Well, I got off my ass and finally got my licence. A co-worker friend of mine had a 2000 Kawasaki ZXR250 (also called the ZX-2R or ZX-2RC in some markets) sitting at home, gathering dust. It'd only travelled 2,700kms (1,600miles) as he'd used it until he qualified for a larger bike (in my home state, you're restricted to 250cc or less for a period of 12 months).
He only wanted a pittance compared to it's market value so, we got it re-registered and serviced and now it's mine.
All I can say is that it's a lot of laughs. 250cc inline-4, 19k rpm redline and 6-speed. It's soooo much fun. It's also got a lot of the boy-racer Super Sportbike look fairings and the twin front brake rotors. It's surprisingly easy to ride, but tends to be more happy sitting around 10-12k rpm, so I tend to cruise in lower gears.
Damned thing screams like an F1 car at 19k though.