250 ninja or blast

[rich]

which bike is the faster bike? I had a 95 ninja before I bought my 04 gs. Great bike to start on.

[IMZee]

i would say the blast will be faster even by looking at the engine size alone. Or do you mean a "faster pickup"? i was asking around about the blast too. i have come to a conclusion that the older blasts have some issues. but i think blast looks differently cool

[cernunos]

Ok, stock Blast has about 28 HP at the rear wheel, as does the little Ninja. But the Blast weighs about 60 lb more. The torque on the Blast is much greater and has very good low-speed tractability. Now, if you start modifying the engine the Blast has been pushed well over 50 HP reliably. The basic engine is virtually bulletproof. As far as reliability issues I know there was a recall on the first year Blasts on the rear belt sprocket. There was a problem with a bad batch of ignition pick-up assemblies in the first year or two and the carb-boot has always had a problem with coming loose and causing an extremely lean condition. I know that you can modify the Blast with a kit from HD or aftermarket that gives you 515 cc and higher compression and you can also fit the XB head on the Blast. On the Badweatherbikes.com site there are people who are very devoted to the little torque monster and routinely get around 42-48 rwhp with the bike just by changing the exhaust, jetting, air filter kit and bumping compression up about a half a point. Handling wise the little chimp drives like a bicycle with a motor. I almost bought one with a kit that had dynoed at 42 rwhp and was 3800$...this was a brand spanking new bike. I think they're neat as can be. Love the White Owl and this forum.

C......

[geekonabike]

I finally got to ride a 250-Ninja, and I have to admit I liked it more than I thought I would.  Sure, in town it doesn't have much pep unless you really bring it to a boil.  But when I got on the highway and did an indicated 80mph, at 10,000 rpms, it was pretty smooth and not that squirrely on smooth pavement.  (In town bumps weren't good.)  It's the only 250 that can do over 65 indicated consistently with me on it (220 lbs) that I've tried (Rebel, CB250, GZ250, haven't tried Virago).  Sure the tach reading is frightening but it took it very well and was not that loud, even though this one had an aftermarket exhaust (maybe that's why it could do the speed?).  I was disappointed when I came back to town and saw how hard it was to ride with gusto _and_ civility.  It seemed it had too many gears for that.  By the time you got the tach high enough to shift, you might as well shift two gears.  It's low-end torque was light but not non-existent.

Don't know about the Blast from first-hand experience.  I do know the Ninja has no pretensions about going 50K miles on the engine, but most just realize it will need replacing if you're going to rack up serious miles, and folks just drop in a new one when the time comes.  And on the highway the Ninja-500 gets better mpgs!

Susupension is also known to stink, but below GSX-R levels, they all do right?

FWIW,
Mike D.