talks is he was laying flat out on the bike like it was an r6 or something. Its just not the way they are built. It just doesn't make any sense for the position of the pegs on a stock ninja 250.

I could see the handlebars being too low for someone though. That part made some sense to me though.

Never for a second thought the bikes were twitchy and not fun to ride in traffic though.

Bold added by me for emphasis.....

And there I think is your answer. The guy expected a sport bike to ride like the cruisers he was accustomed to.