Ninja 250R MPG - Real World Numbers
So, I noticed this month that lots of “Letters to the Editor” of the major bike magazines had lots of chatter about the Ninja 250R (mainly because it’s been about 3 months since all the reviews… ) — And quite a few people were picking on the 250R for the published “low” fuel economy numbers, considering MPG’s are one of the main selling points for a 250. Most magazines saw between 45-50MPG.. (still pretty impressive…)
First a few things about the Magazine Reviews: Their bikes were non broken in brand new bikes. And I can say from experience, the first ~500 miles on the 250R you see in the 40-50 Range. Also, most of the riding from the reviews was very spirited “Lets ring this suckah out!” review riding.. Which of course will be lower than the avg riders daily sprint around town. So, I’m pretty sure these published numbers a waaaay off (and thats from my personal experience…)
In addition, Kawasaki added a new MPG Page to their site listing the Ninjette @ 61MPG. I haven’t seen 61MPG.. with ~1000 miles on the ODO — I got 57MPG last take. And that was with mostly 55MPH around town stop and go riding. (This is also on a Jetted Bike…)
So please - My fellow 2Fiddyr’s — Post up in the comments what your real world MPG’s are, what your mods are, mileage, and what your riding environment/style is… And for our International readers — Chime in! Tell us what the FI models are doing!
Update: Please specify the year as well if the MPG numbers are not from 2008+ models! — Thanks!
Mr. 2Fiddy Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Style: Around Town Spirited
Mods: Jet Kit / Exhaust
Miles: 1000+
MPG: 57 MPG
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Mike Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 10:54 am
Style: Leisure Riding
Mods: Jetted, Exhaust, 15T Sprocket
Miles: 1000+
MPG: 59 MPG
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jessincase Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
style:commuter
mods:none yet
miles 2000+
MPG 70+
alternate style: back country twisties with 90 mph straights
Mods: still none
Miles:2000+
MPG 60ish
Yep same bike…. jumped about 5MPG after the first 1000, and another 5 MPG after 1500
soon to be adding 15t sprocket to help with highway cruising RPMs, and no I dont ride like your Grandma!
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Julian Emmett Turner Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
You need to make sure everyone only reports 2008 250R numbers. It’s not specified anywhere! This is the problem I’ve had with all forums. Even threads in the ‘08 section of some 25R forums get responses from people talking about their classic 250R without specifying (until you ask, of course). This has made it very difficult to get good results.
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gixxerkiller Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
2008 250r
mods: none
style: wide open on twistes and str8s
miles:999
mpg:45
fuel:93octane
i only ride on twisty bayou roads, no cayons in south louisiana, and i get just over 45mpg. but i also weigh 200lbs. in full riding gear. i think weight would have alot to do with mpg casue someone 120lbs woulds see substaionally better fuel numbers on a bike with only 28hp.
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Mike Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 5:56 pm
Everything on this website has been about the 08′ 250’s i think the people got the point…..
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Taufik from Indonesia Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
Style: Leisure Riding
Mods: None yet
Miles: 500
MPG: ? MPG its about 30 km for 1 L Fuel
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Mr. 2Fiddy Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 7:27 pm
Ahh Shit Tafik! You’re going to make us Yanks do Math?
30Km/Liter is 70MPG!!! You 100% sure about that? You’re FI over there if I’m not mistaken..
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scorch Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
I guess im the only one getting 75mpg on average! with a high of 79!!!
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Mike Said,
June 30, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
scorch what are you doing 25 in a 55?
MB
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Owen Said,
July 1, 2008 @ 3:08 am
almost 6000kms (3800 miles) and ive got two brothers pipe with no carbie mods….
and the best ive seen is around 28km/L with a worst of about 12km/L
i might add that fuel consumption goes out the window and 100mph hehehe but boy is it fun
im in australia, so we got the US carbie version not the euro FI version
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Reddoak Said,
July 1, 2008 @ 11:55 am
2008
Miles: 2500
Mods: Shimmed carb needles, removed snorkus, 2 Bros. slip on
MPG: Around 55-60.
I got 64 MPG on my last tank, but that’s above the normal. Mix of street, some highway. It got a little better after the 1st 1000 miles or so. Celly, 1000 miles? You need to ride more, dude.
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Mr. 2Fiddy Said,
July 1, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
Owen:
Damn skippy I need to ride more! Just been traveling a ton lately, and when I am home, the weather has just been crappy… It sucks!
