Let me start with a rant by saying; ‘The youth is wasted on the young!’ In ‘my day’ we respected our elders, proudly wore knitted jerseys our grandmothers made, played in sandpits in the rain and were happy for the ‘weed-eater’ engine that graced our 125cc road bikes - how times have changed! I mean, in ‘my day’ the Mutant Ninja Turtles were cute and fought for justice as mere cartoon dudes but I’ve just watched the new Ninja Turtles movie with my son and let me say WTF! The realism, detail and the Michael Bay lens flare fest was an assault to the eyes. If I were still young, which I am (big lie - Bill), I would have wet my pants numerous times (big-girlie Mike – Bill).
But to continue with the spoiled little brats of today, or dudes, they can get lots of cool stuff to ride now, like the Honda CBR300, forthcoming Yamaha R3, KTM RC390 and this very pretty Kawasaki Ninja 300, so fook the sandpits, right?
This Kawasaki Ninja 300 is the real deal though, when parked next to its brothers the 600 and the monster ZX-10 the family resemblance is unmistakable. I mean just look at it, Kawa-bunga! The engine is a 296cc, 8-valve, fuel injected, parallel-twin and boy can this bike sing. Kawasaki claim 35hp and 25Nm from this motor, 3.5 litres per 100km and a very respectable 170km/h top speed, nice.
OK, a sneaky home truth first. Coming from a ‘dad of a son’, whose son might one day ride such a bike, it has a built-in safety device. You see you sound fast and you feel fast, but you’re not really that fast. Whilst living over 10 thousand rpm the bike would let out a superbike-like howl and when you look down you’ll be doing 80km/h, but that was through my neighbour’s flowerbed – sorry mate I was in ‘youth’ mode.
The gearbox is super smooth though and my only gripe was changing from first to second, which was a little notchy when accelerating hard but for the rest of the time pure Ninja style. You need to work the sweet little ‘box quite a bit to keep your momentum up and if you drop too far down the rev range you’d better kick down two, three, or maybe four cogs, but it’s only a 300 at our power sapping altitude, remember?
Apparently and amazingly there’s a slipper clutch in there somewhere, which was surprising for a bike of this size and price. I did change down hard for traffic lights but thought it was just a lack of engine braking that made it so silky smooth. Cool all the same and perfect for the ‘youths’ first track day venture into Ninja territory.
Predictably this is one sweet chassis, lightweight with skinny tyres; all designed for very nimble behaviour. It’s so solid through the corners that you can push the limits quite easily and the 300 Ninja never misbehaves. Straight-line stability is equally impressive, no light front end, just planted like Donatello’s fat feet in a fat fight.
I also enjoyed and found the brakes to be very progressive and smooth. At first they felt a little spongy, but you soon realise that pulling them harder than you’d expect makes you stop like a Ninja Turtle who has dropped his shell.
Ergonomically the little Ninja 300 was surprisingly spacious, even for a chubby daddy. People did comment that I looked far too big on the bike, but I never felt that way, I just thought they were all insanely jealous of my bright green baby Ninja. The clocks were easy to read, day and night, and I must admit I did get fixated on the rev counter as it would shoot past 10 000rpm in the blink of an eye. But for the most part everything felt right, yes, the indicator switch was a little too far for my arthritic thumb to reach without a good stretch and I felt the mirrors were a little low, but I am old and I like to moan (too true mate – Bill).
So to conclude, the Kawasaki Ninja 300 sounds fast, feels fast, looks fast and tasty and this one is a pristine used example for a mere R55, 000, saving 10k over a new one and, if I were young and nimble and liked the colour green, I’d certainly be riding it today.
Go to www.fourwaysmotorcycles.co.za for contact details to buy this bike. 
