At 4000 miles, riding from Syracuse NY to Belfast ME--a distance of 500mi, my bike developed a noise--most pronounced in 4Rth gear. It was a whining sound. When I got home, I checked the chain and sprocket, and discovered that the sprocket had about 3/4" of play. I rode the bike to a friend`s shop--not a dealer but a guy who specializes in high line sport bikes--Ducati, and Hyabusa. He determined that the Cush Drive was defective. I called my Kawa Dealer and told him what the problem was. He ordered a new cush drive and will install it this week under warranty. Not a big deal.

Took the bike back to the dealer and they replaced the cush drive with no problem. No idea what caused the problem--no harm done.

Last Friday I took my Ninja to the dealer I got it from for a cushdrive replacement. My biggest mistake was that I assumed that the dealer was competent/honest. By Monday morning my bike sounded like a thrashing machine. I went to see my friend, the Ducati, Hyabusa, and anything else fast, mechanic, and he was outraged. The dealer did not replace the cush drive under warranty--as his invoive said that he did; he simply tightened the chain (too tight and misaligned). My friend called his friend--Service Manager at a Kawasaki dealership 40 miles away and he explained the situation. The Service Manager suggested that we set the chain right, realign the back wheel, and bring the bike to him. I drove the 40 miles and met an incredibly competent knowledgeable individual. He looked at my paperwork and ascertained that the dealer I got the bike from put in to Kawasaki an invoice for labor and a new cush drive. He then called warranty service at Kawasaki and related his findings after he had inspected my bike. The gist of the story was that Kawasaki was wicked upset. They told the manager that they would send him a complete new drivetrain for my Ninja--We are talking front sprocket, transmission seal, rear sprocket, bearing assembly, cush drive and chain. He also wanted the brake pads checked for abnormal wear due to the wheel misalignment. He said that the bike is OK to ride and that when he gets the stuff in from Kawasaki next week we will be home free. He explained that Kawasaki is exerting a massive effort to do better in the marketplace. They will not tolerate bad dealers and they will pay special attention to 250 owners because those guys and gals will eventually move up to their newly redesigned 500 and 650cc machines. Kawasaki is currently gearing up to redo their 500 and 650 line. They would like to keep us in their fold. I thought I would post this long winded epistle as an For Your Info. memo. I am still exceptionally pleased with the 250 Ninja and will continue to recommend this fine machine to anyone in the market for a high tech 250. I sincerely believe that there is no stock 250 on the market today that can hold a candle up to this machine

Hi Alex -

I merged this into a single thread. Glad that your bike is all sorted out at this point. I'm wondering if the initial problem had nothing to do with the cush drive, and was simply rear wheel misalignment. The cush drive in the Ninjette allows for a good bit of play on the sprocket, that seems to be normal. Or at least it's consistent over many bikes. But rear wheel alignment is a pain in the neck with this bike. The plates with notches on them that the axle goes through are not symmetrical, so if they are put on one way the notch is in a slightly different place than if they are reversed 180 degrees. So they can't be trusted in figuring out if the rear wheel is straight. Best way I can tell is that after everything is tightened down, are the screws at the back of the chain adjustment even on both sides; i.e. are the same number of threads showing. If yes, that means that the axle is in alignment with the swingarm. And hopefully, the swingarm is in alignment with the rest of the chassis or the bike has bigger issues...

Alex, Thanks for the comeback. The problem was definitely an alignment issue. Kawa is making the problem right, and I`m happy for that. It is good to be dealing with a company that cares. I have to say that I am very impressed with Kawasaki. When I was a Norton/Benelli dealer in the 70`s, I had little support from the factories. If I had been a Kawasaki dealer back then, it would have been a whole different story.

Wow big :woot: to Kawi for not only nipping the problem in the bud, but going above and beyond :D It's a shame that (IMO) a good half of dealers and mechanics out there seem to be below par.

That's weird about the cush drive though. Did the rubber wear out of it or what?

Kawasaki did a great job in customer service. It was NOT Kawasaki`s fault that this failure ocurred. It was the fault of the dealer who set the bike up and did not align the rear wheel properly and did not tension the chain properly. It was the misaligment that generated the wear. The bike is fine now and runs like a dream. I also have a new (to me) Kawasaki Dealer--Friend and Friend in Ellsworth ME who has a service department that is first rate. Jeff, the service manager, road races a Hyabusa (They also sell Suzuki and Honda in addition to Kawasaki) This is a huge dealership--scared me at first--but this place is highly professional, knowledgeable, and competent. I am in good hands while the bike is under warranty. After that we have an independent shop here in Belfast that specializes in Sportbikes. Reid`s works on anything that comes in. He likes Ducati,Hyabusa,Honda,Yamaha,Kawasaki,and BMW. Anything I can`t do myself will go to him. I will buy my oil,filters,and acessories through him. We are fortunate to have him.

Sucks you cant trust some dealers. Good you found a nice one:thumbup:

So with this new cush drive, if you have it in gear(motor off) & rock the bike back and forth. Does the sprocket stay planted with the wheel?
I noticed we have lots of slop in ours, more than I like. I heard others putting some shims in there. Been meaning to rip it apart and check it, just so lazy lately.......

I didn't think the dealer even had to touch the alignment out of the crate. Perhaps a factory setup error? :confused:

Sucks you cant trust some dealers. Good you found a nice one:thumbup:

So with this new cush drive, if you have it in gear(motor off) & rock the bike back and forth. Does the sprocket stay planted with the wheel?
I noticed we have lots of slop in ours, more than I like. I heard others putting some shims in there. Been meaning to rip it apart and check it, just so lazy lately.......

I would definitely recommend shimming the cush drive. After about 1,000 miles I was noticing quite a bit of slop in there. I shimmed mine enough that there is still slop and was able to reassemble the cush drive without much force. If you're really having to cram that thing back in there, then you've possibly over-shimmed it :D

My new cush drive still has a bit of slop in it. The service manager at Friend and Friend has made an inquiry to Kawasaki concerning this problem. As soon as I get word back, I`ll post it.

You can easily shim the cush drive by cutting some plastic spacers and filling the void in the cush drive with them, as Vex mentioned. This has been a problem with the previous gens as well, so I doubt any part Kawasaki will use is going to fix the slop. Ask them to shim it instead of replacing the rubber part... unless, of course, your rubber cush drive is actually falling apart.