KTM RC390 vs. Ninja 300 vs. Honda CBR300R vs. Yamaha R3 vs. Ducati Scrambler Sixty2 vs. BMW G310r vs

[mean dad]

Lines are a PITA to change/ bleed with ABS. There's miles of it, and all kinds of nooks where air can get trapped. Gravity is almost always working against you, and no easy way to remove parts to fix that.

I don't believe that to be the case.

 

[MysterYvil]

Congrats, OP!

Ms. Bad Example had on '06 Ninjette for years. It was awesomely reliable, and did two-up on the freeway no problem, long trips with baggage no problem.

Only mod it needed was a steel front brake line. The original tended to balloon.

Seatwise, Corbin doesn't yet make one. However, when I got my '09 650R they didn't yet make one for him either. I called them, they borrowed him for a couple of days, made a pair and gave me one of them practically free.

 

[Manimal]

OP, welcome to the club!

I've had a old Gen 250, new gen 250, and now the 300, fyi.

Coming from a GSXR 600 prior to getting the 300, there were a few things that I felt that needed immediate improving; braking and suspension. Adding a SS front line made a significant difference. The stock pads are adequate. I don't track or race it to feel the need to replacing them with sintered pads. As for suspension, I looked into suspension upgrades. Knowing that I don't plan to hang onto the bike forever, I sought from the Ninja forum that would help improve my handling confidence; adding only a Pirelli Rosso II front. Made a big difference. I ran the stock rear to end of life and had recently replaced it with a Rosso II rear.

Fortunately, buying used, the previous owner went +1 on the front sprocket, so freeway RPM's aren't bad at all

Otherwise, the 300 is quite fun riding through the tight stuff.

OH! after reading the responses of the R3, I plan to stay with the 300 for a while longer

 

[WhoAteMySoup]

Corbin does make a seat for the Ninja 300, I have one, and it does help with the longer rides. A popular mod for the Ninja 300 is a GSXR600 rear shock, that fits the Ninja with a bit of grinding, I don't have one installed, so I don't know how big of a difference it makes.

 

[Pluot]

No comparison here. Just wanted to say I've been on the R3 and it is so~~~~ fun. Seriously considered as my next bike and I'm on a SV.

 

[mrzuzzo]

Lmao. That initial brake jerk realizing how strong the front brakes were... Almost did a huge stoppie on the off ramp in front of a CHP motor on accident ..

Coming off a Diavel with Brembo supersport brakes... the Ninja just feels incredibly weak, I really have to mash on the brake to get it to stop the same way the Diavel does.

Corbin does make a seat for the Ninja 300, I have one, and it does help with the longer rides. A popular mod for the Ninja 300 is a GSXR600 rear shock, that fits the Ninja with a bit of grinding, I don't have one installed, so I don't know how big of a difference it makes.

So it's good for the Ninja 300?

I've seen Corbin seats and I have one for the Diavel. To be honest, Corbin quality is kinda shitty. They make their seat pans out of granite lined with lead, and the fitment isn't great, and the seats themselves are IMO too firm.

OP, welcome to the club!
Coming from a GSXR 600 prior to getting the 300, there were a few things that I felt that needed immediate improving; braking and suspension. Adding a SS front line made a significant difference. The stock pads are adequate. I don't track or race it to feel the need to replacing them with sintered pads. As for suspension, I looked into suspension upgrades. Knowing that I don't plan to hang onto the bike forever, I sought from the Ninja forum that would help improve my handling confidence; adding only a Pirelli Rosso II front. Made a big difference. I ran the stock rear to end of life and had recently replaced it with a Rosso II rear.

Yep, I think I will try EBC Double-H sintered pads & a flush first. If that doesn't help, I'll replace with SS lines.

 

[ratlab]

i would do lines,pads and fluid at one time-you are probably going to end up doing lines anyway.try vesrah rjl's-they work well on the little ninja's.don't expect a huge improvement.brakes are just weak on n-250,300.i think somebody,maybe svracing makes a bracket to use a nissin 4 piston caliper.i would check ninjette.org for all the mods.

 

[Kestrel]

i would do lines,pads and fluid at one time-you are probably going to end up doing lines anyway.try vesrah rjl's-they work well on the little ninja's.don't expect a huge improvement.brakes are just weak on n-250,300.i think somebody,maybe svracing makes a bracket to use a nissin 4 piston caliper.i would check ninjette.org for all the mods.