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ghillie Said,
July 1, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Stock, except for the needles shimmed .040. 760 miles, and still in a quasi break-in mode. Plan to try for real mpg numbers after 1200 mark, and switching to synthetic oil. Been getting 55-62 mpg so far though.
One thing I noticed, I’m still seeing a little suspended metal in my oil changes. Changed at 50, 100, 200, 400, 650. Plan to change it at 900 and then to synthetic at 1200. There was a lot of suspended metal at the first change, which is pretty normal. But to have it still being noticable after 5 oil changes tells me this motor is less refined than most coming off the line. Most my bikes in the past have been pretty much done with suspended metal in the oil by the 3rd oil change. A little disappointing.
On an off topic note, also disappointed by the failures so far as well. I have the tach problem mentioned on Kawiforums, and my gas gauge went dead last week. I have yet to get my service manual, but my guess is it’s the float switch. I wonder if the quality of workmanship went down by having them built in Thailand? I know when Kawasaki started having their ZX11’s built in Nebraska by the Cornhuskers, there were lots of attention to detail problems. Hopefully nothing major will happen with this bike, but not so confident at this point.
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DJAZ Said,
July 2, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
2008 250r
Mods:Jet,AreaP,Snorkel,Tuned Carbs,SyntheticOil,New seals and rings on Clutch cover,fender eliminator
Style:under 4000k shifting for break in, and since then like I hate it. (p.s. - but I love it.
Miles:898
MPG: Well, 72 mpg on my first tank before mods and in break-in.
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DJAZ Said,
July 2, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
(..cont)
MPG: after mods dropped to about 55-60 MPG with 1 1/2 fill-ups. (filled early for long trip)
The jet pours fuel but the power gain is sweet. The original was definately over 70, we set the counter right away, I couldn’t believe how we stretched the tank. Is everyone measuring from a bone dry tank? Or a pan? ’cause the gas gauge isn’t extremely accurate.
I think the fender eliminator reduced drag…:)
I weigh 180lbs
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ghillie Said,
July 3, 2008 @ 11:45 am
I think DJAZ brings up a very good point. The size of the rider should be included in the data gathering. Clearly this bike will be affected by weight and even height of the rider, much more so than a bigger/more powerful bike.
Me 155 and 5-08.
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eflyersteve Said,
July 3, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
@ ghillie - With changing your oil so frequently, and the subsequent first start low oil pressure situation, I wonder if the reason you are seeing so much metal in your oil is that you’re eating the motor before it can wear in. Things are still pretty tight in there so running with low oil pressure for the few seconds at startup after a change is pretty harmful. I just changed mine for the second time at 1000 miles. First was at a couple hundred. I got a lot of sparkles in that first one. The second was had a little, but not much. I know many people are recommending a very frequent change cycle when new, but I wonder if it’s really such a good idea. I’m not downing what you are doing so please don’t take it the wrong way. Just thinking out lout more than anything. Of course as you mention, it could very easily be poor tolerance control in the engine.
My stats:
08 250
shimmed needles
15 sprocket
48-60mpg
me - 210 lbs
most riding 60-70mph with a little on 35mph streets.
Fuel mileage on first tank with no mods was 60 but I drove it like a granny, trying to stay under 4000 rpm. With 15t sprocket (and hitting the highway), first tank was 48 and it has slowly been creeping back up. Sitting just over 1000 miles.
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DJAZ Said,
July 4, 2008 @ 2:35 am
@eflyersteve: You are the only person who has ever noticed this. Whether it be car or bike or 4-stroke lawnmowers…I find that too frequent oil changes are HARMFUL to most engines. How could that be? people always ask me. And I reply,”pressure man.”
When you get crankcase pressure stabilized any particles are suspended in the oil. THus,while they may slowly, over time, machine the internals they are covered in oil and are quite effectively lubricated like everything else. Other than the inital particulates from the break in, oil changes should be less frequent for street bikes, in my opinion. Racing means a lot of sideways running and that means extra stress, so you should be doing all kinds of maintenenece when you race, including oil changes and bench break-in.
synthetic oil is a huge improvement in building case pressure because it rejects penetration by air bubbles. When you “change the oil” you are opening the case to outside air pressure and this introduces a low pressure environment in the subsequent running. In the low pressure environment parts are thinly covered and oil moves off surfaces causing the very wear you were cleaning out to occur until the pressure stabilizes. It stabilizes after a bit because of the heat moving gasses out and the shutdown cooling creating a higher pressure state eventually. Ever try to crank a sealed engine versus an open engine? Well that same vacuum occurs by heat transfer in the crankcase.
yes, vacuum hoses, I know. They are in a sealed loop.
