In 2007, I bought a Ninja 250 for $4000 and change.

For the North American market at the time at least, it had a pretty unique combination of small engine plus large fuel tank. The 250cc twin cylinder engine made about 30 horsepower or so, and it held almost 5 gallons of gas. I routinely made 70mpg with this bike, and that’s proper highway riding with saddle bags and such. I would get about 300 miles between fill-ups. Back when I had a 6 mile commute to college, I was paying about $10 a month for gasoline.

I consider it’s performance perfectly adequate for American highway needs. Like you know how a Honda Civic is a perfectly cromulent car? It’s like that. I could comfortably run with 85 mph traffic on the interstate with power in reserve. I could out-run any sport sedan on the road while making twice the fuel economy.

Mind you, this was a 2007 model EX250F, a design that dated back to 1988. It had carburetors and screw-type valve tappets.

I’ve still yet to see an electric bike in this price and performance range.