[sriku]

Originally Posted by Motored Mindset

Your review was a unique one because its both a traveloque and an initial ownership report, double the worth of reading it.

Did you get the modifications to the exhaust, ECU remap etc. done at the Pro-biking showroom in Thane? While it's good to see you in riding jacket and helmet, part of the upgrade from rat bikes like the Ninja 250 or the Duke means the rider has to pamper himself to a good set of full riding gear as well, which I'm sure you have acquired for track days. A list of your riding gear would be very helpful.

Thanks for your kind words. I only get my warranty services done from the probiking workshops, and I prefer going to the Vashi seawoods pbk, less bikes, more attention. All the other work is done at Seventh Gear Customs, a multi superbike workshop in Dadar. The guys at 7GC are simply incredible when it comes to big bikes, most of the mumbai bikers are regulars here.

In terms of riding gear, I have the following already:
1. Alpine stars Bionic knee armor
2. DSG Maze jacket (mesh with leather contact patches)
3. Spartan city leather gloves and DSG full gauntlet leather gloves
4. SOL 68 s-II Metalman DOT certified helmet from spartanprogear.com

I have ordered and await delivery of:
1. Komine S-41 Mesh 1 pc Riding suit (with leather contact patches)
2. Icon Stryker rig (chest/shoulder/back/elbow protective armor)
3. Zeus armored mesh riding pants (should reach me this week)
4. Force field limb tube knee armor.

Originally Posted by dinyaar

Hey Sriku
I see the leo Vince is on too! Congratulations.
Its great to see a guy fully enjoying his bike. Will catch up sometime soon.

Thanks dinyaar! We will catchup soon for sure.

[xtremeshock]

Hey sriku,

Congrats on your ride and a bigger congratulations on the awesome upgrades for your ride.

This thread is sure to be informative for riders like me who have no clue about the after-market possibilities.

P.S. have the clip-ons made the ride uncomfortable in any way and how do clip-ons improve handling??

Kudos, rated 5 stars.

[sriku]

Originally Posted by xtremeshock

P.S. have the clip-ons made the ride uncomfortable in any way and how do clip-ons improve handling??

Kudos, rated 5 stars.

Thanks for the kind words!

The stock handlebars are setup for a comfortable upright riding position suited for touring. As it is mounted to the triple tree, it further disconnects the rider from direct feedback from the forks, and raises the height of the bars. For touring, or regular city commutes, the stock bars are the best to have. However, these bars are not designed for aggressive cornering, in fact I find the bike is quite unwieldy in the ghat stretches with the stock bars. To improve this, clip-ons that are mounted directly on the forks, instead of on the triple tree, give better control for counter steering into corners, better feedback from the front end, a more committed riding position that automatically leads to better body positioning while entering corners.

My clip-ons are about 2 inches lower than the stock, and adjustable on both x and y axes. They are slightly more committed than the stock bars, though I do not think this affects comfortable touring too much. I imagine I'm leaning forward about about 2-3 degrees more than the stock bars. Will try to get a pic to illustrate this over the weekend.

With my seat of the pants gauge, I find the clipons infinitely more comfortable and convenient, especially while hitting the twisties. And I do not think I am sacrificing too much comfort in the bargain.

I hope that helped.

Sriku

[h.s.r]

Originally Posted by sriku

So I got myself a Leo Vince Underbody Evo II full system exhaust.
Why the Leo's? well I like their sound (deep bassy growler without being obscenely loud)

Congrats for the Ninja & thanks for great ownership review.
Your review would make things simple for people like me,who are planning to buy Superbike.
if possible upload a video/audio of the exhaust, i would love to hear that roaring sound.
Hats off to you,Hard to believe,you have spent 1.5 lakhs just on modifications.

[sriku]

Originally Posted by h.s.r

Congrats for the Ninja & thanks for great ownership review.
Your review would make things simple for people like me,who are planning to buy Superbike.
if possible upload a video/audio of the exhaust, i would love to hear that roaring sound.
Hats off to you,Hard to believe,you have spent 1.5 lakhs just on modifications.

Hi, thanks for the kind words. I must tell you that the Ninja is no superbike. It is a sports tourer.

