[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Not a Ninja guy - but the biggest difference seems to be steering geometry with the reduced rake angle? Multiple reviews says the 1000SX is more agile than earlier versions.

Indeed the case, which seems to make a huge improvement.

https://ridermagazine.com/2020/08/21...d-test-review/

Excerpt from the above review:



Cheers

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Axe77

Hi Karthikk:

I believe the difference between your Ninja 1000 and the 1000 SX is (maybe there are more) ride by wire throttle and quick shifter. How big do you rate these upgrades. I have seen both versions hit the used market now and am just wondering do these two features justify the extra moolah an SX 1000 would command. The third key difference is the snazzier TFT although I wouldn’t care too much about that either way. TFTs are nice but analogs have their own charm too.

Thanks.

In my opinion if you are able to see both versions on the used premium bike market, you should opt for the latest one where possible, although the aesthetics of the single side exhaust may not match the old one.

Like some others have mentioned, the new version has some improved handling traits but it is not a night and day difference of handling between the old and new versions. The old one handles well too, the difference is exaggerated by reviews (having ridden both). There are other improvements which make the new one worthwhile though:

- Cruise control
- TFT display (this might be a subjective preference to like / dislike)
- Addition of ride-by-wire
- The riding mode and KTRC combinations now have been given different names like rain, dirt, road, sport, etc.
- Bi-directional quickshifter
- Slightly improved pillion seat shape and comfort

The only advantage the older (my bike) model seems to hold is it can adapt to and live on regular 91 octane petrol readily without any hiccups, which is a boon while touring anywhere we want to. The BS6 (2020+) 1000SX version seems to be susceptible to lower octane petrol and comes in frequently for throttle body cleaning if run on regular fuel, as per the folks at kawasaki service centre. If you run at least on XP95 which is readily available almost everywhere now, maybe this also won’t be an issue.

I would try and get the latest model if I was in the preowned market right now, the updates are worth the extra lac one pays over the older version and it’s always better to be as contemporary as possible.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

In my opinion if you are able to see both versions on the used premium bike market, you should opt for the latest one where possible, although the aesthetics of the single side exhaust may not match the old one.

Like some others have mentioned, the new version has some improved handling traits but it is not a night and day difference of handling between the old and new versions. The old one handles well too, the difference is exaggerated by reviews (having ridden both). There are other improvements which make the new one worthwhile though:

- Cruise control
- TFT display (this might be a subjective preference to like / dislike)
- Addition of ride-by-wire
- The riding mode and KTRC combinations now have been given different names like rain, dirt, road, sport, etc.
- Bi-directional quickshifter
- Slightly improved pillion seat shape and comfort

The only advantage the older (my bike) model seems to hold is it can adapt to and live on regular 91 octane petrol readily without any hiccups, which is a boon while touring anywhere we want to. The BS6 (2020+) 1000SX version seems to be susceptible to lower octane petrol and comes in frequently for throttle body cleaning if run on regular fuel, as per the folks at kawasaki service centre. If you run at least on XP95 which is readily available almost everywhere now, maybe this also won’t be an issue.

Interesting discussion. If I can throw in my 2 cents here, cruise control would be the big win if Axe77 goes in for the newer model. The TFT display seems to be shared across the 650 twins, 900 middleweights and bigger 1000cc bikes from Kawasaki. While it does look like it suits the smaller bikes, I find that TFT display to be terribly out of place on their premium offerings. Come on Kawasaki, you can certainly do better on this front. At least its better than their Casio display that they dumped on the previous generation ZX10R for ages.

I find quickshifters to be gimmicky. I have it on my Triumph but rarely use it at all. Maybe that is just me.

That said, I would still recommend the BS4 Ninja 1000 for its ability to take in regular fuel. For someone who is touring, it may not always be possible to go out of their way to hunt for an IOCL petrol bunk that stocks XP95 or XP100. And I am saying this as a big fan of IOCL's XP95. Ive completely shifted to using it on all my vehicles all the time. Availability will improve in future for sure, but still, having a big bike that takes in regular fuel in India is a God send. What also helps its case, is that the BS4 bike looks much better than the BS6 one, thanks to its classic dials and twin exhausts.

