Photography by Brian Blades
“We’ve got an invitation to the 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250R press intro in San Diego,” said Editor-in-Chief Edwards during our weekly editorial staff meeting. “Who’s going?”
All the editorial eyeballs swiveled toward me; they knew I had recent experience racing the little Ninjas, and was a vocal proponent of small-displacement motorcycles. Soon I was on my way to San Diego for the intro, where I posted live coverage of the event to eager Ninja-sters the world over.
The next challenge was to write my first-ever full-sized review for Cycle World. An intimidating task; even though I’ve evaluated almost 100 bikes for other publications, CW is widely read and profoundly influential. Motorcycles have been made or ruined in its pages over the years, and I knew potential Ninja buyers would be looking at my story for many years. The last full test we did on the Ninja 250 was written by young guns David Edwards and Doug Toland in—get this—1986. It’s like being asked to carve a Mount Rushmore-sized monument, except with words. Or not.
So for guidance, I looked to the active community of 250 Ninja riders and fans at the Ninja 250 Riders Club. With roots going back to 1997 and thousands of active participants, it’s the go-to place for those with comments, questions or complaints about quarter-liter sportbiking. There, I asked for feedback about what they would like to see in a story about their favorite bike. Pandering? Hey, it is an election year.
They all had their own ideas of the perfect road test, and if I tried to make everybody happy the story would be too long for Vanity Fair, much less CW. But the common theme of the Ninja listers was this: They wanted it described not just as an ideal beginner’s bike—which is how Kawasaki likes to position it—but also as a choice for experienced enthusiasts. After all, you see the 250R at racetracks, on extended tours, even in the grueling Ironbutt Rally. Not exactly the bop-down-to-the-store-in-shorts sort of usage most small-displacement machines see in these parts. So my story focused on not only what made the Ninjette a good first bike, but also what makes it fun for riders of all skill levels.
The final step for me (but not for Road Test Editor Don Canet, who weighed, dynoed and otherwise evaluated the heck out of the little blue bike) was modeling for our grizzled—and very capable—master photographer Brian Blades. I had been on plenty of motorcycle photo shoots before, but I had never spent so much time getting it right as I did with Brian. Over and over I would ride through the same corner, trying to get that extra degree of lean angle to make me look like a rock star. The shot we used on page 76 is nicely lit, with no shadow anywhere. How did he do it? If you look closely, you can see that the bike is cresting an almost invisible rise, which perfectly conceals the shadow. I asked Brian if he had planned to snap the shutter at that instant.
“Does it look good?” asked Blades.
“Yeah, it does,” I responded.
“Then I planned it.”