I have been (and still am) riding Yamaha Rx's and Bullets for the better part of my life, only upgraded to karizma/duke and now ninja in the past 4-5 years. So I know what you mean when you say its hard to believe I spent this much on modifications. Considering the most radical mods/upgrades for my older bikes would be a fraction of this, hell in 30k I could rebuild and repaint my bullet/rx!. However, I believe this is the bare minimum that needs to be done. If you observe the categories of my mods, you will see that Utility, Protection and Performance are the largest sections whereas Bling is the least. A bone stock Ninja 650 is more than capable of being prepared for regular use in under 30k INR, with just better brake lines/pads, frame sliders and radiator guard alone. These would have been the bare minimum. The rest are a personal preference.

It is my opinion that the Ninja 650, although a premium motorcycle, still falls a little short in some departments, a necessity to keep the competitive pricing. For me, it was a choice between spending twice the cost of the Ninja to get a liter class sbk that would be rarely used, or 25% over and above the cost of the Ninja to give me enough of a motorcycle to satisfy my urges, and still be ridden every day of the week. Of course I cannot make this sports tourer a supersport motorcycle, and that is not my intention either. But I can (and will) eke out every bit of performance that can be reasonably extracted with the right upgrades.

Hope you get yourself a good motorcycle soon.

Sriku

[Motored Mindset]

Originally Posted by sriku

I have ordered and await delivery of:
1. Komine S-41 Mesh 1 pc Riding suit (with leather contact patches)
2. Icon Stryker rig (chest/shoulder/back/elbow protective armor)
3. Zeus armored mesh riding pants (should reach me this week)
4. Force field limb tube knee armor.

Thanks for the information buddy, looking forward to photos with the bike in full riding get up. Which site have you ordered them off?

[sriku]

Originally Posted by Motored Mindset

Thanks for the information buddy, looking forward to photos with the bike in full riding get up. Which site have you ordered them off?

Komine and other riding suits available on the "Torqued apparel and accessories" and "X-Torqued" pages on facebook.
Icon stryker rig from http://www.parts-unlimited.com/
Zeus riding pants from www.adventureontherocks.in
Other armor from sportbiketrackgear.com and superbiketoystore.com.

Amazon.com is also a good place to find stuff.
motosport.com will even ship to india and includes duties in the billing itself.

Not a big fan of getting photographed But will put some riding gear pics up soon.

Sriku

[narula123]

Originally Posted by sriku

Regular weekend rides to popular breakfast destinations around Mumbai are fun. Some longer rides to Mahabaleshwar, Malshej etc are even more fun. Even longer tours to Bangalore, Coimbatore are coming up.

Shriku. great thread brother. This was long due.

The exhaust and PC5 are making me jealous. Need to save up and get myself these soon.

Want to know the clutch spring story. Might add a set for myself with your order with Gary. Need some conviction though.

[sriku]

Originally Posted by narula123

Shriku. great thread brother. This was long due.
The exhaust and PC5 are making me jealous. Need to save up and get myself these soon.
Want to know the clutch spring story. Might add a set for myself with your order with Gary. Need some conviction though.

Thanks varun.

Get that GPR and soon, way more fun than stock. Not an essential upgrade for most guys, but you and I need the exhaust. You know you will get it eventually, it is inevitable, so quit procrastinating and pull the trigger!

As regards the springs:
1. Stock springs: great for tooling around town, smooth and fine for normal use.
They slip beyond 6krpm when I am gunning the throttle, and that is unacceptable for me.
2. Standard Barnett springs: better than stock, without increasing the pressure required on the lever by too much. perfect for standard city and touring use.
3. Customized Barnett springs made for Gary (BlueRidgePerformance):
These are much stiffer than stock, and take away all the slippage at hard throttle and shifts. The stock springs simply cannot keep up under hard throttling and shifting. These ones will make the clutch lever much harder to pull than stock. However, I like the stiffer springs and the bike has a lot of low end torque anyway so it won't hurt too much in city commutes.

Varun, I suggest you ride my bike at Kari with the springs before you get them. I have a feeling it will be the best 40 USD you can spend on the bike.

Sriku

[Magnaspectre]

Always good to read your updates here. Keep it coming.

