Kawasaki Ninja 400. Could be a decent A2 lightweight

jigger · 1 Dec 2017 at 13:22

45ps, reasonably light and pretty high reving. But £5400...

www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/products/Supersport/2018/Ninja_400/overview?Uid=0900CVEMDl1RUVFcUVkJXFBdXwkJDA1eXgkKUVhYCgpaDl4

Kreeeee · 1 Dec 2017 at 15:16

The KTM 390 seems better in every way.

jigger · 1 Dec 2017 at 17:43

Yeah the KTM looks good but I think a 10,000 RPM twin would be lot better than a single especially at the top end.

BUDFORCE · 1 Dec 2017 at 21:08

I think you would be insane to drop five and a bit grand on that personally.

If you want speed hate to say it but you gotta wait and get your full license, I would look at a used bike to tide you over, get a dual sport to start off with and have fun with it. Yamaha do a great 250 street legal dirt bike, drop it and just pick it up again an go, or Suzuki do a 400 (drz is it?) Anyway trying to get a sportsbike on a restricted license like those kids that but the Aprillia rs125's cus they got 5mph faster than the far more reliable, practical and just about better in every way Japanese counterparts.

Ok I'm done

Diddums · 2 Dec 2017 at 10:26

BUDFORCE said:
I think you would be insane to drop five and a bit grand on that personally.

If you want speed hate to say it but you gotta wait and get your full license, I would look at a used bike to tide you over, get a dual sport to start off with and have fun with it. Yamaha do a great 250 street legal dirt bike, drop it and just pick it up again an go, or Suzuki do a 400 (drz is it?) Anyway trying to get a sportsbike on a restricted license like those kids that but the Aprillia rs125's cus they got 5mph faster than the far more reliable, practical and just about better in every way Japanese counterparts.

Ok I'm done

An RS125 has more than double the power of a 4 stroke 125

TallPaul1878 · 2 Dec 2017 at 11:13

If you're buying an A2 bike in the knowledge that you'll be moving up to a full license and bigger bike in the future then I don't really see the wisdom in spending a lot of money on an A2 bike.

I don't a really see these kind of bikes as "young rider friendly". I see them more as an entry point back into motorcycles for someone who has previously given up or maybe an older rider who doesn't want all that power anymore.

It's a lot of money for a young rider who may be more likely to drop it and then be gutted they've knocked the fairing off a bike that cost the best part of £6000

BUDFORCE · 2 Dec 2017 at 13:22

Hmm I might even buy a DRZ400 looks fun.

jigger · 2 Dec 2017 at 15:11

TallPaul1878 said:
If you're buying an A2 bike in the knowledge that you'll be moving up to a full license and bigger bike in the future then I don't really see the wisdom in spending a lot of money on an A2 bike.

I don't a really see these kind of bikes as "young rider friendly". I see them more as an entry point back into motorcycles for someone who has previously given up or maybe an older rider who doesn't want all that power anymore.

It's a lot of money for a young rider who may be more likely to drop it and then be gutted they've knocked the fairing off a bike that cost the best part of £6000

Yeah the price is bonkers for the standard of machine on offer. The EU licencing laws and manufactures pricing has killed the lightweight bike market.

jigger · 2 Dec 2017 at 15:29

BUDFORCE said:
I think you would be insane to drop five and a bit grand on that personally.

If you want speed hate to say it but you gotta wait and get your full license, I would look at a used bike to tide you over, get a dual sport to start off with and have fun with it. Yamaha do a great 250 street legal dirt bike, drop it and just pick it up again an go, or Suzuki do a 400 (drz is it?) Anyway trying to get a sportsbike on a restricted license like those kids that but the Aprillia rs125's cus they got 5mph faster than the far more reliable, practical and just about better in every way Japanese counterparts.

Ok I'm done

It's a 400cc bike so even without the silly laws you have a limited performance level. The baby 250 R bikes of the 90's make more power than the A2 bikes of today.

BUDFORCE · 2 Dec 2017 at 18:03

jigger said:
Yeah the price is bonkers for the standard of machine on offer. The EU licencing laws and manufactures pricing has killed the lightweight bike market.

Agreed on this, thinking about it there really isn't much in the 125-500cc range other than those over priced restricted license bikes that are just pretend big bikes.

jigger said:
It's a 400cc bike so even without the silly laws you have a limited performance level. The baby 250 R bikes of the 90's make more power than the A2 bikes of today.

Depends on what you are looking for, I have no idea about the way bike licenses work now, when I passed my test I could just ride anything, but after 16 years of motorcycling, nothing attracts me to a super sports bike.

Much prefer smaller lighter bikes provided they have plenty of torque to keep it fun, and character, better to ride a slow bike fast then a fast bike slow.

Plus more license friendly.

But I've dunno how restricted an A2 license is?

jigger · 2 Dec 2017 at 18:27

Not sure. It seems the EU have a max HP and max power to weight figure.

Captain · 3 Dec 2017 at 14:08

Max of 47bhp and no more than a 50% reduction in power.

So anything over 92bhp can’t be restricted for A2.

Kreeeee · 3 Dec 2017 at 16:41

Clov!s said:
Max of 47bhp and no more than a 50% reduction in power.

So anything over 92bhp can’t be restricted for A2.

You also have a limit of 0.2 kW/kg, taken from here: https://www.gov.uk/motorcycle-test/motorcycles-mopeds-you-can-use

That second limit is why the new Duke 390 weighs more than the old one

IC3 · 21 Dec 2017 at 03:18

Clov!s said:
Max of 47bhp and no more than a 50% reduction in power.

So anything over 92bhp can’t be restricted for A2.

94* and no more than 0.2kW per kg

Dogbreath · 21 Dec 2017 at 11:19

Kreeeee said:
The KTM 390 seems better in every way.

Sorry, don't mind me, assumed to meat the Duke!

Scooby_WR1 · 21 Dec 2017 at 12:39

The prices of some of these A2 bikes are crazy, look at the street triple A2 for example, it's nearly 8k FFS.

stuie · 21 Dec 2017 at 12:47

meh, if you want a learner bike pick up an old cbr400 gullarm can be had for around 1500 quid and easy parts access

Diddums · 21 Dec 2017 at 19:46

Can't beat an old Jap IL4 screamer. A CBR400RR Baby blade does like 17k rpm or something nuts.

IC3 · 21 Dec 2017 at 23:27

Few swearies possibly...

BUDFORCE · 23 Dec 2017 at 07:19

stuie said:
meh, if you want a learner bike pick up an old cbr400 gullarm can be had for around 1500 quid and easy parts access

Exactly plus they are still fantastic bikes