Forum Index  >  Ninja 300  >  100 mile report.
Leon (Grand Poobah) View all posts in this topic  
Tue May 06, 2014 11:55 am
700 mile day on Sunday        

After checking the valve clearance and changing the oil again at 400 miles, I went for a longer ride on Sunday.

As part of the maintenance on Saturday, I also changed to a 15 tooth front sprocket. Unlike the older 250, the new 300 has an electronic speedometer with the sensor on the front sprocket. This means that changing the sprocket also changes the speedometer reading. With the 14 tooth sprocket, it was 2 mph high at 70, the new 15 tooth sprocket changes it to about 3 mph low. New gearing makes it almost 9 mph per 1000 RPM in 6th.

I also built a platform to replace the rear seat. I strapped an old tankbag to the platform since I haven't had a chance to buy a new RubberMaid? ActionPacker?. The platform works very nice. I took a sheet of steel and cut it to roughly the shape of the rear seat, welded a piece of 1" square tubing to the bottom, the tubing is cut to fit just behind the helmet hooks. I put a felt furniture foot on the frame under the tubing to take up the slack. I used a 1/2" steel rod cut to about 1 1/2" long tapered and slotted to replace the front post. At the back of the plate, I notched and bent the two fingers that hold down the rear. This plate fits just as solid as the rear seat and pops on and off just as quickly. Pictures when I get the Action Packer installed.

I had a few places to visit on the DelMarVa peninsula. I laid out a route and left around 5:30 AM. At 8:00 I discovered that I had not checked the ferry schedule and found myself with an hour to walk around the dock before the first ferry arrived at 9:00. This bike is awesome, the new sprocket makes it a bit less like the old 250, now the midrange on the 300 is even more apparent. I can still rev the engine if I want to, but with the higher gearing, it seems like less of a requirement. Somehow that seems backward; maybe I'm just getting old. The longest continuous run was about 100 miles, on that segment, I did get some butt burn, but like the old Ninja, a bit of squirming around every few minutes kept it manageable.

Each of the 3 tanks of fuel that I used had the fuel gauge blink at about an indicated 200 miles (the longest was at 208.) I haven't had a chance to run the tank completely dry, but Kawasaki says it has 0.9 gallons left when that happens so I expect another 45 to 55 miles before it's completely dry. I don't know if any of them have a charcoal canister, mine doesn't. It has two over-flow tubes, one is connected to the fuel cap and allows the tank to vent through the cap. The other is connected to the well beside the filler. If I fill the tank to the absolute limit while holding it up-right, it takes 4.1 gallons right after the bar starts to blink. If Kawasaki is correct on the reserve, then the advertised 4.5 gallon tank can be used to hold 5.0 gallons. CAUTION: If the tank is filled to that level and the bike is then parked on the sidestand, it will leak fuel. Therefore, the rule is only fill the tank completely full if riding a minimum of 20 miles immediately after. It also means using the rest room first, then filling the tank and riding away.

I got home around 11:00 on Sunday night. I haven't had a chance to go over the bike and make sure everything is ok, so I've been riding my Suzuki GS500 to work for the past two days. When I rode my ZX6 to Alaska for 15,000 miles in 30 days, I rode the Ninja 250 to work and knew that the 250 was the bike for me. After riding the Ninja 300 for a 700 mile day and then taking the GS500 to work, I want my 300 back. I'm ready for more time on it.

 Post a Response | Reply with quote | Return To Forum 
View next topic View previous topic


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group