okay!

after the fuel light goes on (assuming it does), do i switch to reserve?

should i turn the fuel valve to off for the night?

i was reading about the breaking in stuff online, looks like i need to run it hard, and i read something about changing the oil after the initial break in, is this a good idea? can i put 10 w 40 Petroleum Car Oil in it? im at about 35miles now..... is it to late?

thanks

 

If your bike has a low fuel warninglight, then obviously yes,switch to reserveif it comes on. My Ninja 500R doesn't have one and I found it helpful to find out how many miles I could get out of a tank so I'd have an idea when I was running low. I can usually get at least 20-25 miles out of the reserve if that helps.

Yeah, you should probably switch the fuel valve tooff whenever its sitting for an extended period of time.

As far as break-in stuff goes, I bought mine used and italready had 2500 miles on it so I can't help you with that.

Have fun with it but be careful there's some lunatics out on the road who'll try to scare you out of riding if they can.

 

Welcome!

Your 250 won't have a low fuel light unless some crafty fellow installed an aftermarket one. The majority of riders will reset their trip meters at every fill up and observe how many miles they get before needing to switch to reserve. After a few tanks you will have a general understanding of how many miles you can get from a tank. On my 250, I can generally go a little bit over 200 miles before I stop to fill up. (on reserve, you could probably squeeze out around 300 miles.) It is not necessary to turn the petcock valve on the off position after every ride. They are vacuum actuated meaning if the engine is not running, no gas is able to flow through them.

Hope this helps.

-Mark.

 

Oh, and about the break-in. Take it somewhat easy for the first 30-50 miles. Change the oil between 50-70 miles. More than anything else, vary your RPM's a lot during break-in. You can go full throttle up towards the redline here and there, but only do it far and between runs.

 

As far as the break-in goes, I recently sent my dad an e-mail requesting his input on the subject. This was his reply:

You don't want to redline it but bringing the r's half way up to redline is not a problem, no more than that for at least 1000 miles, on the flip side it is just as bad to lug the motor. Shift often, vary speed, minimum idle, don't overheat in slow traffic, Vary rpm's within range and warm up at idle for4-5 minutes minimum for first startup of the day. Cool motor will inherit leaks. Usually after first oil change you can ride it like you stole it!!!!!

 

I still don't understand why - in the MSF course - they made such a point of having us turn off the fuelvalve when we stopped the bikes. Is this a safety move?

 

Theyteach that because the old bikes would sit and leak fuel into the carb whether the bike was running or not. Therefore, to keep from having a flooded carb and a puddle of fuel under the bike, you would turn the fuel valve off every time you stopped.

 

Besides, neither of my bikes even have an off setting on the fuel selector switch.

 

thanks for the help guys, but about the oil change, ill switch when i get around 50-70 miles on it, but what kind of oil do i put in? and should i follow my mauals instructions on how to empty the whole thing?

 

I'm using regular 'ol Castrol GTX 15W40 in my bike, and it works fine.