I guess I should jump in here. I'm the proud owner of two pre-gen Ninja 250s, a 2003 and a 2004. The 2004 is my wife's and I just finished fixing A LOT of stuff and painting it white.
My wife's white 250 just about finished:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcGuEstjDyI
The 2003 we just picked up cheap.... AND I GOT IT RUNNING LAST NIGHT! WOOT!

Previous owners jacked this thing up bad! Looked like it was in a fire. Just ordered metallic blue paint, round headlight, and trying to find a way to get a CBR600rr tail, cowl, and led tail from craigslist. Only issue is seller is an hour away and I don't wanna go that far.
The new 250 runs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnqfpMwUIvQ
You may be asking yourself, Mistah T, don't you want a faster bike? Yeah, yeah I do!! So why ANOTHER 250? Buddy of mine just started riding. With a surprise kid, he can barely afford the $100 a year for insurance. This one's for him, he just doesn't know it yet. If he refuses, we'll have about a grand in it and I'm sure we can get more out of it.