i just bought my 09 250r spcl edt and i rode it home about 30 miles away from the dealership keeping it at or under 6000 rpm. I hope i have not injured it in away way because of this. i am keeping the bike at or under 4500rpm now trying to baby the beast.

 

Picked mine up last week (09 250r SE). I now have about 350 Kms on it. It's alot of fun but this break in period is a bit frustrating.

I've been trying my best to keep it at or under 4000 RPM like the manual says but as soon as I venture out a bit, it's almost impossible so I've decidied to give up on it. Everyone seems to have a slightly different opinion on how the break in should be done anyhow. Funny enough, nobody seems to agree with Kawasaki's method.....Which is good because it's driving me nuts.

I think as long as you don't drive it like you stole it for the first 1000 miles it should be fine. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... even though I know nothing about motorcycle engines.

 

 

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you; brand new bike and don't know much about motorcycle engines. Motorcycles even.

I haven't given up on breaking mine in, I just find it really hard to keep the RPM that low and basically get around. I thought it was just me or bike but this thread helped a lot, so thank you all very much for this!

My question is in regards to the choke, and I'm not sure if there's been a thread made for this topic or not, but basically, I live in Canada and the days I've been able to ride haven't been that warm (15 degrees or so). I start the bike with the choke and let it rev to about 2500, once it hits there though, and I try and ease the choke out, it drops drastically with the slightest touch.

I know I shouldn't let it idle for more than 5 minutes but in that time period, the bike won't rev naturally at 2500 RPM, so I take off anyways. In the manual, it says to release the choke immediately once I start to ride but if I do this, the engine just dies. So what I'm wondering is if I'm wrecking the bike by riding it with the choke on?

I've only got 35 km on this virgin so far. Caught a nasty cold the day they dropped the bike off and am just getting better now and really looking forward to riding.

Another question is about the gears/speed chart listed in the manual. It says there is a 5 km increment for each gear, starting with a shift from 1st to 2nd at 20 km/h, 2nd to 3rd at 25 km/h, etc., with each increment being only 5 km and 6th gear starting at 40 km/h. I just find it hard to believe that I should be hitting 6th gear at 40 km/h and will then just let it ride in top gear?

 

My question is in regards to the choke, and I'm not sure if there's been a thread made for this topic or not, but basically, I live in Canada and the days I've been able to ride haven't been that warm (15 degrees or so). I start the bike with the choke and let it rev to about 2500, once it hits there though, and I try and ease the choke out, it drops drastically with the slightest touch.

I know I shouldn't let it idle for more than 5 minutes but in that time period, the bike won't rev naturally at 2500 RPM, so I take off anyways. In the manual, it says to release the choke immediately once I start to ride but if I do this, the engine just dies. So what I'm wondering is if I'm wrecking the bike by riding it with the choke on?



I have been commuting year round on my Ninja 250 for 3 years now. You will need to leave it partly choked for the first couple miles when it's cold out. Actually if you are going to ride a lot when it is cool, get the Dynojet kit for it because it is really lean in the midrange from the factory. Mine stumbles pretty bad from 55-65mph if it is below 50 degrees. I have just been too lazy to rejet.

 

Ignore the gear/speed chart. It's bollocks. I'd stay under about 4K rpm, creeping up to 5K if it wants to, and 1/4 throttle for the first 100 miles, then gradually use more throttle and more revs, increasing both for every 100 (add 1K rpm) miles until you're near to full throttle by about 500 - 600 miles, but only for very short bursts at first. For that first 100 miles, a 5 minute switch off and cool down (no need to let it cool any further) every 20 minutes is a good idea. Between 600 - 1,000 miles, gradually increase the length of the full power bursts.

Shift up by the tacho, not the speedo. Shift up at progressively higher revs as you do more miles, and shift down to keep the revs up a bit. As you get used to the bike you'll get a feel for what gear and what revs you should have for different sets of conditions.

Don't let the revs drop too low, especially in the higher gears. If you do, you'll feel the engine starting to struggle. THat's bad for it. In the higher gears, keep it over 3,000 rpm.

What you're doing with the choke is about right. You won't hurt the bike as long as you get the choke off as soon as you can ride without it. Avoid short journeys after a cold start. They're bad for the engine. It takes about 10 miles for the oil to come fully up to temperature, so make sure that you a couple of journeys of at least that length every few days.

Rob

 

The first 500 I just rode it normal and varied the rpms, staying away from the red line. I took it in for the 1st servivce and everything was great. I am @ 1200 miles now and it runs great it loves those high rpm shifts and runs great.

 

Also, that warning about going over 4000K is on just about every Kawasaki bike and has been since the 80s. Ride it like your going to ride it and vary the RPMS and you should be fine. As the poster said before stay away from the red line

 

wow, a 72 mach III with zero miles. Impressive Rush

 

Hi everyone. I recently just got a Ninja 250r 09 also and the dealership told me not to go above 6k on the rpm. But I am pretty sure that I did that because I live up in the mountains and sometimes I really need to do that to get passed a stop sign on a hill or a slope. So any advice??? Another problem is I am not shifting gears up between to close stop signs because it's very close and that makes the engine very loud and makes the rpm go up and it's unavoidable. So any suggetions?? I am new to this website and a learner on the bike and I have taken the MSF course recently but they haven't given me much information on how to break in a bike. So
please help. I don't wana harm my bike I got a ninja 250r and also the throttle grip on it is kind of loose. Is this common in new bikes?? It's kind of a problem because I have to bend my wrist a lot to get it reving up. So please help any advice and I would be grateful for it.