Since Axe77 seems to be a motorcyclist with fine taste, there isnt really a need to mention this but I would be remiss, if I did not share that the BS4 Ninja 1000 looks best in green. A litre class Kawasaki has to be in green!

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

That said, I would still recommend the BS4 Ninja 1000 for its ability to take in regular fuel.

What also helps its case, is that the BS4 bike looks much better than the BS6 one, thanks to its classic dials and twin exhausts.

the BS4 Ninja 1000 looks best in green. A litre class Kawasaki has to be in green!

Thanks Neil. We think alike as with many other things biking.

Wholeheartedly agree with all three points, specially the one on fuel convenience, with the twin exhausts coming a close second. Sadly, someone was ahead of me in queue at the same price point and I lost the green BS4 Ninja 1000 even though I had agreed to the seller’s price in principle. Just needed to get out of quarantine and close the deal but got beaten to it.

In fact, Go Blue’s last post on the Busa or AT thread (can’t recall which) resonated completely with me. If I could have a two bike garage, I would love to own an ADV (Tiger or AT) and an inline 4 like the N 1000. I’m not a super sports guy (don’t have the skill for sure nor do I enjoy the format). Only difference is where he has gone the whole hog with the Busa, the N 1000 is more than enough bike for me.

This is a pure indulgence so I’m not diving head first into anything. Will keep my eyes and ears open and when the right bike comes along will consider if I’m good to pull the trigger.

[KarthikK]

Ride to Souland Estates, Siddapur (Coorg)

It has been 4-5 months since this thread had been updated, and it is largely because we were home bound due to a German Shepherd who joined our home in December as a 2 month old pup .



Since she needed our presence/supervision until she grew up a bit, at least until she grew out of the bitey naughtiness for my senior citizen mom to be able to manage her during our travels, I was largely doing just occasional breakfast rides on the Ninja with some close friends for a few months. We did do a few overnight trips in the car to pet friendly properties but that was it over the past 3-4 months.

Now that she is old enough for us to restart our 2-up travels on the bikes, we set off on a 2 night, 3 day quiet weekend getaway to a property my better half had shortlisted. This property is called Souland Estates, a premium place but off-beat and was a nice discovery overall. I didn't get to shoot too much with the camera, so will have to complete this ride report with some average snaps from my ageing phone.

They had four different types of cottages to cater to different needs. All were quaint and offbeat in their themes. We chose a cottage called The Granary, a wooden log cabin on stilts, almost a treehouse in appearance and theme.

On the day of departure, bhpian and friend ebmrajesh joined us until our breakfast point - a place called Cafe Udupi Ruchi on the Hassan highway.



Thankfully this eatery was located around 5 km beyond the maddening Dhruvathare and Swathi delicacy stretch of restaurants and we were the only ones at the place for a long time



Relishing delicious Malpe Rolls at Cafe Udupi Ruchi, it is a sweet dish made of neer dosa wraps, stuffed with sweetened (with jaggery) coconut, banana and ghee



After breakfast, ebmrajesh departed homewards, and my better half and I continued towards Coorg via the Hassan highway.

Stopping for a break between Holenarsipur and Ramanathapura





We usually prefer to travel a bit earlier than usual during summer season to reach the place before the hottest hours of the day. Our homestay did not offer lunch on the first day so we were supposed to stop en route. Thanks to the Ninja, we actually reached our lunch place pretty early. We stopped at a resort called Purple Palms Resort, Kushalnagar for lunch.

Nice airy, garden facing ambience at Purple Palms



Hustling the staff at Purple Palms to prepare the buffer counter items quickly in this picture . To give credit to them, the place was clean, parking was safe, the resort is easily accessible and all of the dishes were very well made. I would definitely consider stopping here en route to Coorg during our future trips as well. Thanks to BHPian Dr. AD for suggesting this resort



We reached Souland Estates past 1pm and checked in to our tree house/log cabin. The hostess was very nice and we spent a few minutes chatting about Coorg and Souland

The entrance to The Granary, it was set quite away from the main house



It was completely set in the rustic greenery area of the estate, overlooking jungles. We were told that elephants were often sighted in these zones all the way up to the cottage itself, and were asked not to venture out in the night after sundown.



