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I picked up a 2005 Ninja 250 a dozen days ago and I did my first fillup today -- 129.9 miles, 1.876 gal gas: 69.24 mpg.

I should note that I wasn't even remotely hypermiling. It's been a week of "how fast does this thing accelerate" or "how does it feel at 80 mph" or "how fast will it go from 55 to 80" or "how fast can I get to 35 mph from a dead stop" type of driving. :D

I read a saying recently that I can now confirm: It's more fun to drive a slow bike fast, that to drive a fast bike slow. Anyway, I'm having some dinner and then hitting the road. ;-)

oops, I checked my notes, it was 1.867 gallons. That makes 69.58 mpg. :)

Wow, that's great. The Ninja 250 is one of the bikes that I may consider after I graduate in a few years. Looks like it has the potential for some impressive mileage, which is always good to see. How much did you end up paying for yours?

$2200 -- brand new they are $3500 and a bit redesigned.

It has absolutely no problem cruising along at 60 - 70 mph. I'm really impressed with this bike -- much more so than I expected. I'm glad I went this route instead of a 150 or larger scooter.

Anagama,

I had a few tanks on my TW200 in the high 60s when I was doing similar stuff. I'd expect you to be getting mid 80s if you keep it down around 40mph. What kind of Rs do you turn at 50mph? I'm currently trying to figure out a way to find optimal gear ratio for a specific speed that will give the best efficiency. I'd like to know how your bike is geared. Currently in top gear my spedometer is my tach. 45mph is 4500rpm. How does your bike run out?

The Rider -- Chastise me for I have sinned. I have backslid hard!

67.34 mpg this last fillup.

I'm not sure about RPMs at 45 mph -- I can say at 60 it's at 7000 RPMs. I've been playing around on this bike a bit too much. :D

On the second tank, I tried a bunch of stuff most of which kind of disconcerted me. For example, FAS at 50 while trying to get into Neutral is not something I plan on trying again. I rode the clutch a lot but I got to thinking that would be counter productive if it does wear out the clutch sooner. I kept my lights on low rather than bright.

This time around I've been clearly going too fast. I can take an alternate route that is the same distance --- I really need to start that. I've been running my brights because summer suddenly arrived and all the goofballs are out in droves.

I'm planning on upping my front sprocket to 15t from the current 14. From what I've read, it drops 60 mph RPMs by 500, makes first gear useful, and doesn't really affect the power much.

I know you get stellar MPGs -- are you FASing? Riding the clutch? If so, what is your opinion on whether riding the clutch is bad?

I don't FAS. I NOC using the clutch. I could FAS using the clutch if I hit the kill. I could then restart by re-engaging. I may have to start trying that, however, I just don't see big advantages to that with a bike since the aerodynamic drag is so huge compared to the inertial energy of the bike. I've got the kill switch right there under my left thumb. I may have to try it.

I just finished a tank at 94.04 with the 15t front on mine. The new 15/40 seems to increase mpg some. I haven't been really hitting the hypermiling so much lately. I haven't been antimiling like most people I see but I've been milktoastmiling. :)

94 is pretty good but my tank full on a friday morning just sucks because I know I'll be trailing some this weekend and that will drag me down into the high 80s. I may have to just fill up on monday regardless of how much I've got left. I really don't want to change much though. I went with full 97 octane this time. 87 to 92 gains me about 5mpg. I'm guessing 97 will probably drag me the other way. We'll see. You might try mid-grade when you get your MPG settled in.

I'll experiment with FAS/OC (on clutch) and see. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about wearing out the clutch pushrod. Every bike I've ever worked on (not that many but a few), its been really easy to change. Pull right cover, replace pushrod. I've only had to do it once, years ago on a TL125 Honda. I wore that bike out 3 times and had to change the rod once.

ouch! But I never had to replace any transmission shafts!!! (...thoughts of flying bits of aluminum alloy just passed through my brain within thoughts of that ninja heading for 2nd gear at 50mph.)

Grats! I'm not really a fan of sportbike styling, but darn it, I like Ninja 250's. It's one of those fun little bikes that remains fun even when your motorcycling skill has progressed to where you could go with a bigger/faster bike. I wouldn't mind one as a toy someday. Pretty good bike for the price too, even new.