What Did You Do to Your Ninjette Today ??

[allanoue]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBravo

What happens when I'm not tall enough to see over it an it gets dark?

If you are tall enough to keep your chin off the gas tank the dark is fine, otherwise; get the clear.

[JohnnyBravo]

This guy does not agree with you

Originally Posted by allanoue

I had dark smoke on my 250 and at night I had to look over it but with the clear I can tuck under where it is much quieter and warmer

Durn you don't agree with you

Originally Posted by allanoue

If you are tall enough to keep your chin off the gas tank the dark is fine, otherwise; get the clear.

[tfkrocks]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBravo

What happens when I'm not tall enough to see over it an it gets dark?

Get light smoke instead of dark smoke. Problem solved

[allanoue]

Originally Posted by tfkrocks

Get light smoke instead of dark smoke. Problem solved

[JohnnyBravo]

Indeed

[choneofakind]

I wish I'd gotten clear instead of dark smoke. Anyone want to trade with me?

[tfkrocks]

Aside from working on the 300, I finally put a straight handlebar from my 300 on the 250. The bar end was stripped beyond use and then I snapped an extractor in there. Ended up just cutting the handlebar itself to get all the controls off of it. I was going to toss the bolt, bar end, and handlebar anyway. The choke lever made putting the light/horn controls back on a pain in the ass. I had never taken it off the 250 before but thankfully I was able to put it back together. Gave it a test ride and everything works as it should. Left turns might be a bit easier now that I don't have a bent handlebar lol.

[subxero]

I didn't ride it to work as planed because we surprisingly got snow last night

stupid snow in PA, the roads in this entire part of the state will now be dirty and s****y for the next 3 months, they put down 49274 tons of stupid fine gravel on the roads ehhh. My riding might be done for the season

[NevadaWolf]

Reached a milestone last night.

[subxero]

^ impressive

[coolbreeze]

Great pic and congrats!

[JohnnyBravo]

Putin on the miles, smilin like crazy. Wind is about blowing to hard to be fun, but it's worth the trouble, guess I'm learning or I have gone crazy.

[JohnnyBravo]

First ride in the snow... Yup snow

[Joshorilla]

Checked my tyre pressure, I was 19psi on the front and 22psi on the rear :roll eyes:

I thought it felt a bit mushy and wobbly on the turns.

[cuong-nutz]

Changed the oil only. Couldn't find any shops close by that carried the filter in stock. :/ Also, relubed the chain with this little bottle of chain saver I have.

[JohnnyBravo]

Yoshi fender eliminator... First mod

[adrenaline786]

Spent all day putting my new fairings on, also apparently the old owner didn't use grommets on the screws that connect the front fairing to the gas tank, so I had to fashion up some grommets myself.

Before-during-after shots attached

[NevadaWolf]

I sent her off to the shop for the week. Got tsk-tsk'd for only doing one oil change in 10k miles (oops) but they did promise to give my girl the spa treatment to get all the salt out of her innards.

[thumper64]

Originally Posted by tfkrocks

Except they stopped making the dry wax formula. Don't know if you've noticed but the stuff they sell now doesn't say dry wax anymore. The dupont chain saver is similar to the old dry wax lube though.

I use the Dupont Chain Saver and I like it. I spray a little on, wipe down my chain and it seems like that takes all the dirt off, and then spray a second time to lube it. It's expensive but I put a new RK X ring chain on and started using that, and I may have adjusted my chain twice over the season. It beats the nasty Polaris chain lube I was using at least.

[tfkrocks]

Valve adjustment and carb sync on the 250. Those were some really tight valves.

[cuong-nutz]

Hmmmmm... PA systems that plays recorded messages so drivers hear what I want to say to them.....

1. Excuse me, but you almost hit me.
2. Get off your DAMN phone. Please. Thank you. Bye.
3. Turn signals. Where are your Turn signals?

[allanoue]

Took it to work. It was 24 degrees and I passed 3 other bikers. They all wave when it is this cold.