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Bthornhill Said,
July 5, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
Interest explanation DJAZ. Eflyersteve brought up a valid point that I did not think about. My new 2008 250R should be coming into the dealer this next week where hopefully I can pick it up and start riding. Its taking forever and I am getting very anxious…..What do you guys think about the two totally different approaches to breaking your bike in? I’m 99% sure that I am going to try the ride it hard method as explain earlier on this site in an interesting post. I’ve always done it the other way so this will be a new experience. Maybe using the run it hard method for break in might increase reliability and gas mileage in the long run. When it was explained where I could understand the thought behind the harder break-in process, it really made technical sense. I will use discretion and care when doing this as I won’t ride it like I was 18 again and rented it. I don’t intend on riding the new bike at 14 grand every where but I do plan on running the bike on a open, safe road say like in second gear with a roll on to full power run say like to 10 grand rpm. I will then release the throttle and let the compression breaking slow me down to a manageable, costing speed where I will do this again for 3rd gear, 4th gear, and fifth. Then I will let the bike complete cool down where I will start the process over a again a few more time. After this, I will ride it easier but not babying it until I put 800 to 1000 miles where I then plan on doing the airbox mods, exhaust and carb mods. Any thoughts or input from anyone. Please chime in and share your opinions.
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Jake Reply:
August 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 am
wise move. the only way to break in a engine is under load, and not revving it (beyond the point of max power)
i am a diesel mechanic and use this approach when running in a $200, 000 (1000hp / 2400ftlb, v12) engine and it works every time.
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Bryan Thornhill Reply:
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Thanks for your reply as I appreciate your input.
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bthornhill Reply:
September 12th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I weight 190 ibs
Acessories: I used the100 main jets from Dynojet kit, Area P exhaust, snorkle removed and hole dremeled out to a larger size
type of riding: around town with bursts of healthy acceleration, some highway 75mph, also times where I drag race it through the gears from 1st gear all the way through 6th at 13 grand shifting points
I’ve got 1000 miles on my bike where the tank was bone dry and I put 4 gallons in it to refill it. I managed to run 242 miles out of that tank where I almost ran it out of gas. That averages out to 60mpg. I expect that to jump a small amount when I make the switch to synthetic oil and some more miles put on the bike. I’m happy
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ghillie Said,
July 5, 2008 @ 10:00 pm
Interesting debate on the oil change issue. I doubt what I’m seeing is from that. First of all I have only changed the filter once, so start up (up to pressure) is the same as if I hadn’t changed the oil anyway. I’m changing the oil, but leaving the filter in place. But I do agree the most wear occurs at start up and is acerbated after changing oil. But with a fresh oil change there is significant oil in the rod and crank journals (and likely even on the cylinder walls, much more so than after the bike has set a week plus.
I really doubt the amount of suspended metal I’m seeing has anything to do with frequent oil changes. I wouldn’t still be doing frequent oil changes if the dropped oil was clearing up. What I’m seeing is either due to poor/old style engine build, or I could possibly have a problem internal to the motor, but if it was that, I would expect it to be getting worse instead of a little better each time and perhaps some small flakes/chunks would start appearing. Also there is no evidence of any oil consumption at this point, although I not going very long between changes, so it likely would be difficult to see much in the way of consumption. But the fill line is exactly at the same point when I drop oil as after I fill after a change. If the engine was on it’s way to destruction, oil consumption would likely be noticeable.
Having been involved in building many engines, and breaking in countless engines over the years, my experiance tells me that this motor is just old school in it’s method of manufacture. I’m not surprised as the price tells a lot. Better engine manufacture, requires less for break-in but it costs more.
As for anyone that choses to leave their oil in the motor for very long during the break-in process and after the break-in if they still see suspended metal go against the recommendations by top engine builders, and common sense…..but each to their own, it’s our toy we get to do with it as we please.
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DJAZ Said,
July 7, 2008 @ 12:28 am
@ghillie: I respect your obvious experience and hard earned skill. I will second your assertion concerning the build quality, though I have to wonder exactly WHAT is so roughly machined as to provide substantial metal flaking after 500 miles on your twin? I thought the break-in was for the seals and rings not final machining for internal components
And aren’t these parts cast?
Just in case anyone misunderstood, you DO definately have to change the oil. Just don’t do it every month unless you have been riding hard. And go synthetic after break in. Substantial particulates must be removed.
