So ive been talking about my ninja in bike chat regarding the handleing ect..... well this is the bike in question, and this is the progress diary of what ive done so far, and whats to come in the future.... i bought the bike as a non runner with accident damage after a low speed slide (looks asif the guy spun the back wheel up coming out of a junction, judging by the damage and what the lad told me).... so here it is looking very sorry for itself: my first intensions were to get the mechanical stuff sorted... it needed a new left clip on, a new generator clip on and a new left hand lower peg hanger. i got the clip on and the peg hanger second hand off ebay and were generaly prety easy to find and fit, however the peg hanger was minging and the rest of the footings were polished chrome so i ended up having to hand polish it with autosol for about 5 hours! pain in thew arse im telling you! the generator cover was also a pain in the arse as i also ended up ordering an aftermarket one which fitted the block spot on but unfortunatly the generator didnt fit the cover and i was fudged! finaly got hold of a genuine one for £110 and obviously all was fine... i then moved onto the body work and set about repairing it with pre mixed fibreglass, sanding down and going over with filler heres the pics of it done but i wasnt happy with the potential of it cracking again! prety good job i recon though, apart from the massive smudge of plastic primer next to the mirror arm haha. with the constant thought of my repair on the plastics cracking again, i got a few prices on the paint and the stickers.... and lets be honest with the stickers for the left side alone costing in excess of £120, i bottled it and opted for new plastics so i stripped it down this morning and gave it a deap clean: then i put all the new fairings on and it looked like this when i got it home: im quite chuffed with it to be honest, its a really clean bike now and has had wedge spent on it too before i bought it, heres a few pics of some tastey bits decent streight through 421 exhaust sytem everything is chrome polished on this thing... footings, gear lever, brake lever, stand....... ect ect plus a really nice carbon hugger i love this little gadget!! think i'll have them on all future bikes (datatool gear indicator) genuine pazzo levers feel awsome so far, deffo a massive difference on standard ones: oh yea, and the chrome polished rims cick arse IMO, and just add to the overall look of the bike not a mark in sight on the wheels by the way, just dodgey pics or dirt!! sooo, now ive got it back to what it looked like before the slide.... heres the pic that got me intrested on the ebay add.... plenty more to come like this when the weather gets better!! thanks for looking
Nice job, just not convinced with the red calipers though! Got to say the gear indicator is one of the best things out there! My BMW has one as standard, if the next bike I buy doesn't, it'll be the first thing I fit!!!
yea, im umming and ahhing about them myself to be honest, i still have almost a full put of yellow calliper paint from when i did the R6, and im debating it because i think it may go with the yellow ninja decals...... think its a few shades too dark though inch:
agread mate, i havnt put much thought into it yet with only getting it finnished today and having so much on my mind recently with it. susspension and tires are first on my list for now as im uphappy with the front end. cheers for your input dude, as always... much apreciated!
ok ok , to the point . the bike looks great i love ninjas and blue ones too however your having handling probs ? front handling probs ? one of the first pics shows quite a dent in the clip on ? are the forks ok? I'm asking because you posted re the damping and rebound probs coming from the front ? it is poss the forks are slightly our of line ( small as can't be seen to the naked eye) if you are going to Kais or Maxton, for the sag to be set etc, ask them to check your forks, they will feel for play etc, they know what they are doing believe me. Im sure its all ok, its just from what you said it sounded worse than a normal ninja, So......check forks, set the static sag, check tires , pressures, the correct size etc, and ride it ! try riding in a straight line on a quiet road around 30mph let go of the bars ? does it pull left ? right ? shake ?
looks tidy that to be fair. i have to admit im not into the red on blue look but it is a corker. also get used to polishing that chrome after every ride and be careful what wax you use on the chain. i had polished lips for two years on my 7r and after many many many days polishing wiping polishing buffing and more wiping iv had them powder coated. ps i hope you sort the handling out
Looking good mate ! I agreed with the red caliper comments but its a very minor issue ... The Wink has got a few good starting points with checking it all out, try and check the straightness off the forks firstly, before you do anything. I would then take front wheel off and 'reset' the bolts/yokes as in undo everything to allow it into a natural position. If its been in a bash and the forks havent been touched since, they may have tweaked in the crash in a certain way that theyre not straight/square with everything else etc. Then rebuild it all up torqueing everything from the top yoke down to the axle. once you're sure theyre straight and happy with the whole lot (look for cracks round fork bottoms/yokes etc) then id service them. new fork oil at the least then i'd be checking the settings its on now (write them all down-just good practice) and reset the whole lot to standard settings. Now go and ride and see if its any better ... Thats just the 'cheap' course to take but should show you if there is anything wrong with them
Oh yeh and ninja is bob on, you really have to keep on top of the wheels after every ride. ive had a few bikes with polished rims but with actual spokes. friggin nightmare to keep clean to the point i gave up eventually. black wheels for me from now on
done a good job fixing it up, you should listen to winky and get the front end looked over properly by a specialist as its been down the road there may be some damage that you cant see or that you dont notice until you ride it hense the handling issues
You've done a cracking job getting it this far. Looks sweet, although I reckon black calipers would be better suited
Nice turn around there mate but do one with the red calipers should only be that colour if there brembro.
dont need gear indicator on rsv mille ,let the revs drop to low it shakes till ya bollox ache ya soon know ya in the wrong gear
nice one for the replys everyone..... this site certainly is the bollocks! I'm gonna loosen everythin up on the front end when im off on monday and set it all up true as suggested, and see if it makes a difference, and i'll aslo get kias to check it all out and set front and rear for me. to be fair thought the more i look at the tyres the more im finding faults, there first on the agenda after i have a play on monday. as for the callipers...... the picture above looks awesome and i was thinking of going that way (after seening the pic lastnight), but after looking at the bike, throughout the day in work, i think that blue callipers with yellow wrighting and bolt kit. i think it'll look superb with the colour scheme of the bike
well after being out today and giving it a good old thrashing (about 180 miles!) ive come closer to a conclusion about whats going on with the bike after a couple of wobbly moments and near misses. the rear end was way too low, and i think set way too soft (need to experriment with softness over time). i found my weight being shifted over the rear wheel everytime i got on the gas because i was so low down compared to the bars, hence me getting a lightness feeling in the front and getting little feed back through the bars..... well anyway, whilst having a look over the rear shock with the lads whilst we were out, we noticed that it really was set to the lowest possible setting. in fairness the guy who had it before me was a short slim guy, im 6''4 and 16 stone, makes sence why it wasnt working for me! i got back home and was going to give up hope after my sketchy ride home and put the bike on ebay, untill i remembered our little chat about the rear shock whilst up at bala lake. i set about raising the height of the bike to the highest setting, (havnt touched the big castleated nusts that sit ontop of the spring yet but my c spanner is at work so will hav a fettle with that tomorrow) there was over an inch of thread to go up so i just took it all the way up, and tightened the locking nut down nice and tight i took it out for a blast around delamere forest to see if it made any difference and hey presto, feeling more like my r6 streight away through slow bends, roundabouts, even upto high reving 3rd gear corners im feeling a hell of a lot more grip and feeling through the bars!! i get onto the a56 and head down kelsall hill giving it some through the first fast left hander in 5th/top and i get that horrible loss of feeling throug the bars again! not bad tho for 5 mins work, im going to drop the front down 5-8 mm and play with the softness/hardness settings front and back tomorrow, oh and also p*ss about with the big castleated adjusters that sit ontop of the sping (hopfully to get more height in the rear) think im gonna keep this bike afterall, ive seen a 2008 rear swing arm that i like the look of, and a 2004 tail conversion that i also like the look of.... watch this space
