vibration comparison

[LilNinja77]

Ok, this question is aimed specifially at members who have ridden both the Ninja 250 and the GZ250, preferrably having spent a good deal of time on both bikes (jonathan180, I'm looking in your direction). How is the footpeg vibration in the GZ in comparison to the Ninja? I'm mainly asking because not terribly long ago I had my right foot broken, with a big ol' crack that went from my second toe up about halfway to my ankle. As it is now, on the Ninja the vibration doesn't bother me unless I spend a LONG time riding in one sitting, and even then only if I keep my foot stationary......which I normally don't do, I'm constantly moving my feet around to keep them from getting sore. So, anyone care to give a quick comparison for me? :2tup:

Thanks in advance

Ride safe

[jonathan180iq]

Hey man,

From what I remember, I always had more trouble with vibration in the hands on the Ninja than I ever did with footpeg vibration.

The GZ is just the opposite, in my opinion. I never have any trouble with vibration in the hands, even after I removed the bar-ends weights and installed mirrors. The footpegs do give me some vibration. However, it's more pronounced when I have the balls of my feet on the pegs. When I'm resting on the sole of my foot, I can hardly feel it.
I don't have a broken foot (which sounds pretty wicked, by the way) but it doesn't bother me. It's not really a rattling vibration, just a slight buzz.

Still, with only an 8,000rpm redline and a counter balanced engine, the buzzing isn't as bad as what you might feel around 10k-11k on the Ninja.

I just ordered some sporty anodized footpegs, so we'll see what kind of change that brings to the footpeg vibrato.

Hope this helps,
Jonathan

[LilNinja77]

Thanks a bunch Jonathan. Yeah, 2500 lbs of canned dog/cat food on a palletjack will do some damage when it rolls on to your foot, and then stops :cuss: Chalk that one up to a coworker who was under the influence while we were unloading a truck.......he rolled that thing right up on to my foot, and then the big palletjack wheel rotated once it was on my foot.....thereby ripping my second toe completely out of the joint. As nasty as it sounds it really doesn't hurt me anymore unless I do something stupid (like jumping, running, etc).

I'm very seriously considering moving from the Ninja over to the GZ, my knee is hurting pretty severely these days (yeah my bicycle commuting ended a while back) and I literally can't ride the Ninja without limping afterwards. The way my leg sits while riding puts pressure on the exact spot that I had the surgery on..........so I definitely am looking for something with more of a forward-placed peg arrangement. Actually I'm heading down to Elizabeth City, NC in a little while with a couple friends so we can check out thier motorcycle/atv dealers. I've gotta give it some serious thought before I decide, but a GZ could very well be in my near future.

Ride safe

[Sarris]

I use Kuryakyn Dually pegs.

http://www.kuryakyn.com/products.asp?bn=metric&ci=2875

They provide alot of rubber under foot and are virtually vibration free. Plus they are a heck of alot bigger than standard footpegs & provide excellent foot support, although not quite as good as floorboards

:tup:

[CANDY]

lilninja77, i too have a bad knee.no acl or pcl in right knee ten years now. i am only familiar with the gz250, and i only start getting sore and stiff after an hour or so straight. weekend rides are usually all day. anyway,if you have alot of problems with your knee you might consider a set of highway pegs for movement during your rirdes. they help alot.

[patrick_777]

Just something else to think about is your shoes/boots. Maybe a thicker sole or gel pad would dampen the vibration coming through the pegs. You might have to adjust your controls a bit to conform to the new thickness, but it might actually be a cheaper and faster fix.

I don't know what your foot looks like (that's not an invitation, btw), but if you can make a minor change like that, it might just be worth it in doing things other than riding.

[LilNinja77]

Patrick, thanks for the suggestion, but I ride with high quality boots already........with my Thor's I could probably ride a jackhammer with no vibration issues :lol: Like I said at the beginning, vibration isn't a problem for me on the Ninja......I was asking mainly about the GZ so I could have a comparison of the two. What bothers me on the Ninja is my knee, but that isn't from vibration, it's merely from the seating position and my own pre-existing knee problems. It was REALLY bad when I had the stock seat. Now I have a custom Corbin seat, which is about 2 1/2 inches thicker than the stock seat; a regular Corbin is about 1 inch thicker than stock. The extra height and different shape of the Corbin takes some of the angle/pressure off the knee, but I guess it just isn't enough. I went for a ride this morning before it got so damn hot; before the ride my knee was barely hurting, by time I got off the bike I was limping. I tried different positions for my leg and foot, but no real difference was to be found.

The way I see it, if I decide to trade 'er in, at least now is the time to do it. Dealers can't keep Ninja 250's in stock. The waiting time on the new 08 models is so long that many people are just buying up the older models instead. People are getting ripped off all over the place, check out ebay and craigslist and look at some of the prices Ninja 250's are going for! I'd love to just trade in to a dealer and walk away with a brand-new GZ for no (or little) money out of pocket. Nothing against the GZ but the Ninja is a much higher-demand bike right now and I imagine it's potentially possible depending on the dealer.

Eh, still got a bit to think about though, no decisions made yet.
Ride safe

[primal]

I think just about any 250cc bikes are in high demand right now -- the Ninja's are just a bit higher than most. I had a heck of a time finding a reasonably priced GZ250. Most of the ones for sale in my area were in the $2500+ area. Granted, they were '06 and '07 models with less than 1000 miles, but still, one guy even wanted sticker price for his used '07! I ended up finding an '02 model with 4k miles and paid $1750 for it.