The cottage had a lovely balcony area with a hammock for lazing around



A nice sketch that we found on the property, of the Granary itself. Wonderful artist, whoever did this sketch



The cottage was well equipped with all the essentials, plus even a set of cutlery and a refrigerator for beverages, and a hot kettle for making our own coffee / tea if needed.



Lots of fresh drinking water, kept in this lovely earthen pot and was as cool as refrigerated water.



The bedroom area had a beautiful, panoramic view of the greenery that surrounded us





Even the bath tub had a view of the jungle outside



We spent the next 2 days doing absolutely nothing but relaxing in the rustic, yet superb property here and devouring the homemade food served to us by the hospitable hostess and her family.

The art of doing nothing



Lots and lots of coffee at the Granary, with a view



We did go on a few hikes around the property as we usually do, but apart from that we didn't really step out much and just enjoyed the peace and tranquil in the middle of nature



Breakfast with a view, in fact many more meals were with this view.



In other news, I swapped my wife's Sena 3S BT system for a Sena SMH5 intercom BT system, and fitted her old 3S into my Bell MX helmet which does not allow a 20S evo adapter to be fitted properly (I use the 20S evo across my other helmets). Now both of us are happier - I got a concealed BT system with great difficulty for the MX9 helmet, and she is happy that the control buttons are easier to access on the SMH5 than they were on the concealed 3S unit earlier.



Sunrise at the Granary



It was soon time to leave Souland on day 3, but not without a departing picture for memories



We stopped for a short break at Cafe Levista, Kushalnagar.



A nice message on the walls to show the coffee growing regions of our country



Wasn't too impressed with the food menu at Levista, just had some finger food junk and cold coffee because we had to (it was awkward noon time and not many other places around after this for a proper lunch)



One of the 3 or 4 IOCL bunks dispensing XP95 on the Coorg route via Channarayapatna. I am quite impressed with the availability of XP95 in almost every corner of the state, experienced this even during one of our previous rides. It is now very easy to tour even with vehicles which prefer higher octane petrol. The Ninja 1000 can run on regular fuel as well, but I always prefer higher octane if available.



Stopping for a break in the shade after mile munching under the afternoon sun



This trip was a nice weekend break and marked the restart of our travels on the bike, clocking roughly 650 km over the weekend. The Ninja as usual never ceases to plaster a smile across the face during and after the ride.



That's all for now, more updates (trip reports) to follow in the days to come, as there are quite a few rides being planned soon. Thanks for reading!

[forty6]

Hey, quick question, how bad is the ground clearance, especially when going on trails leading to off beat places?
TIA.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by forty6

Hey, quick question, how bad is the ground clearance, especially when going on trails leading to off beat places?
TIA.

Hey forty6, the ground clearance (or lack of) isn’t annoyingly noticeable while touring on tarmac, we just need to slow down and be cautious on the unscientific, high and non-gradual speedbreakers.

On trails leading to offbeat places, we have to slow down, use the path of least resistance and keep a watch for huge potholes and/or larger stones. The catcon box is the main culprit for ground clearance than other parts of the bike actually, so some occasional soft hits while crawling are inevitable and harmless. All in all, it just needs some careful riding on offroad trails, usually the last 2-3 miles leading to our destinations.

To compensate for the additional load while touring 2-up with luggage, I bump up the rear suspension preload to avoid bottoming out on large speedbreakers and potholes. This itself prevents 70% of the problems.

[forty6]

I had a ninja 650 and have a street triple rs now. The ninja was more comfortable, but surprisingly bad with ground clearance. As with the 1000, you can bump the preload on the rs, but yeah you have to be careful. I really want the dynamics of a sports tourer, but considering the Indian road condition it always feels safer to go for an ADV. So, was interested to know the real world scenario. Glad that it isn't as bad with the Ninja 1000 as it looks.

Thanks. More happy miles to you.

[KarthikK]

This is just a minor ownership update on 2 aspects which were recently done on the bike. Just updating those here.

Replacement of Handlebar Grip Puppies

The first set of grip puppies (handlebar grip cushion add-ons) started wearing out after 3.5 years of usage and abuse through extreme heat, rain and everything in between. During the last month's Coorg ride, it started tearing apart so the only option was to replace it after returning home . These are must-haves for me and I cannot do without these grips nowadays - I have always had them on my other bikes as well.

