My daughter is looking at this bike. Any input would be appreciated. She is in her mid twenties and is taking the Basic Riders course. She lives in another city so I haven't seen  bike, but will going over on Thursday.
http://lethbridge.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-motorcycles-sport-bikes-1999-Kawasaki-Ninja-W0QQAdIdZ258605659#
Thanks, Ken

I don't know what the conversion rate is between Canadian and US money, but it looks like a clean bike. I used to have an ex250 back in 2002 and it was a great bike. Light and ran well. To be honest I think I enjoyed it more than the GS500 

Quote from: tt_four on March 15, 2011, 06:43:13 PM
I don't know what the conversion rate is between Canadian and US money, but it looks like a clean bike. I used to have an ex250 back in 2002 and it was a great bike. Light and ran well. To be honest I think I enjoyed it more than the GS500 

i think $1 us will get you $1.25 cad

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on March 15, 2011, 08:49:15 PM

Quote from: tt_four on March 15, 2011, 06:43:13 PM
I don't know what the conversion rate is between Canadian and US money, but it looks like a clean bike. I used to have an ex250 back in 2002 and it was a great bike. Light and ran well. To be honest I think I enjoyed it more than the GS500 

i think $1 us will get you $1.25 cad

Yeah, 25yrs ago...the dollar is nearly on par, but getting bikes and cars across the line is a pain in the...parts...

Quote from: mcgimp on March 15, 2011, 05:13:10 PM
My daughter is looking at this bike. Any input would be appreciated. She is in her mid twenties and is taking the Basic Riders course. She lives in another city so I haven't seen  bike, but will going over on Thursday.
http://lethbridge.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-motorcycles-sport-bikes-1999-Kawasaki-Ninja-W0QQAdIdZ258605659#
Thanks, Ken

You're in my neck of the woods...Sylvan...

Anyway, the price seems reasonable...I bought my GS500 last year (2003 with 21,000kms) for $3000.  The Ninja has a little more power and a little more leg room, but very similar other than that...I would go in a little low and see what is what...@ 42,000kms and a bike that is 12yrs old I would offer in the neighbourhood of $2100ish...all they can say is no...

Good Luck!!

Later.

Never heard anything bad about the Kwaka twins. Only difference I can see from the GS is they're water cooled and don't like being dropped.

Quote from: Twisted on March 15, 2011, 10:08:39 PM
Never heard anything bad about the Kwaka twins. Only difference I can see from the GS is they're water cooled and don't like being dropped.

EX500's are a pita to work on, have very noisy cam chains (endemic to all the kawi's that used that type of tensioner) and if I may say so myself, look fugly. Otherwise that are great. There is a guy in charlotte who is likely to bring one over for me to work on ... and he's paying me for it with audio equipment. Whoooo hoooo.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on March 16, 2011, 08:10:23 AM

Quote from: Twisted on March 15, 2011, 10:08:39 PM
Never heard anything bad about the Kwaka twins. Only difference I can see from the GS is they're water cooled and don't like being dropped.

EX500's are a pita to work on, have very noisy cam chains (endemic to all the kawi's that used that type of tensioner) and if I may say so myself, look fugly. Otherwise that are great. There is a guy in charlotte who is likely to bring one over for me to work on ... and he's paying me for it with audio equipment. Whoooo hoooo.
Cool.
Buddha.

OK now I have heard something bad about Kwaka twins lol. The Kawasaki equivalent of the GS500 here is the ER5. Pretty much the above bike with no farings.

Quote from: Twisted on March 17, 2011, 01:56:50 AM
OK now I have heard something bad about Kwaka twins lol. The Kawasaki equivalent of the GS500 here is the ER5. Pretty much the above bike with no farings.

Yup, other than being liquid cooled they are quite similar...even look the same...kinda...also a nice bike...

Later.

Quote from: Twisted on March 17, 2011, 01:56:50 AM

Quote from: The Buddha on March 16, 2011, 08:10:23 AM

Quote from: Twisted on March 15, 2011, 10:08:39 PM
Never heard anything bad about the Kwaka twins. Only difference I can see from the GS is they're water cooled and don't like being dropped.

EX500's are a pita to work on, have very noisy cam chains (endemic to all the kawi's that used that type of tensioner) and if I may say so myself, look fugly. Otherwise that are great. There is a guy in charlotte who is likely to bring one over for me to work on ... and he's paying me for it with audio equipment. Whoooo hoooo.
Cool.
Buddha.

OK now I have heard something bad about Kwaka twins lol. The Kawasaki equivalent of the GS500 here is the ER5. Pretty much the above bike with no farings.

I know there is a disease called kawasaki's disease, but if I may present to you "kawasaki syndrome".
Its to put chintzy metal sheets in weird places to prevent you from gaining access to the parts you need to maintain the thing.

Like on the vulcan 750, the oil line has a bracket that holds it tha tis welded on to it, and its bolted to the left side case in front of the case. So to remove it, you have to pull the oil line - which is convoluted and requires removal of the exhaust, which in turn requires removal of the radiator ... or bend the piece of sheet metal, to refit, just bend it back. The chrome would peel and it will rust there. BFD. So most vulcans have a bent bracket holding the oil line with rust on it. Of course to get the left side case that holds the alternator off, you need to take the motor out of the frame. Yea ... motor gotta come out to change the alternator.

Then the Rear cam chain tensioner to get to it, you have to remove the radiator catch can. To get that out you need to pull the right rear exhaust can. You also need to drain the radiator or atleast bleed it of air after.

It goes on and on. Idiots. With the shitty quality control they have, they decided to make a steel framed 650 twin. All I gotta say is ... You morons first learn to shave the zits off the welds before tossing the bike out of the assembly line and we'll talk. Now suzuki isn't any better, and thankfully the ghey-dius flopped, else we'd get garbage from that side too. We really need to send these manufacturers a message. Make garbage and we wont buy it.

Cool.
Buddha.

Thanks for the input. I rode the bike today and she bought it. It's a nice bike to ride.

Ken