I already had a Yamaha MT-09 when I went out and bought a Kawasaki Ninja 400. Yeah, a bike most people consider a beginner bike. And no, I don’t regret it for a second.
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How I Ended Up with Two Very Different Bikes
I got back into riding around 2020 after a long break. Kids happened, the bikes went away, and then the itch came back. I picked up a 2018 Honda CB650F, put 11,000 miles on it, and genuinely loved that motorcycle.
Then the pandemic hit and the used bike market went sideways. The trade-in value on my Honda had climbed back up to basically what I paid for it. So I traded it in, got my money back, and upgraded to a 2022 Yamaha MT-09 SP. Great bike. Still have it. Still love it.
Fast forward a bit and I broke a part servicing the MT-09. Boneheaded move on my part. The bike was down for a couple of months waiting on parts from Yamaha. A group ride was coming up and I thought I was going to miss it. A friend stepped in and loaned me her 2017 Honda CBR300R for the day.
That one day changed things. I had an absolute blast on that little bike. Way more fun than I expected. It made me realize that if I was going to pick up a second bike, it was going to be something small, cheap, and easy to own. That’s how I landed on the Ninja 400.
Ninja 400 vs MT-09: Apples and Oranges on Purpose
I want to be upfront about something. Comparing the Ninja 400 vs MT-09 is not really an apples to apples thing. These bikes are wildly different. But that’s exactly the point.
Having two bikes that are nothing alike means I always have the right tool for the ride. The MT-09 is my distance bike. If I’m going out with friends, covering real miles, or planning to be in the saddle for five or six hours, I want to be on the MT-09. It’s upright, comfortable, and it handles whatever I throw at it without breaking a sweat.
The Ninja 400 is my sneak-out bike. I’ve got kids. Free time comes in short bursts. When I’ve got 45 minutes before the bus shows up, I can gear up, hit the local back roads, and be back in time. And I have a genuinely great time doing it.
The Power Difference Is the Whole Story
The MT-09 SP is advertised at 115 horsepower. The Ninja 400 comes in around 45. Both bikes redline around 10,000 RPM, but what that feels like couldn’t be more different.
On the Ninja 400, especially with the Coffman’s Shorty Exhaust I have on it, winding it out to redline on a back road feels like a full event. You’re shifting through the gears, leaning into turns, and the engine is screaming. It’s engaging in a way that the bigger bike just isn’t on those same roads.
The old saying holds up: it’s more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow. On the back roads I ride, the speed limit is usually around 35 mph. On the MT-09, I’m barely in second gear at that speed. On the Ninja 400, I’m actually working the bike and it feels great.
Cost of Ownership
This is where the gap really shows up. The MT-09 costs more to own across the board.
Tires are bigger and more expensive
. Insurance runs me about double what I pay for the Ninja 400 because my insurance company classifies the MT-09 as a high performance machine. Service intervals are shorter, and because the bike has more technology, there’s just more to check and more to replace when something goes wrong. Speaking of which, ask me how I know.
The Ninja 400 is a simpler machine. No ride modes, no traction control, no ride-by-wire throttle, no cruise control. That simplicity keeps it cheap to own and easy to maintain.
Which One Do I Actually Ride More?
This is where it gets interesting. I ride the Ninja 400 more often. But I put more miles on the MT-09.
What that means in practice is that the Ninja 400 gets all the short sessions. Quick back road blasts, solo rides when I’ve got an hour to kill. The MT-09 gets the long days. Group rides, trips, anything where I’m going to be out for a few hours.
And honestly, both bikes are doing exactly what I bought them to do.
Is the Ninja 400 a Beginner Bike?
Technically, yes. But I’d push back on letting that label stop anyone from enjoying one.
There’s this weird social pressure that shows up when you’re a guy in his 40s rolling up to a meetup on a 400cc bike. You feel like you should be on something bigger. I get it. But I genuinely do not care because this bike is too much fun to be embarrassed about. If someone gives you grief about riding a Ninja 400, that’s their problem.
On the other side of that coin, people sometimes ask me if the MT-09 could work as a beginner bike since you can dial the power back with ride modes. I wouldn’t go that far. The power and torque in that machine don’t leave a lot of room for error. If you’ve been riding a 600 for a while and you want to move up, I think that’s a reasonable step. But I wouldn’t hand one to a new rider and tell them to have at it.
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