[Sheetesh]

Congratulations to you on the new 10R.
I am interested in the 400 you have. Would you be interested in selling it to me. Please send me a message with details. Thank you.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Turbosailor

Congrats KarthikK for accruing another Ballistic missile. Truly needs to commend your effort and dedication. I am struggling to put mile on my Int650, here you have crossed 40K miles on N1K, meticulously penned your travelogue, ownership experience etc and now took a track weapon too. Wishing you many safe miles ahead.

Thank you for the kind words Turbosailor!
Please do pen down your experiences with the Interceptor 650.

Originally Posted by Sheetesh

Congratulations to you on the new 10R.
I am interested in the 400 you have. Would you be interested in selling it to me. Please send me a message with details. Thank you.

Thanks a lot for the wishes Sheetesh!
Unfortunately the bike already got sold last month .

[KarthikK]

Pillion Helmet Addition - Arai RX7X Tsubasa joins the Shark D-Skwal 2 Chameleon

This is just a casual update on riding gear and nothing related to the Ninja as such, but as is the practice with me, any riding gear purchase makes it to the ownership logs and here we are.

The better half has been using a Shark D-Skwal 2 Chameleon helmet for the past two years, and was always keen on trying an Arai / Shoei helmet but she would always complain about how most of their designs were bland and mostly stripes and lines, or else over-the-top MotoGP rider based replica designs which she couldn't relate to or appreciate.

Oh well, in some parallel world Arai probably heard her complaint over telepathy , and came out with the updated RX7X in early 2024 (also called RX7V Evo in EU) in a particular design called 'Tsubasa', themed with traditional Japanese art and Sakura (traditional Japanese cherry blossom flowers). On the left are cherry blossom flowers and the Japanese (flag symbol) Rising sun. On the other side are graphics of grass meadows (not sure what they signify in Japanese art), and on the top and sides are a Japanese Red-Crowned Crane bird (apparently some lucky charm symbol in Japan) with full wing span graphics.

Japanese art to the rescue, lol! Images from the official Arai catalogue





The better half loved and wanted this pattern and we were trying to procure this rare pattern in her size, quite unsuccessfully for a few months and had almost given up on it. Meanwhile a friend visiting Japan on work happened to come across it in Tokyo earlier this month, and was kind enough to purchase and bring us the exact same helmet in her size.

Arai RX7X Tsubasa, coupled with the Red Iridium visor. This helmet doesn’t have an inner visor, so she opted for the iridium visor to help with long sunny touring days.





The other side



Red Crowned Crane wing span graphics



Cherry blossom everywhere





The entire helmet paint job is glossy and has a strong Glitter effect all over



The existing Shark D-Skwal 2 Shigan Chameleon helmet with the Arai RX7X Tsubasa, side by side. The Shark chameleon is called so because the graphics look different in different angles, with the colors changing from grey to blue to purple to pink depending on light color and light angle. The better half likes both and wants to retain the Shark, so both the helmets will co-exist and continue to serve for two-up touring. An immediate need is to wire up another set of Sena's clamp kit (speakers and mic) into the new helmet so as to interchangeably use the existing Sena BT device across both helmets.





Both are of the same size on the inside, but the Arai is more solidly built on the outside and has a thicker shell, the marginal outer size difference can be seen when placed side-by-side. Anyway, this is not a fair comparison because they are not from the same segment (think Shark's Race-R Pro for actual comparison with RX7V).



October has some interesting Ninja rides lined up. Until my next ride report, thanks for reading!

[samyakmodi]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Pillion Helmet Addition - Arai RX7X Tsubasa joins the Shark D-Skwal 2 Chameleon


Arai RX7X Tsubasa, coupled with the Red Iridium visor. This helmet doesn’t have an inner visor, so she opted for the iridium visor to help with long sunny touring days.

Strongly recommend going for the Pro Shade system from ARAI. Have been using it from a month or so - and serves the purpose well. You can flip open the dark shield during the evening rides - giving you a clear vision, and can use the dark shield during the sunny times.

Reference image

[Motorfanatic1]

This is an absolutely lovely investment at a reasonable price when you got it from Japan. It has highly customizable foam features and the product claims that size too can be adjusted, which makes it even perfect.

Cheers

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

Strongly recommend going for the Pro Shade system from ARAI. Have been using it from a month or so - and serves the purpose well. You can flip open the dark shield during the evening rides - giving you a clear vision, and can use the dark shield during the sunny times.

I had a look at this, not too sure about the aesthetics vis-a-vis a regular visor . When the darker visor is in the up-position, I have a feeling it will catch a lot of air and produce some whistling noise at higher speeds, looks almost like a mini-peak of an adventure/mx helmet. What is your opinion on this?

Also saw reviews say that when riding with the outer (smaller) visor down, the gap between the two visors tends to catch a lot of bugs and insects in India.

Originally Posted by Motorfanatic1

This is an absolutely lovely investment at a reasonable price when you got it from Japan. It has highly customizable foam features and the product claims that size too can be adjusted, which makes it even perfect.

Indeed the prices in Japan are excellent and hardly 25-30% of what Indian importers charge for the same thing if bought from here . Other South East Asian countries are marginally more expensive than Japan but still significantly cheaper in pricing compared to ordering from here.

[VellVector]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I had a look at this, not too sure about the aesthetics vis-a-vis a regular visor . When the darker visor is in the up-position, I have a feeling it will catch a lot of air and produce some whistling noise at higher speeds, looks almost like a mini-peak of an adventure/mx helmet. What is your opinion on this?

Also saw reviews say that when riding with the outer (smaller) visor down, the gap between the two visors tends to catch a lot of bugs and insects in India.

