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Life with a Kawasaki Ninja 300; Pros, Cons & 11,000 km of ownership

3rd October 2024, 17:04 by Rahul Nagaraj

Half a decade ago, It was either a Ninja, the R3 or the Benelli TNT300. Today? we have a 40 BHP bike starting at Rs 1.8L

BHPian Nayra recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Prelude

I never really had that defining moment, the one that makes a person fall head over heels for everything automotive. For me, it wasn’t about choosing to love vehicles; it was more like I was born into it. Even in my earliest memories, I had a sizable Hot Wheels collection and spoke to my yellow plastic tricycle as if it were a friend rather than a piece of plastic. Growing up with a father who could only hold a conversation if it was about a vehicle meant that rejecting the allure of automobiles was never really an option.

Learning to ride our Yamaha RX135 at the age of 10, just a few weeks after I had the trainer wheels removed from my bicycle opened up the next frontier of my life. How my father had the confidence to let his smaller than average 10 year old ride his prized possession without me ever asking? I will never know neither undertsand but that's how it worked in my family. Never really had the chance to not be a gear head.

The first time my father let go of the handlebar and I was the one changing gears, I remember going "Yup, this is what I will be doing for the rest of my life".

I never let my youthful exuberance allow me to do something moronic on the bike and end up in a ditch (touch wood) not because I was especially mature or calm headed but rather partially because the thought of "hurting" my bike due to my stupidity made me sick in the stomach AND my dad had done enough of that in his youth and listening to his stories was enough for me stay away from walking in his footsteps. Point being I had build up enough trust over the past decade for the following set of events to take place.
Circa 2019, I had been riding the RX for about 10 years and I was in the first year of my undergrads (mechanical engineering, obviously) when my dad, as usual without me ever asking, goes "We should probably a new bike?"
Sure? why not? I wouldn't mind riding a bike which does not do power wheelies in second gear and at least has disc brakes.

The Search

My riding experience of 10 years at that point was made up entirely of a single bike. A 2005 Yamaha RX135 (with very short stints on the Aprilia SR150 which my dad had gotten for himself) and what I had failed to understand is that
A 2 stroke 135cc bike is a deeply frustrating bike to upgrade from. We initially presumed a sporty 150CC bike would be a nice upgrade so we test rode the quintessential 150CC bike, The Bajaj Pulsar 150 and well, that was underwhelming. I initially thought it was broken. Where was the pick up? where was the feeling of intensity? It sure is a very comfortable bike but it felt like I was riding a machine which was half as powerful as the noisy 2-stroke from the 90s.
We realized very quickly that if we wanted to upgrade, we had to really move up the CC/HP class. By a lot. Let me list out the list of bikes considered in rapid fire below-

MT15 : Great bike but felt like a parallel upgrade at best (will probably get this one purely for the city now that the RX is a garage prince).

Duke 200 : A beautiful machine but disliked the heat management, the image it carries and mainly, felt like the RX135 already satisfied the manic acceleration itch.

Duke 250 : Honestly thought it was a tad boring and lacked character.

Benelli TNT300 : The bike which made us realize, if we were upgrading, it just had to be a twin. Acoustically unmatched and had almost bought one before the deal fell through.

RE Twins : Aesthetically pleasing but god are they heavy. It felt like I was wrangling a Hathi coming from the RX. Credit where it's due though, exceptional engines and would not mind owning one now that I am used to heavier bikes.

We were down to our final 2 options, it was either going to be a Yamaha R3 or a Kawasaki Ninja 300/z250 and boy was it a difficult choice. It took us almost half a year of checking out every single option on the resale market. Whichever bike we found with proper documentation was going to be the one we bought home and as fate would have it, an acquaintance had bought a Ninja 300 from his brother who had left the country and he was leaving the country himself. Barely a 1000 km on the odometer with zero blemishes. It had to be mine and less than a week later, it was.

The Ownership Experience

Once the lockdown was over though, we rode and went everywhere. The Ninja now has done a little over 11k KM, not a lot but good enough with a highway/city ratio of 75/25 and here are my pros and cons-

The pros:

Great build quality. The localized version of the bike is not as great as the previous gen but it's still leagues better than the average. The paint quality is just beautiful.

The engine. This bike only has two wheels and an engine as its feature set and boy is that engine something. Wanna do 30kmph in 5th gear? go ahead. 150 in 6th all day? be my guest.

Chassis. The lower center of gravity, light weight and incredible chassis dynamics means you probably will not be overtaking any twin cylinder bikes on the straight but in the corners everyone will be watching you fly past them with ease.

Aesthetics. Subjective but It's not too big, not too small. A understated design which might be boring to some but works for me. I get the odd "Sweet bike bro" here and there but I feel comfortable parking it in public without fretting too much about it getting unwanted attention.

Heat management. The vents are aimed away from the rider's legs so there is absolutely zilch heat you have to deal with even in Bangalore traffic on a sunny day.

Refinement and Mileage. Zero vibrations and that is not hyperbole with great mileage too if ridden well. The lowest I have gotten is 18KMPL during a "track" session and the highest, during a hypermilling session from Bengaluru to Hassan, where I got 35KMPL with the average being around ~27KMPL. Go past 8K RPM and watch the mileage reduce to the 'teens though.

Slick Transmission: Nothing more to be said. No nonsense, no clunky shifting or false neutrals. Just a love tap and into the gear she goes.

The rider's triangle. Super comfy with the ability to cross country without your back crumbling to pieces. More sports tourer rather than sports bike.

The Mediocre:

The lights. They're not bad but I do wish they were better. The low beam is great but the high beam is strictly 'meh'.

Braking. They're are a bit spongy and the soft front suspension means there is an uncomfortable dive and a spongy feel during hard braking. Going to experiment with steel braided lines and different brake pads once these are worn out.