Frayed ends of the first set of Grip puppies



The summer heat probably took its toll on the last remaining life of these and led to this mega tear slit through the horizontal axis



Time for replacement with another new pair



All Fresh and new, set for the next few years of touring



These cost around 1800 per pair now.


Support for usage of Givi's Tanklock-ring-based Tankbags

I recently bought an entire set of Givi luggage options on my Honda CB500X, and along with that came Givi's XS307 (15 litre) and ST602B (4 litre) tankbags which I got for long trips and short daytrips respectively.

One of the good things with Givi's Tank Locked range tankbags is that any bike with a Givi Tank flange adapter (specific adapter models for specific bikes) can easily hold the same Givi tankbags. Needless to say, the mounting and unmounting of the bag is as simple as click and lock, and click and release with a side notch easily operational even with thick gloves on.

The BF44 extended tank flange holder for the CB500X





The Givi ST602B small tankbag on the CB500X's BF44 mount



Since the same bags are interchangeable across any bikes which have compatible Tanklock rings (Flange adapters), all I had to do was find the corresponding flange model for the Ninja 1000 MY2019. That happened to be the BF04 variant. This adapter costed 1500Rs.







Addition of Givi's BF04 Tankbag Flange adapter on the Ninja's fuel tank cap nuts



Now the Ninja can easily carry the ST602B Tankbag too which can serve well during trips, to carry compact quick access stuff such as the wallet, mask, powerbanks, etc.



Even our larger XS307 tankbag can fit easily but it obviously looks awkward here on the Ninja, and I wouldn't prefer it on this bike



The view from the rider when the tankbag is mounted. Luckily it doesn't hinder the vision of the instrument console or the fork-stem-mounted navigation phone.


Thanks to Bikenbiker for procuring these components for me. It was also a pleasant surprise to meet up with resident travel guru shyamg28 when I was at the store getting this flange part fitted. He had come to accessorise his spanking new Suzuki Vstrom 650.

That's all for now. More trip updates in the days to come

[KarthikK]

Ride to Mangalore with Team-BHPian friends

Around late May, a few Teambhpian friends and myself did a weekend ride to Mangalore with no other agenda than to enjoy some twisties with our machines and of course, savour some delicious food during those two days.

Veteran bike guru neil.jericho joined us all the way from Kochi for this ride, special thanks to him for taking the extra time off to detour into Bangalore and join the ride. Some of the vehicle snaps are courtesy his photography, thanks to him for that.

neil.jericho's stellar and timeless Triumph Street Triple 675



We decided to leave early from Bangalore so as to avoid the weekend traffic rush and ride leisurely to the west coast. It was still quite dark at 5AM as we met up at Nelamangala - Mangalore toll plaza



Regrouping at one of the next few toll plazas as the sun came up in the sky.



The two Ninja 1000s heading the convoy





Stopping for breakfast at a crowded restaurant called Anagha grand, past Channarayapatna, 180 km into the ride for some piping hot Idli Vada Sambar



Post-breakfast regroup stops and break time chit-chats





We decided to take Charmadi ghat route to Mangalore and stopped for a mid-day brunch at Ibbani cafe, Banakal just before the start of Charmadi ghat





Ibbani cafe is my usual haunt for some delicious Neer dosa when passing through this route



They serve amazing cold coffee too! Everyone wolfed down multiple glasses of cold coffee here before proceeding towards Charmadi



Solo shot of yours truly



Old and New side by side - rbp's immaculately maintained 10-year old Ninja 650, with my 2019 Ninja 1000



Stopping at one of the many curves in Charmadi ghat





The two Ninja 1000s



The black beauty conquering Charmadi ghat





Stopping to admire the views



After Charmadi ghat, it was raining persistently for almost an hour where we had to ride with rain gear on until we reached Mangalore city. However, when we reached Mangalore and proceeded to our beachhouse homestay, the weather suddenly changed and became a very hot and humid sunny day.

Reaching Emmanuel beach house, our stay for the night. It was located right opposite Iddya beach, Surathkal, just 15 km past Mangalore city.