Blair / SV Racing Parts does make a bracket, though I hate to recommend them as the owner has infamously ripped off the hard work of so many others when it comes to custom parts... He's well known for buying things from Zoran and others, copying the work/outsourcing labor, then selling the scammed parts for cheaper.

http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271317

If you can find the bracket elsewhere, or make it yourself, please do us all a favor and don't support SVRP. He sadly paid off the SVRider forums hard to practically have exclusive vendor rights, and sweep all of the copying claims under the rug. Zoran isn't the first person he's stolen from, FYI.

edit - And more theft threads...

http://www.stromtrooper.com/adventuretech-llc/180802-problem-copying-original-designs.html

Stromtroopers also had a 20 something page long thread about Blair's theft until just recently, which sadly has disappeared.

 

[WhoAteMySoup]

So it's good for the Ninja 300?
I've seen Corbin seats and I have one for the Diavel. To be honest, Corbin quality is kinda shitty. They make their seat pans out of granite lined with lead, and the fitment isn't great, and the seats themselves are IMO too firm.

I got a good deal on mine, from a forum member. The fitment is fine, and the quality, well it looks better then the OEM seat. I would not say that it's a night and day difference when you get on the bike, but for those longer rides it does make a huge difference: on the stock seat my ass would start hurting after about an hour of riding. I rode to Santa Barbara on hwy 1 after I got the Corbin seat with no real complaints.

 

[philipviana]

had 4500 miles on my rc390 with not a problem (until it caught fire). But that was crash related.

My second rc390 had a smattering of irritating bugs out of the box: a side-stand sensor fault that killed my engine in traffic (scary), a loose cable hanging out of the instrument cluster, and a gear pedal set up so poorly i had false neutrals every day. Scuderia fixed it all up for free and it was good as new (it was new after all).

The belly pan is a pain in the ass to remove so my first oil change took me 2 hours which seems kind of ridiculous.

But it gives me a giant boner and theres really no other 300 that looks anywhere near as nice, which as we all know is the most important factor.

The r3 is super pretty too, sure I'd be happy with that. Heard there was a clutch recall however. CBR is supposed to be the smart buy of the pack but the worst performer. The ninja does nothing for me.

I'm sure you've seen this before, but just in case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqD4TuIbmYw

 

[Gawernator]

had 4500 miles on my rc390 with not a problem (until it caught fire). But that was crash related.

My second rc390 had a smattering of irritating bugs out of the box: a side-stand sensor fault that killed my engine in traffic (scary), a loose cable hanging out of the instrument cluster, and a gear pedal set up so poorly i had false neutrals every day. Scuderia fixed it all up for free and it was good as new (it was new after all).

The belly pan is a pain in the ass to remove so my first oil change took me 2 hours which seems kind of ridiculous.

But it gives me a giant boner and theres really no other 300 that looks anywhere near as nice, which as we all know is the most important factor.

The r3 is super pretty too, sure I'd be happy with that. Heard there was a clutch recall however. CBR is supposed to be the smart buy of the pack but the worst performer. The ninja does nothing for me.

I'm sure you've seen this before, but just in case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqD4TuIbmYw

2 hours? Dude that is ridiculous. Even my 636 it's a 10 minute job, not counting me snoozing in the living room while I let the oil drain for an hour. I need to ride that RC390 and see how it is compared to the ninja 300 and R3

 

[Manimal]

......I'm sure you've seen this before, but just in case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqD4TuIbmYw

I don't recall seeing this before. Thanks for posting

After watching the vid, my personal choices:

I still stand by my 300. Being of short stature, it suits me, and is a decent performer.

Next choice would be the R3. Due to the suspension and braking review, has set me back in making a deliberate decision to getting one soon.

Next choice is the RC390. Although the best performer of the four, I like the looks of the R3 best, then the 300, then the RC390. It is rated being the tallest of the four as well. Being 5' 1", I can't get two feet on the ground on the 300. Doubt I would be even close on the RC390. Although, if I had a choice of the KTM, I would choose the Duke. For me, it's a better looking bike.

Lastly, the Honda. Rated for best suspension and braking, but lacks power. For me, aesthetically, is bland.

 

[Gawernator]

I don't recall seeing this before. Thanks for posting

After watching the vid, my personal choices:

I still stand by my 300. Being of short stature, it suits me, and is a decent performer.

