Since joining IPM, I have been doing a lot of riding within a group with the rest of the staff. They have been doing some weird stuff with their hands during rides that confused the heck out of me. So, I decided to do some research on hand signals and share them with the rest of you.

Stay tuned for more!

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To answer the question in my title: Definitely not an insecure man or woman. A man who needs the horsepower and engine capacity numbers to compensate for a small part of his anatomy is not going to want to ride a 250.

Sorry boys and girls, but I don’t need a 1000cc mega sportbike that’s financed to the hilt to feel like a man. I am a simple, practical kind of guy. I enjoy riding a motorcycle around town during the weekday and maybe occasionally ripping through the twisties on a nice weekend. But most importantly, I like to save the environment by not emitting as much pollutants as high capacity engines, and saving on gas is always a plus!

Many beginners tend to favor the 250 for its affordability, size, and comfort. The riding position is upright, so it gives beginners the confidence needed to properly learn. If one inevitably drops it, it’s affordable enough to not dent the wallet. And for most, it is the only motorcycle they can plant both feet on the ground while sitting on it.

For a city commuter like me, I love that it is light. It allows me to better take corners and avoid unruly bicycle messengers in the street. Also due to its size, you can lane split like no other! For example, I was taking the overpass near the Embarcadero the other day, and this idiot van switched lanes right into me. Fortunately, the little Ninja was nimble enough to avoid it and slip between two cars. The 250 is also fairly quiet with the stock exhaust, so going home and parking at night won’t disturb your neighbors.

And I’ll tell you guys the best thing, cops don’t pull over 250s. It just doesn’t happen! You will never get mistaken for a boy racer – you’ll look like a regular commuter. I got pulled over once by a cop just for him to tell me how safe I was riding!

The one complaint I have is that since I do mostly city riding, I tend to stay in the upright position most of the time. And as such, the middle of my tires wear fast. While most riders can evenly distribute tire wear across the width of their rubber, I can’t. So, I have to change tires more frequently than most.

So, if you can live with that, you can live with a Ninja 250 as well.

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So Alex, Justin and I went on a day long ride to Santa Cruz last weekend. I was on my Ninja, and I’ll tell ya, this little machine never ceases to amaze me. Here is a pretty long video I made of our trip:

While I really enjoyed the ride out there, taking a longer route by the coast, the ride back was soooooo freakin’ cold. Justin brought his IPM sweatshirt, so he was all nice and toasty. Alex was so freaking cold, he just sped off toward home like a bat out of hell. Me and Justin at one point even contemplated parking for a while just to get ourselves a little warmer. Actually we finally did stop, about 15 minutes away from San Francisco, so I could chain smoke to warm myself up. Totally worth it though!

So I’ve got something to rant about…..

I encountered probably (and I mean this), the worst driver I’ve ever encountered today. I was riding in to work this morning and this flower delivery van came flying up my ass (I was already doing 80 mph going with the speed of traffic) and then goes around to pass me.

He does this and then proceeds to cut me off (yeah at 80 mph), while that made me a little ticked he then proceeds to slow down to like 45 mph (on the flippin 101!). So I figured there must be something wrong with his van so I went around to pass him, and as soon as I was in his side view, he guns it! So I dropped back thinking that I would rather not die by some gutless wonder of a van. Again he drops his speed back down to 45mph (come on, the speed limit is 65 mph through most of this stretch of road). So again I go to pass him but this time I get in the other lane to do it (rather than lane splitting), so this douche bag follows me to the next lane over. This continued for a good 4-5 exits and I am convinced this dude had to have had some pretty flippin’ amazing flowers to deliver with specific instructions to do so before the yellow bike gets there.

Seriously, the most aggravating driver I have ever had the privilege of flipping off. Come on cops, arrest douche bags like this, I pay my taxes damn it!!!

You read correctly guys!

To pay tribute to more than 20 years of Kawasaki Ninja® 250R sportbike history and to celebrate this sporty icon’s complete make-over for 2008, we bring you the “My Ninja 250R Story” video contest. One lucky winner will take home a brand new 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250R.

We want to know how “the little Ninja that could” has impacted your motorcycle riding career. Was it love at first sight? Your first bike? Did you search high and low to find it or did it find you?

Whatever story you want to share is the story we want to hear. Our team of judges will rate video submissions for creativity, originality and overall impact.

All you have to do is upload your video to YouTube.com or another public website and email us the link and your contact information. You can also send a copy of the video, along with your contact info and the signed terms of service to:

Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
Attn: My Ninja 250R Story
P.O. Box 25252
Santa Ana, California 92799