Kawasaki Ninja 250

[thaicbr]

thanks dave sorry to be a pain. but i dont like paying more than i have to.

allan

[dave_boo]

thanks dave sorry to be a pain. but i dont like paying more than i have to.

allan

No problem Allan, I have nothing but time. Buddha it sucks being overseas!

I was actually surprised when she told me that Nakhon Sawan had a dealer that sold them. I had previously looked around for new CBR 150s and couldn't find them.

There's nothing wrong with being frugal. I'm fairly good at it myself. I thought I read somewhere that if you were a resident of the area it was harder getting financing or something, but perhaps I'm mistaken. This will be the first bike that I've financed, had it been an intended purchase there would have been a full payment on it.

[thaicbr]

wish i could do a full payment on it to. but being a poor lowly paid teacher with a cbr250 to look after no can do. the f***ing cbr still isnt running properly.

so next month will get the ninja.

allan

[ybdf]

The Kawa dealer in phuket wasn't sure about financing, he was waiting to hear from Aeon, but insisted that there was no option to do it any other way (with him). He did say if i could find someone in phuket who worked for govt i could pay in 2 instalments of 72000 each

Needless to say i borrowed from elsewhere, even with the small interest it's still cheaper than paying the additional 10000 the bike will cost at the end of this month.

Has any one managed to get an english laguage owners manual? Mine's in Thai and i'm clueless about written Thai, dealer tells me he has to wait for one, perhaps a call to Kawa HQ in bkk might hurry things along?

[thaicbr]

Ok rang Rama9 shop again today spoke to khun Pan. i dont think the ninja wants to have me as an owner because for the finance as a farang i need to get a Thai guaranteer. but get this because i live in Nakhom Pathom and they dont have a dealer here cos its only 50ks from Bangkok. I have to find a Bangkok Thai to guarantee the loan because i'm Farang and upcountry.

i then rang my bank SCB. spoke to customer services ref loan, they said can not give loan to farang period.

i have work permit, over two years banking details and relevant letters from my landlord and work. what can i do?

[dave_boo]

Ok rang Rama9 shop again today spoke to khun Pan. i dont think the ninja wants to have me as an owner because for the finance as a farang i need to get a Thai guaranteer. but get this because i live in Nakhom Pathom and they dont have a dealer here cos its only 50ks from Bangkok. I have to find a Bangkok Thai to guarantee the loan because i'm Farang and upcountry.

i then rang my bank SCB. spoke to customer services ref loan, they said can not give loan to farang period.

i have work permit, over two years banking details and relevant letters from my landlord and work. what can i do?

That's the way the cookie crumbles. I have heard of some banks 'loaning' expats in your situation money; if they kept an equal amount in the bank!

[dave_boo]

wish i could do a full payment on it to. but being a poor lowly paid teacher with a cbr250 to look after no can do. the f***ing cbr still isnt running properly.

so next month will get the ninja.

allan

Ok, it was 60 000 THB out the door. Guess they made her pay for that overpriced insurance; payments are 9 300 THB/mo.

[thaicbr]

Dave i know it sounds like i'm a whinging pom.

but they keep changing the <deleted>**ing goalposts. before i get told dont need thai guaranteer and now not only do i need one but i need one from Bangkok. the Thai person is no problem but my girlfriend does not live in Bangkok. this Khun pan made it seem that if you did not live in bangkok,chiang mai or pattaya you had to have bangkok guaranter.

which is crap cos you wife just got the bike in nakhom sawan.

Depressed Allan

yep 12500 baht insurance compulsary on finance deal.

[dave_boo]

Dave i know it sounds like i'm a whinging pom.

but they keep changing the <deleted>**ing goalposts. before i get told dont need thai guaranteer and now not only do i need one but i need one from Bangkok. the Thai person is no problem but my girlfriend does not live in Bangkok. this Khun pan made it seem that if you did not live in bangkok,chiang mai or pattaya you had to have bangkok guaranter.

which is crap cos you wife just got the bike in nakhom sawan.

Depressed Allan

yep 12500 baht insurance compulsary on finance deal.

Why don't you just get it in your girlfriend's name? That's obviously what happened in my case. Just make sure you get hold of the book and after the financing is done (speaking of which my old lady tried to pay it off in 5 months but they were insistent that it be payed over a full year-<deleted>?), 'buy' it from your girlfriend. If you think that the relationship won't last that long......

[dotcom]

gotta try and find a good dealer, rama9 kawasaki dont seem to like calling back lol

No Thai will ever call you back - ever for any reason.

You have to chase them. Never the other way around. It not an insult it's the way they do business.