The Maintenance. Higher side for sure but not bad enough for it to be a con. The service interval is technically 6 months/6000km kilometers but 1 year/10k works too (costs me around 5k-7.5k per service). Very easy to maintain the bike yourself too so honestly not as bad as it may sound. The spares are also readily available and the localized versions have decently prized parts. The service quality is great though so mainly not cheap but will not burn a hole in your pocket.

The windscreen is useless unless you're elf sized.

The front suspension. Have tested it out on multiple 300s but it's just a bit too soft and the fact that it is not adjustable makes it a con for me. The soft front and the sharper rear shocks means that the bike dives just a bit too much during braking situation and during corners with undulations, it just feels a bit off. The flip side is that it goes over bumps in a way no sports bike should but in my opinion it's a sports bike and I wouldn't mind feeling a bit uncomfortable during bad roads so that it stops with more confidence.

The Cons:

I absolutely loathed the ground clearance. The bottom would scrap on every hump unless you were extremely careful and with a date? The bike would 100% scrape on every hump. Imagine being a college going kid with a Kawasaki Ninja and having to either say no or pray the roads do not have any bumps whenever a girl asked for a ride. A proper Achilles' heel of the bike though has been sorted out now. More on this later.

The front fender design. The way it has been designed means all of the gunk and mud gets properly deflected from getting thrown towards the headlights and instead gets sniper targeted towards the radiator. It took a while for me to realize this and now my radiator has this very nice mud cover. I hate this.

Features. What features? No two ways about this. This bike has two wheels (with ABS, thank god) with an engine and absolutely nothing else. Coming from a RX135, I could not miss something I had never had. I rode the RS457 and it made me feel like I was riding the bike from Akira. The Ninja 300 is a modern sports bike with the personality of a modern retro. Experience biking like it is 1999 I guess?

The alternator. It's so puny it is comical. Kept the bike switched on with the engine off for a few minutes? say goodbye to the battery. The kicker is that the tiny alternator also means you basically need to redline the bike for effectively an hour to charge the battery back up.

The ownership experience has been pleasant with no surprises. Timely general servicing and the bike just works. I trust the bike to the point where I can wake up tomorrow and head to Leh, Kilimanjaro or to get groceries without worrying about a thing.

The Ground Clearance Gremlin

The bike which could not handle basic road humps now has mild offroading abilities!
Pillion + luggage and a cartoon like road bump? Some mild off-roading to reach the final view point? A piece of cake.
The increased raised rear does mean it corners a bit better and the seating is a tad bit more committed. Handlebar raisers planned for my dad who dislikes the newer position.

Rubber Talk

The stock tire is a MRF, do not remember which ones, do not care and if anyone plans on buying a Ninja 300, the first thing I would recommend is for them to drive to the nearest tire shop and get a pair of Metzies or Apollos (or something better). The difference between the stock tires and the pair of decent ones is just night and day and is perhaps the best upgrade you can make to the bike. I had to up-size the rear to 150 section Apollos because I could not source 140 sections from anywhere (not even sure if they make it) but if I could, I would keep the stock size. Up-sizing is very common on this bike and I do not think it's a worthwhile change. There is barely any change if any in grip levels but what you can certainly feel is the increased rotating mass which makes the bike a tad bit sluggish. If I can, I would be reverting to stock size once my current pair wears out provided I can find good tires. (Recommendations appreciated!).

Upgrades/Additions

Apart from a pair of frame sliders, I do not really see myself making any changes to the dynamics of the bike. I believe the engineers who made the bike knew what they were doing and there is no point in meddling with the delicate balance they have set up (except for the GC, which I was compelled to change and front suspension). I would upgrade the front suspension to get a slightly firmer shock if I could but that's easier said than done as most of the after market options are a bit shady and lack the details I would need before making the purchase. The bike is bone stock except for the linkages and a PPF coating for now with the chance of getting handle bar raisers and better brake pads+lines in the future but I am on the fence about that as I would be taking the bike to the track (MMRT or Kari) and the raised handlebars might make it difficult to tuck in.

Closing Thoughts

Would I recommend the Ninja to someone in the market for a twin?
Yes! er- Maybe?
For a lakh more, you get the RS457 which is a better bike in almost every aspect, apart from maybe reliability and even that's a maybe considering Aprilia do not make inherently unreliable bikes either.
For a little lesser, you get the KTM 390 twins which might have more tech and is more powerful but you lose a cylinder.

There are a multitude of options in the market now. When I bought the bike half a decade ago, It was either a Ninja, the R3 or the Benelli TNT300.
Today? we have a 40 BHP bike starting at 1.8L INR, We have Triumphs, An entry level Aprilia supersport, a new generation of the R3 and some cannibalism in the form of the Ninja 400/500.

PS: Despite trying to keep this write up as unbiased as I could, this section is going to have some personal bias so bear with me.

There is no running away from the fact that you are inherently paying ~4.3L INR on-road here in Bangalore for a bike which is over a decade old but what this bike have is heart. Lots and lots of heart.
In a world where new age unapologetic technology often overshadows seasoned demure and elegance, the Kawasaki Ninja 300 stands as a testament to the allure of simplicity and spirit. Though the baby Kawi may be ancient in today’s fleet, its age does not diminish its essence, rather, it continues to offer a blend of reliability and passion for those who seek an entry-level twin with a heart full of racing dreams, enduring charm and wanderlust. Sometimes, perhaps we should start looking beyond the spec sheet to get reminded that true greatness is not bound by time but by the heart of the ride.

On a more realistic note though,
LOCALIZE THE DAMN NINJA 400 KAWASAKI.

A few parting shots!
Cheers!