The brakes and the headlights are the biggest bothers for me too. I think I can live with the brakes for some more time before I look to upgrade them. But, I am looking to upgrade the lights as soon as possible. Are you planning on getting the Philips X-tremeVision Moto bulbs??

[sriku]

Originally Posted by Magnaspectre

Always good to read your updates here. Keep it coming.

The brakes and the headlights are the biggest bothers for me too. I think I can live with the brakes for some more time before I look to upgrade them. But, I am looking to upgrade the lights as soon as possible. Are you planning on getting the Philips X-tremeVision Moto bulbs??

Still havent made up my mind on the bulbs.
Osram Night racers come recommended by a good friend. Philips xtreme Vision are being used by a couple of ninja riders. Philips have an HID kit as well that may work for the ninja. I'm confused myself on whether to buy bulbs, or go HID or full projectors. Need some time to evaluate each of these, and then pull the trigger. Will update.

[sriku]

Rode to Bangalore on Saturday, 11th May from my house in Thane. Took 14 hours with breaks included. The bike performed phenomenally, the most comfortable touring machine I have ever experienced.

Some details:
Date: Saturday, 11th May.
Route: Thane (W) to Bangalore ~985 kms NH4
Vehicle: Kawasaki Ninja 650

5 AM leave home
6:30 AM Hinjewadi overbridge on pune bypass. 20 minute break to meet a friend
7:30 AM BP pump after katraj tunnel. Stopped for 30 minutes for fuel and McDonalds breakfast
One fueling stop on Satara-Kolhapur-Belgaum NH4
11:40 AM Belgaum 30 minute halt for fuel, refreshments and re-fill water bag.
1:30 PM Halt at Kamat's Yatrinivas Hubli for lunch. 30-45 minutes. The heat was getting bad now, needed a small shade break.
3:45 PM Chitradurga halt to take a break after nearly running out of fuel, and managing the traffic filled single carriage-way till there.
5:25 PM near Tumkur CCD (about 20 kms out) caught in the rain, waited under a bridge for approximately 30-45 minutes as crosswinds were lethal!
6:20 PM Tumkur CCD synced up with Guru on his MT-01, followed him back to his house at Vijayanagar, Bangalore.
7:10 PM At my cousin's house, drenched, frozen fingers, but smiling and pain-free.


There are a lot of diversions on NH4, which coupled with truck traffic really slows down the journey. Apart from which, the sapping heat does take its toll, especially post lunch. Adding to all this, the downpour in Tumkur made the last 150kms take even longer than it could have been. All said and done, the ride was incident free, painless and blissful

The new exhaust does attract a lot of attention! What a ride, what a bike. Best decision I ever made.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by sriku

Still havent made up my mind on the bulbs.
Osram Night racers come recommended by a good friend. Philips xtreme Vision are being used by a couple of ninja riders. Philips have an HID kit as well that may work for the ninja. I'm confused myself on whether to buy bulbs, or go HID or full projectors. Need some time to evaluate each of these, and then pull the trigger. Will update.

I'm using the Xtreme Visions in the stock rating in my 250R and the light output is fantastic.

I've cruised at good triple digits at night comfortably but not sure if you would get the same results on the 650 since the reflector design is different.

I guess this bulb retails for around 500 odd bucks now.

Osram also has a HID kit. Do check them out as well.

[sriku]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

I'm using the Xtreme Visions in the stock rating in my 250R and the light output is fantastic.

I've cruised at good triple digits at night comfortably but not sure if you would get the same results on the 650 since the reflector design is different.

I guess this bulb retails for around 500 odd bucks now.

Osram also has a HID kit. Do check them out as well.

Thanks for the feedback Aditya. I'm leaning towards the full projector setup. Not impressed with the bulb upgrade for the 650, doesn't seem to do much good. In the evening Bangalore rain I could barely see 5 feet ahead with the xtreme visions.

Just need to find a set that:
a: Fit well without too much modding.
b: Do not cost the moon.
c: Make a noticeable difference.

The search is on. Added Osram HID's to the mix.

Sriku

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by sriku

The search is on. Added Osram HID's to the mix.

In case you are planning to source any Osram product in Blore, do take a look at this post.