Parking in front of the antique beach house





The inside of the beach house had many antique elements including the wood decor





Fortunately the rooms although basic, had air conditioning and sufficient spare to stash away tons of biker luggage



Another view of the beach house from the front. It had ample parking space, no need for any offroading, and a fenced courtyard right opposite the beach



One of the reasons we chose this place was because it was right opposite to the beach, just 10 metres out of our beach house. We got to see the setting sun in the evening after a few hours of chit-chat sessions on automobiles following a simple lunch we ordered in.



The group in a selfie - thats ebmrajesh, neil.jericho, shaikhmimran, rbp, ebmrajesh's non-bhpian friend and yours truly.

[KarthikK]

Ride to Mangalore with Team-BHPian friends (continued...)

I didn't get to click too many snaps with my trusted Fuji X100V, save for these few landscape shots at the beach during sunset











Watching the sun go down completely





The parking lot at Emmanuel beach house, the sand was like quicksand in some places, lol!



An old well in the courtyard



During the evening we rented a cab and visited Mangalore city for the must-try destinations especially for seafood lovers - Machali, and the other one being the famous Pabba's ice cream parlour.

While the carnivores enjoyed seafood, I am a vegetarian so at Machali I was content with some meals and coastal style Paneer ghee roast





At Machali we met up with another BHPian friend deepfreak15, who wasn't riding with us but had come by flight to Mangalore and joined us for Machali food and Pabba's ice cream

The iconic Gadbad ice cream sundae at Pabbas



Pizza ice cream at Pabbas, unique and interesting frozen pastry



I had their newly launched ice cream Thali, aka the iThali, a myriad of assorted ice creams and pastries put together mimicking a banana leaf meal.



After another round of chit-chats, we called it a day and wound up to hit the sack and recharge for another hot and humid ride the next day. The following morning I woke up early and headed out for a short walk along the beach



Iddya beach in the morning. I have no idea what an ISRO satellite / rocket lookalike was doing on a beach of all places!



This place being on the west coast, sunrise doesn't happen along the beach horizon but on the land side



A trawler in the distance



A quick photoshoot of the lineup in the morning before breakfast, with a background of the Arabian sea.



Shaikhmimran's immaculately maintained CBR650F sparkling in the morning sun



The retro beautiful interceptor on the other side



The three Kawasakis together



It was a very hot and humid day as we departed the coastal city of Mangalore at around 10AM after a quick refuel stop. We decided to try a different return route and took the Bisle ghat route back to Shanivarasanthe and to hit the Hassan expressway at Channarayapatna via Arkalgud - Holenarsipur single lane highway.

Stopping for a break and waiting for regroup at one of the flier roads upto Bisle ghat.





Bisle ghat was quite a bumpy ride on the narrow concrete stretch until we reached the plateau on top. Riding together at Bisle ghat





We stopped for an impromptu lunch at a small restaurant called Hotel Guru for some Akki Rottis and tons of cold drinks to rehydrate.



Black absorbs heat when parked in the sun .



After we hit the expressway, we had quite a few bursts of thunderstorms along the way and decided to break one last time at Empire Kunigal for a quick supper.



After that, we said our byes and decided to break off and ride home from there. I reached home almost around 9 PM. It was a nice and memorable weekend ride and a nice chance to catch up with riding friends after a long time. This ride completed another ~800 km on the tripmeter.



After a wash at Carzspa detailing center the following morning, the bike stood ready for the next ride. Another ride, another destination, another weekend. More ride reports to come soon. Thanks for reading!

[shyamg28]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

It was also a pleasant surprise to meet up with resident travel guru shyamg28 when I was at the store getting this flange part fitted. He had come to accessorise his spanking new Suzuki Vstrom 650.

Stunning photos and lovely update!

Was a pleasure to have met you sir (or saar, you choose).
I actually recognised you through a combination of the black Ninja and the fact that my neck was hurting looking up all the time (for the uninitiated, he is, 7ft8in tall...and I'm myself relatively tall on the Indian scale at 5'11).

I'm following your logs keenly more so because of your 2-up riding logs but regardless, your stunning photos and generally, your updates.

I wanted to get that offset flange too but it wasn't available for the V Strom. I have the same XS307 tank which slightly fouls with the handlebar when taking full blown U turns.

