2003 Kawasaki Ninja 250R - My First Bike!

This was my very first bike. I actually bought it before I could ride it. For the princely sum of $1900, it was mine. I had to rent a U-Haul to get it home! It was a very nice bike with only 1,023 miles on it when I bought it in September 2005.

Two weeks later, I completed the MSF course, and started riding this bike around the neighborhood. Maybe it was the fact that I was a total newbike on a bike, but this thing had the jerkiest throttle of any bike I’ve owned.

It was a screamer too. You had to be above 8,000 RPM in order for this bike to go anywhere. At freeway speeds (75+) it felt like it was going to either come apart, or get blown off the road.

It spooked me a bit.

After a few months, I foolishly declared myself ready for a bigger bike. I knew what I wanted: a mid-size, mid-displacement sport touring bike. Of course, that kind of bike really isn’t sold in the U.S., so I jumped ahead to an ST bike that was available here – the 700 pound Honda ST1100.

That turned out to be a mistake.

I really wish I’d kept the little 250 longer. Gettting rid of it too quickly really slowed my progression toward becoming a competent rider.