[Bard]

Dave i know it sounds like i'm a whinging pom.

but they keep changing the <deleted>**ing goalposts. before i get told dont need thai guaranteer and now not only do i need one but i need one from Bangkok. the Thai person is no problem but my girlfriend does not live in Bangkok. this Khun pan made it seem that if you did not live in bangkok,chiang mai or pattaya you had to have bangkok guaranter.

which is crap cos you wife just got the bike in nakhom sawan.

Depressed Allan

yep 12500 baht insurance compulsary on finance deal.

Why don't you just get it in your girlfriend's name? That's obviously what happened in my case. Just make sure you get hold of the book and after the financing is done (speaking of which my old lady tried to pay it off in 5 months but they were insistent that it be payed over a full year-<deleted>?), 'buy' it from your girlfriend. If you think that the relationship won't last that long......

Very good point Dave, it would simplify it a lot. A tip if you're unsure of the future is to write a debt letter with warranty in the bike of say 150k baht, then it's yours when it's paid if she decides to do a run. Works great on property so why not a bike.

Cheers Bard

[thaicbr]

yes thats what i will have to do. dave i worked out some stuff and your payments should be 8600 a month based on the figures i got from rama 9.

mind you when i went in to rama9 they said finance no problem no mention of thai person.

i'm just pissed off because it would have been the 1st thing financed in my own name in thailand making it at least seem like i was wanted. phoned a few banks farang loan mai dee. credit card yes sir 100,000thou a month salary. soooooo good.

and as for my lady theres no problems there just wanted it in my name.

any way grumble over, thanks for listening

[thaicbr]

I just thought of something for all you riders that work offshore if you have used ethanol/ gasahol in your bike before you left it would be best if someone starts and runs your bike at least once a week(prefer 2 time).

other wise you could end up with starting problems when you come back its the same for cars. i know 3 people this has happened to. it seems that the ethanol absorbs the condensation in the air and also gums up the works due to seperation.

just a warning to all.

Allan

[Bard]

I just thought of something for all you riders that work offshore if you have used ethanol/ gasahol in your bike before you left it would be best if someone starts and runs your bike at least once a week(prefer 2 time).

other wise you could end up with starting problems when you come back its the same for cars. i know 3 people this has happened to. it seems that the ethanol absorbs the condensation in the air and also gums up the works due to seperation.

just a warning to all.

Allan

Hi Allan,

Thanks for the tip, you're correct the ethanol absorbs condensation and gums up so it is no good for storage. Personnaly I refuse to use the Gasohol until it's impossible to get proper petrol, however I still have my wife to start and run the engine weekly though.

Another warning to all two strokes out there, I got written warning from Rotax to never run gasohol in ANY two stroke engine.

[BigBikeBKK]

gotta try and find a good dealer, rama9 kawasaki dont seem to like calling back lol

No Thai will ever call you back - ever for any reason.

Perhaps they just don't call YOU back...

I run my own business here in Thailand and treat my Thai hosts with respect and my Thai suppliers and business partners always call me back...

The nice folks at Rama 9 Kawasaki have my number and call me all the time. K Chalerm and K Pan are the only ones I know well and they are two of the nicest Thais you will ever meet.

Warm regards from the Land of Smile

[BigBikeBKK]

what can i do?

Any chance you can get a loan in your home country? A lot of my expat friends here do that when they can't get credit from a Thai bank...

Just a thought. Good luck!

[thaicbr]

big bike

yes khun pan seems nice enough, i think part of the problem is that they dont really need us farangs any more trying to get finance on these bikes.

because they have realised that more Thais are buying than farangs. i think that has been a major revelation for the very concervative thai management.

i'm only getting grumpy because i seem to be getting the run around.

i am always very pleasant on the telephone or face to face. i have seen people write on this thread and others that they can get finance with no thai influance and have spoken to the very nice lady in chiang mai who told me everything i needed to know ref insurance,finance etc. then to be told if i dont live in chiang mai they can not sell to me ..sorry. i was ready to send the deposit and then get on the bus up there

also rang again today spoke to K Pan and now it seems that she not finance company she not know so ok come in with paperwork and we try

allan

[dave_boo]

any way grumble over, thanks for listening

It's not like I have anything better to do!

I just thought of something for all you riders that work offshore if you have used ethanol/ gasahol in your bike before you left it would be best if someone starts and runs your bike at least once a week(prefer 2 time).

Well, the wife knows not to even think about sticking ethanol in any of my bikes; plus I'm entrusting her with the break-in which will consist of her running the 5 kilometers to town for daily shopping and a couple of 1/2 hour rides down to visit friends/family.

Perhaps they just don't call YOU back...

I run my own business here in Thailand and treat my Thai hosts with respect and my Thai suppliers and business partners always call me back...