Looking forward to more updates. Cheers!

[Atom]

Stunning photos and an amazing trip log on two wheels. The bikes posing in a group are absolutely drool worthy. Cheers!!

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by shyamg28

Stunning photos and lovely update!

Was a pleasure to have met you sir (or saar, you choose).
I actually recognised you through a combination of the black Ninja and the fact that my neck was hurting looking up all the time (for the uninitiated, he is, 7ft8in tall...and I'm myself relatively tall on the Indian scale at 5'11).

I'm following your logs keenly more so because of your 2-up riding logs but regardless, your stunning photos and generally, your updates.

Thank you for the kind words Sir!
By now, I think the readers of your post will be imagining I work with WWE or NBA

I wanted to get that offset flange too but it wasn't available for the V Strom. I have the same XS307 tank which slightly fouls with the handlebar when taking full blown U turns.

I think the offset part is specific to certain bikes (the shape of that inclined portion is tailored to the tank shape). I am not so sure if Vstrom gets that version at all. Tanklock bags are unusable on the CB500X without that offset flange, the fuel tank cap is really that much forward on it. Maybe you can try returning the XS307 and trying some other model at Bikenbiker with a lock-to-lock test on the handlebar.

Originally Posted by Atom

Stunning photos and an amazing trip log on two wheels. The bikes posing in a group are absolutely drool worthy. Cheers!!

Thank you for your kind words Atom, glad to know you liked it!

[KarthikK]

Replacement of rear indicator stalk assembly (Minor Repair Update)

This was a rather unfortunate albeit minor problem which I happened to spot just before our routine monthly overnight trip, and quickly got fixed before the trip started.

It was entirely my mistake - after one of the previous rides, in early June I had not put the bike's cover properly, I had just lazily draped a part of it over the bike to prevent the rain water from leaving stains on the seats and tank. My house portico has a semi-open area for parking, sheltered from three sides but open to the wind and air circulation on the other. On one of the days in early June, a particularly violent thunderstorm was accompanied by strong gusts of winds. Because I hadn't draped the cover and secured it properly over the entire bike body, the strong winds lifted the cover up into a 'parachute', and one part of the cover stuck near the rear indicators put pressure on the flexible stalks and broke them off, leaving the two indicators hanging (I discovered this the next morning). While I noticed the parachute effect and quickly draped the cover properly during the rains that night, the damage was already done. Minor yet important part which can be delicate, especially after a few years when the rubber mounts inside wear out due to age.

Do note, the indicators by themselves worked fine. It was the flexible rubber clamp mount on the inside of the tail assembly (which holds these stalks from the inside) that gave way. The same indicator stalks were fitted back with new mounts.

Indicator stalks broken on the inside with the inner rubber clamps giving away





Both sides were down and out



A quick call to the Kawasaki service centre and the friendly service chief Unni asked me to bring the bike anytime for a quick fix for the problem. Fortunately they had ready stock of the indicator assembly mount.

I had to tape the indicators in place for the journey from home to service centre, to avoid them rattling and/or moving around and scratching anywhere in the rest of the tail assembly.



Work began swiftly when I reached at around 2 PM, they worked on this indicator stalk mount replacement on priority and completed the work in 30 minutes flat, as promised.



They even did a chain slack adjustment and alignment check when they learnt I had a long ride upcoming in two days. Special thanks to Unni and the Rideventur team for helping me out at such short notice.

As good as new again!



The total bill was around 2000 INR. The spare parts cost was not much, the labour cost was more than the spare parts cost .



Updating the maintenance timeline sheet with this repair visit. My annual service visit will be due in late July or August this year anyway, so the routine service will be updated later when it happens.



After this visit, I went to my friendly neighbourhood detailer Carzspa, for a quick wash and wax session before the next trip (report of that is due in the next 2-3 days). All gleaming and ready for the next ride





All in all, an incident that might have been avoided if I had taken the time to put the cover properly (when properly draped and secured the cover has a slack area in the indicators zone and such things never happen). Anyway lesson learnt not to be lazy with the bike cover ever, or else don't use it altogether.

Back to ride reports from my next post. Thanks for reading!