My trusty Ninja 300 and I first met 12 years ago and it's been a beautiful relationship.
As the first entry level bike with fuel injection, it's been nothing but reliable and easy maintenance. What better way to repay those years of reliability than to abandon it for a younger model
with a crazy and unnecessary hybrid gas/electric propulsion system.
My last purchase taught me no matter how much of a jerk you are, the sales people are either not allowed to kick you out or are too desperate to move product.
My trusty 300 went from "the most you'll get is $500" to upwards of $2,500, and the $1,500 rebate jumped to $2,500 for a total of $8,500 purchase on a $12,500 MSRP.
It probably helped that this particular bike is clearly aimed at nerdy motorcycle riders, of which there can't be that many. I'm confident the sales guy was thrilled to be rid of it.
Before I could take ownership though, as a sign of things to come for this motorcycle, an active recall software update was required.
The tech had to connect to all 8 modules and update them individually. No central bus on this bike, so future updates will always be upwards of an hour. The lack of a clutch or gearshift was initially confusing, but I'm on board with the paddle shifters and various power modes now. Here's a cheesy royalty-free music overview video to bring you up to speed.
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