As much as I love my Ruckus, maxing out at 42MPH on my 26 mile ride to work was getting a little old. Two hours per day was more than I wanted to spend commuting each day for the rest of my life.

So it was time for the Ruckus to grow up! Enter the Ninja.

The plan was to chew up some PTO and get the Motorcycle Safety Course out of the way. I spent Turkey Day weekend getting up at 6AM and driving to Daytona to learn the ins and outs of riding a real motorcycle. Overall, it was a fun experience. I'd recommend it to anyone who has an itch for this niche.

I didn't intend on picking up a bike immediately after, but I fell in love with the Ninja 250 (who I already had feelings for) over my two days of learning on one. That was, in fact, one of the criteria that drove me to Adventure Rider Training, by the way.





So I scoured Craigslist, made some calls, and set up a spreadsheet covering all of my options. I nearly drove to Miami to pick one up, but it was unfortunately sold out from under me.





After trying out a few (probably not enough, but whatever) bikes, I settled on the pretty red ride below. By the day after I finished my course, I already had a bike!


A great thing about 250 Ninjas is that they are low commitment. I could pick up an '07 for about as cheap as another Ruckus, and likely sell it off a while later for close to what I bought it for - there's always a market. Luckily, the Ruckus is the same way.

My first week was not nice to me, bringing freezing early morning weather. But I managed it to bring it in for a little show 'n tell. It's taken over the Ruckus' spot right outside my window for all to see.


Upon introduction to the MindComet team, I found that one of us had a ninja in the past. Unfortunately, he had to let it go due to storage limitations - poor guy!


So it's the end of the week, and I'm on my third day in. It's also my second day on the highway. I thought it would be terrifying, but in fact, it's just boring! I'll have to mix up my daily routes.

What's in the Ruckus' future? It'll stay around for a bit. It may even go to another MindCometeer. One of the first inquiries about the bike was "Are you going to sell the Ruckus?" Hopefully it'll stay in the family.

But what's in the Ninja's future? It'll likely pick up where the Ruckus left off. I wanted to take some long trips on the Ruckus, but the farthest I got was south of Orlando, a 60 mile trip home. Those two hours were a pain in the butt, showing me that any real touring would require a bigger motor, or a real bike.

I just may take it home to Jupiter for the holidays. Stay tuned!
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