I've found the opposite to be true. I haven't been to the dealership where y'all bought your Ninja, but if what was posted about their service is true than they are the exception rather then the rule.

You neglected to mention what business you're in. Perhaps it's a business that is populated with persons of a little higher class than I'm used to associating with. I.E., people who were educated in the West and understand how businesses should be ran.

[Bard]

Here is an alternative rear hugger for the Ninja, comes in two versions glass fibre and carbon fibre from Skidmarx, can buy them for 69.95 UK Pounds for fibre glass or 129.95 UK Pounds for Carbon. www.skidmarx.co.uk

[BigBikeBKK]

Here is an alternative rear hugger for the Ninja, comes in two versions glass fibre and carbon fibre from Skidmarx, can buy them for 69.95 UK Pounds for fibre glass or 129.95 UK Pounds for Carbon. www.skidmarx.co.uk

Bard- you are the Mod maniac! Some day you should cover all the Kawasaki stickers and people will have a hard time figuring out what you're riding.

[BigBikeBKK]

any way grumble over, thanks for listening

Perhaps they just don't call YOU back...

I run my own business here in Thailand and treat my Thai hosts with respect and my Thai suppliers and business partners always call me back...

I've found the opposite to be true. I haven't been to the dealership where y'all bought your Ninja, but if what was posted about their service is true than they are the exception rather then the rule.

You neglected to mention what business you're in. Perhaps it's a business that is populated with persons of a little higher class than I'm used to associating with. I.E., people who were educated in the West and understand how businesses should be ran.

Well sure- we've all dealt with lousy salesmen- and I agree with you that at the retail level the sales service in Thailand is no better (but not much worse) than what I've experienced in the US. Japan is #1 by far, Europe varies country to country. Thailand's sometimes not great, but at least you get a smile

[Bard]

Here is an alternative rear hugger for the Ninja, comes in two versions glass fibre and carbon fibre from Skidmarx, can buy them for 69.95 UK Pounds for fibre glass or 129.95 UK Pounds for Carbon. www.skidmarx.co.uk

Bard- you are the Mod maniac! Some day you should cover all the Kawasaki stickers and people will have a hard time figuring out what you're riding.

Hehe you're right there, love modding so you got me. I am unsure what hugger I like best so it's still on my decision list. Next mod on my list is tires though, only mods I done is the no-cut brake modulator, Targa no-cut fender eliminator, Area-P and pulled the snorkel covering the stickers.... hmmm it's pretty revealing in Kawa green still

[thaicbr]

Bard on tyres i reckon you would be best of sticking to a 140 on the back and a 110 on the front. cos looking at the pics there aint a lot of room in that swing arm. thats stock cbr250 sizes and they do well with them. that guy normally has these in stock. alpha10's dont last very long 6-8,000km's but great grip. bridgestones for grip and durability.

allan

[Bard]

Bard on tyres i reckon you would be best of sticking to a 140 on the back and a 110 on the front. cos looking at the pics there aint a lot of room in that swing arm. thats stock cbr250 sizes and they do well with them. that guy normally has these in stock. alpha10's dont last very long 6-8,000km's but great grip. bridgestones for grip and durability.

allan

If you go to kawiforums under 250r then racing you'll see all of those guys run with 150 back, I even found a tire hugger accepting the 150 tire, I know at 2fiddy some guys think 140 is it and 150 is big but the rim and rim chart is actually recommended on the tires I looked at, and with so many running races with them it should be a good one... You gave me a new research again here now, I will figure out more.

[dave_boo]

I'm interested in these larger tyres also. I don't want to go bat-shit crazy, just get the biggest possible on the stock rims without getting the 'ballon' shape going on. Also it's my understanding that if you get too wide you have to have a higher aspect for the sidewall to keep the tyre correctly inside the rim. I.E., a much wider, lower profile tyre is constantly fighting to come out to its natural shape which is bigger than the rim.

Another concern is that I'm not terribly light (which is being nice!); will the larger tyre flex and end up rubbing on the swingarm?

Don't know if anyone else is interested, but I did find this lowering kit.

Finally, Bard, would your shop be up to manufacturing some headers that would leave the can under the bike (it looks like there's room) a la Buell?

[NinjaGladiator]

Bard I'm confused has to how a wider tyre can make any difference to the speed of a bike, yes if the 70 profile was changed to 80 I could see your point, however what you gain in KMph you'd probably lose in power output, which brings me to another point, (forgeting you've changed your exhaust-good one!!) the stock bike struggles to hit the red-line in 6th gear, there-fore in stock guise the bike is not under-geared as so many people keep saying on this thread. if it was it would race to the red-line and be eager to go over - talking 6th gear mind!!!

