Ninja 250 into Cafe Project

catseye

catseye

Active Member
I ride a Kawasaki KZ900, and for the type of riding I mostly do, it is a very heavy bike. Plus, I foresee travelling with the SO, and would like to drive a bike up into the pickup easily. The KZ is just not that kind of bike.
Enter the Ninja 250, which is their most popular bike, virtually unchanged for close to 20 years, which means low acquisition prices and plenty of parts. A cafe racer is just begging to be done....
Here is the first bike, a 1990 model that I picked up for a song:

intruck.jpg


I have had a cafe style tank just looking for a project like this, so I think I will be using this as my starting point :

mojavi1.jpg


I also found a '99 250, so my idea is to build them both, and sell one in the spring

First order of business will be to get this bike up and running after 18 months in a shed....then a seat system, gauges and a headlight
 
Awesome...I had one of these for my first bike....I always hated the way it looked but it got incredible gas mileage...bit of a slug on the highway in stock form i once got beat by a jeep cherokee
 
The '88-'07 Ninja 250s have 16" wheels, which are OK. I highly recommend grabbing the front and rear wheels from an '08-'12 Ninja 250 which are 17" so you can have better tire selection.
 
while waiting for carb rebuild kit, I've been messing around with mock-ups some more:

seat.jpg


well, rebuilt the carbs, she runs nice and smooth, no funny noises anywhere, so it's time to take this thing down to Moto Motivo and Johann, who builds some of the wildest 2 wheeled creations east of the Mississippi, for a little fabrication work. He will probably advise to lose the seat if using that tank... This will be a minor job for him, this is the kind of thing he would probably rather be doing:

custom-ducati.jpg


and..

1017321_655059517863901_6863602306245704199_n.jpg
 
I always thought the EX250 would be a good candidate for a cafe, for the same basic reasons you outlined. Cheap and plentiful, decenet lines, performance is good for such a small bike, plenty of aftermarket, etc etc etc. I'm on board with this!
 
there's a place making kits for them too.

http://bluecollarbobbers.com/kawasaki-ninja-250-cafe-racer-aka-gpx-250r
 
Watching this, I really like the idea of someof the newer sport bikes but not sure I like the fairings and plastic looks, will be watching to see how this goes.
 
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