2 cents
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ghillie Said,
July 8, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
No problem DJAZ, you don’t know me and in the interest of not going on and on like a blow hard, I have kept things short and sweet. And for all you or anyone else here, I could be F.O.S.
Don’t get me wrong, there are no flakes, or other. What I mentioned is metal suspended in the oil, (held in suspension in the oil like oil is supposed to do). So if you put the oil pan out in the sun and stir gently with your fingertip, the oil will have an appearance of very fine metal flake paint. In a motor that is manufactured with modern tech, the cylinders are so perfectly round, they require little if any break-in for ring seating. So the cylinder walls from the factory are not honed to the degree that older manufacturing processes use. Less honing, smoother cylinders, less metal shed from the cylinders.
As for where the metal can come from is numerous. It can be stuff that is left inside the motor at assy when there isn’t great care in making sure all that assy metal is removed (my GXSR had flakes of yellow paint in the first couple changes). The surface of the gear teeth, (where the most shear takes place in a motorcycle motor) can shed metal during break-in, etc.
As for my motor, each time I drain, there is less and less metal in suspension. If not, I would be concerned there was a problem. I really don’t believe there is a problem, but what I’m seeing is more indicative of at least old school manufacturing, and at most sloppy workmanship.
As for synthetics, I completely agree with you, synthetics are the way to go after you are sure your motor is broke in. And not all synthetics are created equal, so do your research.
See, now you did it to me DJAZ, I ran off at the mouth more than I should.
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DJAZ Said,
July 9, 2008 @ 2:41 am
@ghillie:But it was worth it! Thanks for the great info!
Yellow paint? That’s a new low for them. My ‘ol gsxr750 (rest ‘ye soul great warrior) was SLUDGE the first change. Someone told me they might have left in the finishing compund at the factory. Had to be flushed and checked internally. Shifting was rather difficult at first…..Wicked bike, absolutely and totally wicked.
I miss it terribly. But hey, this 250r is it’s own fun! And I’m about 60% more likely to die smiling!
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Owen Said,
July 15, 2008 @ 2:17 am
Mr. 2fiddy:
we’ve got guys over here on a kawasaki forum who have over 11,000kms on theirs…!!! one guy was seeing what people had been quoted for the 12,000km service…. needless to say no-one else really had any clue!!!
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Bard Fosse Said,
August 19, 2008 @ 2:46 am
FI Model no mods, normal driving around up to I get 70 mpg and really heavy driving on twisties 60 - 62 mpg. Fuel consumption does not really break the bank that’s for sure…
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Bard Fosse Said,
August 20, 2008 @ 7:17 am
Here is my latest test results on the FI version, driving on country roads at around 55mph I manage with low load to do 93 mpg, city driving in heavy traffic give 58 mpg and road racing ends up with 43 mpg. I average at around 70 mpg which is very good. I tested this with 500 miles of driving to be certain of the results.
A comment on assy in Thailand, since they make BMW, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, Mazda, Chevrolet, Izusu etc cars there and Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki motorbikes there for a long time (The area they build them is called Detroit of the East) I would not be worried over quality issues. I have lived there for 9 years and had mostly Honda’s which were all assy in Thailand with no problems, all my cars have been assy over there to for the last 9 years with no problems with quality ever. All of the factories have Foreign management who ensure full factory compliance, so again I would not be concerned over that fact.
The Ninjette I bought in Thailand has Euro specs except there is no 33 bhp limiter on them, so it is pretty nice ride. I talked with Area-P who will ship me a quiet kit which needs a small mod to work on FI versions, when I get it I will dyno the bike before and after and post the results. However knowing the customs I do not expect it to come for a while.
I am also talking with a dealer of a FI kit over there, when I get the details I will post them, it would then be possible to upgrade a carb to a FI unlimited one.
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Ling Said,
September 6, 2008 @ 1:02 am
Mods / dropped
1700+ miles
215 lbs driver
mostly all 65 - 70mph, freeway driving
avg 53mpg, high of 55mpg
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milkmood Said,
October 30, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
My 250 is a 2007, bought last October, 2007. No mods.
I get 30 city - 35 hwy . . . and I reek like gas all the time…won’t idle right…runs very rich…hard to start…what is wrong? Been doing this since it was new. I figured it was just because it’s carbeurated. HELP!!! I can’t afford the gas with this kind of mileage! It’s the whole reason I got the bike in the first place. Might as well have a car again.
milkmood@gmail.com
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