When thaicbr talked about a deposit he was refering to taking the bike away on finance not the 10k we all placed to order/hold our bikes ready for collection. Udon Thani is still offering helmet promo, I think the promo is only open to cash purchases, as for the price hike of 5k-10k nobody can say for sure this will happen it's 1. probably a marketing ploy, or 2. A future intention of kwaka once it sees sales figures or demand out does the supply

[Bard]

I'm interested in these larger tyres also. I don't want to go bat-shit crazy, just get the biggest possible on the stock rims without getting the 'ballon' shape going on. Also it's my understanding that if you get too wide you have to have a higher aspect for the sidewall to keep the tyre correctly inside the rim. I.E., a much wider, lower profile tyre is constantly fighting to come out to its natural shape which is bigger than the rim.

Another concern is that I'm not terribly light (which is being nice!); will the larger tyre flex and end up rubbing on the swingarm?

Don't know if anyone else is interested, but I did find this lowering kit.

Finally, Bard, would your shop be up to manufacturing some headers that would leave the can under the bike (it looks like there's room) a la Buell?

Hi Dave,

Yes I know of a good shop who can custom build the header for you, if you go to kawiforums and 2fiddy there is a couple of end cans which would be very suitable to match a Buell style also. Let me know and I can set you up with the shop details.

Cheers Bard

[Bard]

Bard I'm confused has to how a wider tyre can make any difference to the speed of a bike, yes if the 70 profile was changed to 80 I could see your point, however what you gain in KMph you'd probably lose in power output, which brings me to another point, (forgeting you've changed your exhaust-good one!!) the stock bike struggles to hit the red-line in 6th gear, there-fore in stock guise the bike is not under-geared as so many people keep saying on this thread. if it was it would race to the red-line and be eager to go over - talking 6th gear mind!!!

When thaicbr talked about a deposit he was refering to taking the bike away on finance not the 10k we all placed to order/hold our bikes ready for collection. Udon Thani is still offering helmet promo, I think the promo is only open to cash purchases, as for the price hike of 5k-10k nobody can say for sure this will happen it's 1. probably a marketing ploy, or 2. A future intention of kwaka once it sees sales figures or demand out does the supply

Hi Ninjagladiator,

If you go to gearingcommander you will see the 150 vs 130 tire changes about the same as a 2 teeth on the rear sprocket. This is due to the 150 si much higher than a 130, the sidewall (80) is the same but due to it is wider it is also higher at top of the tire, hmm ballons more if you like.

You're also correct with getting it to redline in stock in 6th, it is not that easy and if you look into the power on the bike it peaks in stock at around 11k and the max torque is at 8k so by gearing it to match the power a bit better you would get a bit more top speed.

Now when you change the exhaust system it is very different in power to be honest and you basically don't gear it much at all, up to 40 - 50 put it in 6th and just drive in 6th it pulls good from 3k. So higher gearing would benefit a lot.

I also found in stock the bike was a bit low geared and constantly were trying to hit next gear when in 6th, now since we lack the 7th it felt like the bike would do with a bit higher gearing, if you change to a 15 in front you will get a 7% change which would not be bad.

[thaicbr]

Hey Bard. just come from the 2fiddy forum. its a good place but that guy that has changed his oil 6 times before he's even got to 1000 miles.. whats that about. i think thats his problem with the metal in the oil. i'm thinking that you can get some nice mufflers here if ya look around.

be interesting to see what they are like. the cheapy one i got for my cbr was ok.

just wondering if that shop could copy the new down pipes you got then match them to a muffler. could have yourself a bit of a Thailand Ninja tuning service

[dave_boo]

Hey Bard. just come from the 2fiddy forum. its a good place but that guy that has changed his oil 6 times before he's even got to 1000 miles.. whats that about. i think thats his problem with the metal in the oil. i'm thinking that you can get some nice mufflers here if ya look around.

be interesting to see what they are like. the cheapy one i got for my cbr was ok.

just wondering if that shop could copy the new down pipes you got then match them to a muffler. could have yourself a bit of a Thailand Ninja tuning service

That is actually a good idea. We should start listing the mods that we're interested in and then get a group order put in. As I've stated before, if there's an interest in having items fabbed up, I know where I can get it done up on an EDM on the cheap.

Here's a list of mods that I'd be interested in:

• Better tyres.
  
• Better brake pads.
  
• Better forks.
  
• Adjustable brake/clutch levers.
  
• Light weight rearsets.
  
• Corbin seats
  
• Engine upgrades to possibly include larger injectors, pod filters, etc.
  
• ECU upgrade/Power Commander.
  
• Exhaust upgrades.
  
• No splice tail light flasher.
  

If anyone has suggestions and would like to get the ball rolling on this stuff, you can mark me down for a part of the order.