The aesthetics look fine in my opinion. It doesn't really catch any air when the visor is up.

Coming to bugs, I didn't see any difference to just a regular visor, but i did catch more bugs with the shade in the up position for some reason.

Bigger problem for me, I used to get a really bad headache when the shade was down and had to get rid of it completely. Now just use a pair of sunglasses which work far better anyways.

[KarthikK]

Number plates changed to HSRP number plates (As per government rules)

Not a major update, but logging this change too on the thread. The Karnataka govt. has been trying to get owners of pre-April-2019 registered vehicles to apply for HSRP number plates and dispose their old-school regular number plates.

Unfortunately during and around that (2017-19) era, Kawasaki in India was undergoing some changes. Initially they were selling through Bajaj dealerships, later they went independent and renamed the Indian subsidiary, so the manufacturer field in Registration certificate (RC) cards had some discrepancy. It used to be 'Bajaj Auto' before they went independent, then 'Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd' for a couple of years and finally 'India Kawasaki Motors Ltd.'.

Due to some confusion regarding the registered manufacturer in RTO records, it was not possible for owners of certain batches of vehicles to order HSRP plates using the SIAM website. I had requested Rideventur (Bangalore dealership) to help out in this regard. Earlier this month, Rideventur staff called me and took the details once again, generated the number plates in 3 days and informed me to go to the showroom to get them fitted. I just got them fitted this weekend when I had some time. For Kawasaki owners who are in the same boat as me and want to know more on the procedure to procure HSRP, please follow the steps I have mentioned here.

Out came the old vanilla number plates



And in went the new HSRP number plates





The N1k visits the Rideventur showroom almost 6 years after the delivery



While the HSRP plates were getting fitted, I was checking out this lovely looking ZX-6R in the showroom, which was being prepared for delivery to some lucky customer. In some parallel universe, I would have probably been that person if I had waited for my 6R booking to materialise, but due to the turn of events in July, I ended up with this one's elder sibling 10R instead .



I could have done without the subtle branding, sadly I noticed it only later! I'll try and get unbranded casing frames sometime later if possible.



The look of these plates is much better than the old ones, thanks to the black frame outline



The 10R had gone out for a solo ride today, and after returning I was just prepping the N1k for a ride to Konkan later this week with the routine stuff (tyre pressure, chain lube, etc). Since I had to do some Towers of Hanoi anyway in my garage (read as rearrangement of the bikes) to position the Ninja 1000 to be taken out easily, I just took some timepass snaps of the green and black beasts in my house portico. Sorry for the spam!







With the front wheels placed at the exact same position, the longer wheelbase of the N1k can be clearly seen here with the rear wheel position.



Top view from the rear



K9 Protection for the Ninja twins , in reality she is very friendly with people though. Can be easily bribed with a tennis ball and a game of throw and fetch, lol! Loves to pretend to help out, by hanging out and supervising any bike-related activities that I keep doing in the porch.





That's all for now. Until my next ride report, thanks for reading!

[Akash5653]

Looks much cleaner with the HSRP plates! If only they didn't help in issuing any challans

[bravo82in]

I noticed that the rivets meant to secure the HSRP to the vehicle body are missing. It seems the showroom only attached the plastic frame to the body, placed the plate inside, and closed it up. This makes it easy for anyone to tamper/ steal the plate. Also the each number plate has a unique number which is also not visible. It’s there for 4- wheels, not sure about bikes.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by bravo82in

Also the each number plate has a unique number which is also not visible. It’s there for 4- wheels, not sure about bikes.

The unique digits are printed on both the plates, towards the left - you would need to zoom the picture to notice it.

[bravo82in]

Yes the unique digits are there in both front and back. I need to get my vision tested.

[100Kmphormore]

I could have done without the subtle branding, sadly I noticed it only later! I'll try and get unbranded casing frames sometime later if possible.

Nah, just black it out with some paint, agree this kind of branding is indeed irritating - the same quality isn’t available outside. Should get one for mine too, the windblast at high speeds tend to bend the front plates. Can’t wait to join you guys on a ride to see these 2 belles in person!

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Akash5653

Looks much cleaner with the HSRP plates! If only they didn't help in issuing any challans

I agree, they do look cleaner now

Originally Posted by bravo82in

I noticed that the rivets meant to secure the HSRP to the vehicle body are missing. It seems the showroom only attached the plastic frame to the body, placed the plate inside, and closed it up. This makes it easy for anyone to tamper/ steal the plate. Also the each number plate has a unique number which is also not visible. It’s there for 4- wheels, not sure about bikes.

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

The unique digits are printed on both the plates, towards the left - you would need to zoom the picture to notice it.

Originally Posted by bravo82in

Yes the unique digits are there in both front and back. I need to get my vision tested.

True, they have not riveted this one yet.
The unique number is there on both front and rear plates, I have just masked it in the closeup picture of the rear number plate.

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Nah, just black it out with some paint, agree this kind of branding is indeed irritating - the same quality isn’t available outside. Should get one for mine too, the windblast at high speeds tend to bend the front plates. Can’t wait to join you guys on a ride to see these 2 belles in person!

Never heard about windblast bending the plates till now, my previous plates were plain metal without frame and had no such issues in ~6 years. Sometimes some owners deliberately bend the front plates to a squarish shape for looks or so that the sharp ends don't jut out (such as when putting a bike cover on it).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

One issue with these black frames around the number plate though - is that the frames themselves are screwed in and not riveted!

When washing the bike, please keep an eye on these screws. A friend lost his plates somewhere along a morning ride, most likely because the screw came loose.

He has gone back to rivets without the frame now - looks less sophisticated but safer in the longer run.