The choke is not a true choke, it is an enrichner which adds fuel to the carb. Whn starting the lever is pulled toward you. The added fuel helps the start/warming up process. as the bike warms up the rpms will increase. As the bike warms you should slowly push the choke/enrichner back in micro increments until the bike is able to run at a steady idle speed. Basic operations and primary maintenance are covered in the Owners' Manual.
http://www.kawasaki-techinfo.net/sh...t/showOM_DetailIndex.php?view_lang=EN&book_no=99987-1549&lang_code=EN&chapter=0

 

Pulling the lever towards you will apply the choke, then pushing it away from you disengages it.

most people will apply full choke and start the bike, then slowly take it off as the bike is able to stay running on its own and leave it idle until warm up. This is wrong , and you should refrain from letting it idle till warm.

Proper way:
Turn the ignition to on, LEAVE THE CHOKE OFF, press the starter and SLOWLY pull the choke towards you until she starts up. Once she up and running, leave it for about a minute or so (put your gloves on and get comfortable), and ride off with the choke still on . Keep the revs low, and dont run it hard until its warmed up. Keep riding until you can gradually turn the choke off , that may be a couple miles. This is the proper way to start your bike and make sure you have a long engine life.

When you apply full choke at startup, you risk flooding the engine. the ninja needs very little choke to get it running.

 

how would i know if i flooded the engine. i tried starting the bike, then applying the choke as I rode away, then it died on me at a stop light and it took forever to start up, and when it did, I applied throttle, and it died, then I had to repeat the process until I was able to roll into a parking lot. I was embarrassed, and since then I just let it warm up idling.

 

Sounds to me like you got slightly dirty / clogged carbs and jets. Normally you should be able to start it up and give very SLIGHT throttle, dont give it a lot of throttle all at one shot, very slowly increase to get you going. But it shouldnt really die, it may bog a bit, but it should completely die . If i were you, id buy a bottle of SEAFOAM , and pour half a can with a full tank of gas and then go drive it hard to get that stuff through.

Seafoam fixes just about everything!