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I don't think a Ninja would be a good bike to learn on.
As for time to learn, I've never known of anyone who didn't learn to ride a bicycle first, so I couldn't say. It took me about 30 minutes of motorcycle riding to put one down. I learned something very important from that and was a decent driver afterwards... but never good.
My daughter took a motorcycle class, I think through a dealership. Her hubby drove a big Harley, but she started out with a much smaller bike for safety reasons. I was relieved when they sold both of them and found safer hobbies. I think they plan (or "planned" when they decided to sell them) to replace them after their girls are grown.
I don't think a Ninja would be a good bike to learn on.
As for time to learn, I've never known of anyone who didn't learn to ride a bicycle first, so I couldn't say. It took me about 30 minutes of motorcycle riding to put one down. I learned something very important from that and was a decent driver afterwards... but never good.
My daughter took a motorcycle class, I think through a dealership. Her hubby drove a big Harley, but she started out with a much smaller bike for safety reasons. I was relieved when they sold both of them and found safer hobbies. I think they plan (or "planned" when they decided to sell them) to replace them after their girls are grown.
I do.
Ninja 250/300 are highly regarded as excellent beginner bikes for good reasons. Inexpensive, not much power, comfortable riding position, very light, low seat height. Very easy bikes to ride, much easier than some overpowered, overweight cruiser with lousy brakes and **** poor handling.
Ninja 250/300 are highly regarded as excellent beginner bikes for good reasons. Inexpensive, not much power, comfortable riding position, very light, low seat height. Very easy bikes to ride, much easier than some overpowered, overweight cruiser with lousy brakes and **** poor handling.
While I agree, it's the exception, not the rule. Ditto for the Honda CBR250.
For the OP, before you buy Anything, sign up for and take the MSF course nearest you.
The class is designed for people with zero prior experience and only a willingness to try/learn. They provide nearly everything, you should already have what it's provided (jeans, long sleeve shirt, over the ankle boots). If you pass, you can even wave the motorcycle test through the DMV and jump straight to a permit.
Be warned though, motorcycling is a terrible way to save money. Even a high MPG bike like the Ninja 250 (I've had one or another for more than a decade now, most fun motorcycle I've ridden on public roads in 20+ years) will cost about the same per mile as your basic half-ton truck once you factor in maintenance, consumable parts (tires, especially tires), and the up-front hit is pretty big when you're buying a bike and all the riding gear. Skip on the riding gear and you'll have an even Bigger hit when you start racking up medical bills (can't even remember the number of times I've been hit while riding now, only need the hospital once though thanks to the $2,000 worth of riding gear I tend to wear while riding my $1,000 motorcycles). It would, quite frankly, be cheaper to buy a good econo-box car, if you're doing this from a money perspective. My 2001 Jetta TDI costs about 1/4~1/3rd per mile (including insurance, all maintenance, all registration, basically anything spent to keep it moving down the road legally). Not nearly as much fun though, and THAT is why I ride...
1. You'll likely not save money riding a motorcycle for the reasons listed by Brian_M.
2. When you say you're interested in a 'Kawasaki Ninja', realize that the name is actully used on a number of Kawasaki bikes. It covers everything from the very beginner-friendly Ninja 300 (formerly the Ninja 250) to the 'you'd have to be insane to ride it as your first bike' Ninja ZX-14, with quite a number of bikes in between.
3. Surprisingly few skills translate from bicycle riding to motorcycle riding. That being said, I'd start on a bicycle to at least learn the feel of how to balance the bike at low speeds.
1. Learn to ride a simple bicycle. Preferably one with a one speed coaster brake (if you can find one)
2. Buy some basic safety gear - boots, leather jacket, gloves, new good fitting helmet with face shield. I prefer the flip up modular HPC brand.
3. Buy an buy a book of video about basic motorcycle control and riding
4. Sign up for a 1st stage Motorcycle Safety course.
5. Buy a USED 250 to 500 cc Universal Japanese Motorcycle. Even better would be a used 400 cc scooter. A scooter does not require learning how to shift while learning how to ride.
6. Have someone else ride your bike/scooter to the largest emptiest parking lot you can find so you can practice controlling your bike without learning how to drive in traffic at the same time. Follow the drills listed in the class and the book or video you bought in step #3.
7. When you feel confident ride the bike back and forth to the parking lot and then around town and out on the country roads as your skills and confidence build.
3. Surprisingly few skills translate from bicycle riding to motorcycle riding. That being said, I'd start on a bicycle to at least learn the feel of how to balance the bike at low speeds.
In fact, the MSF website lists "ability to ride a bicycle" as a prerequisite for the Basic RiderCourse. It's not an absolute necessity (i.e. no one gets turned away if they can't ride a bicycle), but any experience on 2 wheels, as opposed to 4, is very helpful. An accomplished bicycle rider will already be familiar with skills like countersteering, leaning into turns, etc., not to mention operating levers to control the vehicle.
Another useful skill is is the ability to drive a manual-transmission car. During the BRC I coached this past weekend, a few people with no manual-transmission experience specifically commented that clutching and shifting was hard for them. (They all passed though.)
However, I'd hesitate to recommend starting out on a scooter, as described above, unless of course the new rider intends to ride automatic-transmission motorcycles exclusively... there are a few of those available nowadays, including all the electric ones.
Finally, I obviously have to concur with everyone else who says to take the Basic RiderCourse. Depending on which state you're in, it might be partly subsidized, or even free. Passing it won't make you an expert rider -- it's only one weekend, how could it? -- but it does waive the DMV road test, and it also helps to lay a foundation for a lifetime of safer riding. And you can't put a price on that.
If you haven't learned to balance a bicycle by now, it's going to be a tough go on a motorcycle. Chances are the exerience of trying to learn to ride, the balance, the engine and transmission, the weight, the brakes, all that will be absolutely terrifying to someone who hasn't had much expereince with this. It's a lot to take in if you haven't done it before.
I've been riding for almost 40 years now, learned as a teenage, and was quite adept on a bicycle before learning the bike. And even now, when one buys a new bike, there is a learning curve.
In you situation, I'd definitely look into a MSF course, and before jumping into a full blown MC, perhaps consider a scooter. A 50cc scooter will be a fine base on which to build a motorcycle skill set, or even decide if your psyche can become comfortable with it. They are small, manageable, light enough to pick up if things go wrong, cheap, and some states allow you to ride without a MC license or apparently even insurance. It will give you a better idea of riding without the whole Ninja trying to hammer you into a guardrail.
+1 for the bicycle suggestion. Preferably one with cable hand brakes so you can switch the cables so you have a right hand front brake (just like a motorbike). You could K.I.S.S. and not run a rear brake so you don't get confused with the clutch. Balance, braking and cornering basics are something you should have as a reflex action before getting on something with a motor IMO.
Maybe you're the one in a thousand that's a natural and you could do it, but OTOH you might also be un-coordinated and ride yourself into the first brick wall. How would you even know which one you are if you've never even ridden a bicycle? Maybe if you were accomplished at other action sports???
If you've got $2-3K for a motorcycle, then you have $50-100 for a craig's list special bicycle and a helmet.
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