1987 250 NINJA - what to look for before buying?

[Anonymous]

I'm going to have a look at one with a girl. It's got 20,000 km on it and selling for 500 CDN. It has a new battery as of yesterday but was not put on the road by the previous owner who bought it last year for 1200 CDN.

Are these things any good? Any SNAFUs with them? I'm going to do everything a mechanic would do for a safety check before deciding whether it's a money pit or not.

Thanks, Steve

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah, what size socket do I need to take the spark plug out? It's gotta be a single since it's only a 250 so I figure it's worth having a peak.

Steve

[Detman101]

The engines, if taken care of, only get about 50,000 miles.
If abused you'll get 30,000 max or less.

Dm of mD

[Dink]

The 87 250 Ninja is a twin, the main problem they face as with most 250's is being constantly flat out, this generally shows up first in the camchain and tensioner, the other preoblem they face is being crashed and bent so take a close look inside fairing panels looking for repairs. I am not sure the socket size you will need but anyone with a spark plug listing can tell you as these books also give dimensions.
Dink

[Pete's GS]

A 250 Ninja's a good bike. I wouldn't know about longevity but they rev to 14,000 and Kawasaki certainly builds strong motors. I wouldn't be concerned, and what a great bike to learn on ! I imagine the sparkplug takes a 22 mm socket.

[Dink]

Steve I actually suspect they are 19mm or even 17mm as Kawasaki went to smaller plugs about that time. But a spark plug catalogue can tell you exactly.
Dink

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help guys, the bike was bought by the first person who looked at it in the end. We'll have to try again later.

Steve