Next choice would be the R3. Due to the suspension and braking review, has set me back in making a deliberate decision to getting one soon.

Next choice is the RC390. Although the best performer of the four, I like the looks of the R3 best, then the 300, then the RC390. It is rated being the tallest of the four as well. Being 5' 1", I can't get two feet on the ground on the 300. Doubt I would be even close on the RC390. Although, if I had a choice of the KTM, I would choose the Duke. For me, it's a better looking bike.

Lastly, the Honda. Rated for best suspension and braking, but lacks power. For me, aesthetically, is bland.

I watched a bunch of their videos and it seems they heavily favor European bikes, they're almost always at the top of the 'rankings'.

 

[ratlab]

I don't recall seeing this before. Thanks for posting

After watching the vid, my personal choices:

I still stand by my 300. Being of short stature, it suits me, and is a decent performer.

Next choice would be the R3. Due to the suspension and braking review, has set me back in making a deliberate decision to getting one soon.

Next choice is the RC390. Although the best performer of the four, I like the looks of the R3 best, then the 300, then the RC390. It is rated being the tallest of the four as well. Being 5' 1", I can't get two feet on the ground on the 300. Doubt I would be even close on the RC390. Although, if I had a choice of the KTM, I would choose the Duke. For me, it's a better looking bike.

Lastly, the Honda. Rated for best suspension and braking, but lacks power. For me, aesthetically, is bland.

at your size suspension wouldn't be an issue on the R3-my wife rode her R3 stock for a year, street and track before we did suspension for her.she is 5'4" and 120.lines and pads fixes the brakes.brakes are far superior to n-300.stock the bikes are pretty close,but the R3 has more potential-stiffer frame,swingarm and 41mm forks are a upgrade over n-250,300.i don't have the n-300 in my garage anymore,because it wasn't any better than my modded 250.i could live with an R3 with the suspension done as my only bike.

 

[APpy]

I don't believe that to be the case.

Based on changing lines on which bike with ABS?

At the very least, there's one line from m/c to ABS controller, and one from controller to caliper. And remember the controller also has lines comes from the rear m/c and caliper. It's usually mounted under the seat/ tucked away somewhere inside the frame.

Some ABS controllers are nice enough to give you bleed nipples at the unit. It's bit easier in that case.. you can alternate bleeding at the controller/caliper till all air is out. But on my bike, there isn't one, and the interweb is full of horror stories about changing brake lines.

 

[mrzuzzo]

I've ordered steel braided lines for the brakes so hopefully that should fix the mushy brakes.

I'm really surprised at how nice the gearbox is on the little 300. Sooo smooth!

It definitely doesn't have as "fun" of a power curve as a thumper like the CBR or KTM would, but it holds itself very nicely on freeway speeds.

I am pleasantly surprised at how good the 300 really is.

 

[mean dad]

Lines are a PITA to change/ bleed with ABS. There's miles of it, and all kinds of nooks where air can get trapped. Gravity is almost always working against you, and no easy way to remove parts to fix that.

I'd just do a flush, get some good sintered pads and call it a day

Based on changing lines on which bike with ABS?

At the very least, there's one line from m/c to ABS controller, and one from controller to caliper. And remember the controller also has lines comes from the rear m/c and caliper. It's usually mounted under the seat/ tucked away somewhere inside the frame.

Some ABS controllers are nice enough to give you bleed nipples at the unit. It's bit easier in that case.. you can alternate bleeding at the controller/caliper till all air is out. But on my bike, there isn't one, and the interweb is full of horror stories about changing brake lines.

So we're not dealing with miles of hoses any more, at least.

 

[rugbydawg13]

I've ordered steel braided lines for the brakes so hopefully that should fix the mushy brakes.

I'm really surprised at how nice the gearbox is on the little 300. Sooo smooth!

It definitely doesn't have as "fun" of a power curve as a thumper like the CBR or KTM would, but it holds itself very nicely on freeway speeds.

I am pleasantly surprised at how good the 300 really is.

Really? The transmission on the ninjette was one of the weakest links in my opinion and part of the reason I went with the R3, along with more power and better brakes. Steel braided lines a must on these bikes, so good move there.

 

[aminalmutha]

ABS is definitely mandatory.

 

[FourThreeSix]

Indeed, but only when pushed hard. The tranny is notorious for slips out of 6th to 5th. Factory Pro makes a shift detent that is supposed to cure the problem though.