[csmith12]

mmmmm yea

[rojoracing53]

Well first I tried to start it but my dead battery took care of that so a bump start its going to be.
Open the garage door to find it pouring rain outside, fantastic
Backed the bike into the depths of the garage to get a good long dry running start, got it going no problem so I rode off with my headlights flickering
Blew the chain off with air at work and relubed it since water is bad
Went to start the bike to ride home and yeah the battery was dead....again.
I love that my bike practically bump starts with me walking next to it but damn.

She back on the battery tender for the night so she'll be good in the morning.

[cuz]

Originally Posted by cuong-nutz

Changed the oil only. Couldn't find any shops close by that carried the filter in stock. :/ Also, relubed the chain with this little bottle of chain saver I have.

damn homie I usually have 2(K&N) on me should have called me


call me next time. I got you

[tfkrocks]

LEDs in the dash of my 250! (except for the turn signal indicator because I don't have a diode kit and don't plan on getting one)



On a side note: coincidentally, I learned about diodes in my physics lab this morning and that actually helped with getting the LEDs to work

[Sirref]

experienced my first tankslapper. damned front tire bouncing on gravel and not landing straight because I'm trying to accelerate.

also ordered some shorty adjustable levers cheap off of ebay.

[Daks]

Rode up to the North Bay to visit what could be my future bike. I love my little Zero but he just does not have the horsepower I need. D:

[Byakkotai]

Originally Posted by Daks

Rode up to the North Bay to visit what could be my future bike. I love my little Zero but he just does not have the horsepower I need. D:

Oh do tell more

Checked tire pressures - a bit low so I'll get that fixed tomorrow when I go gas up. Cleaned and lubed chain again as well.

[chillbr0412]

Winterized it and put it away :/

[NevadaWolf]

Got her back after making my contribution to the Kawasaki retirement fund. Either that or the service dept lined my baby with gold and charged accordingly.

Did get introduced to a whole lot of new terms that I need to research and learn more about. They include "steering bearings" "pitted" and "tapered bearings". Fearing the salt was to blame, I asked what could be done to have prevented the problem. The service guy said it wasn't the salt, it was the fact I have such a high mileage bike. Oh.

Thank you @Racer x for the timely advice as I made sure to specifically mention that to the service guys and they said they'd tear it apart to look for salt.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

Did get introduced to a whole lot of new terms that I need to research and learn more about. They include "steering bearings" "pitted" and "tapered bearings"

Lots of info coming. Hold on.

Steering bearings are the bearings that allow your triple to turn smoothly in the frame of your motorcycle. Think for a second, when your front wheel hits a bump, what else gets hit with the force of the bump? hint: these bearings.

This force from bumps is what causes the next term in question, 'pitting'. Over time, as you hit more and more bumps, the bearings and the tracks they roll in all wear. This is from repeated bumps. This creates little amounts of extra space known as slop. Many riders forget to adjust the stem nut to take out any of this 'slop' after every xxxxx number of miles. What this means is that the triple and steertube will repeatedly bash the bearings into the tracks (known as races or cups) and make little dents, known as pits. This is what your mechanic meant when he talked about 'pitting'. Basically, there was a little slop in your triple/frame, and this made your bearings bash into your cups repeatedly and left some pitting. The solution for this is to replace the bearings and races and then keep an eye on it in the future to make sure there's not excessive slop in the system.

Now onto tapered bearings.
Those little tracks I mentioned earlier? The OE part on or ninja is a curved track that sits at a 90 degree angle relative to the steer tube. This works, but isn't perfect as it allows slop to form pretty easily. By tapering these tracks (basically using a cone instead of a disk as the track), you can get rid of slop better. As you tighten the stem nut, the cones are forced in. Since they are an angled surface, this also pushes outward and forces the bearings to be directly in contact with the race surface. Aka, no slop.

For the ninjette, there is a great replacement bearing option; tapered roller bearings. Tapered means the races are at an angle to take up slop by tightening the stem nut. Roller bearings means that the rolling parts are little cylinders instead of little metal balls. The combo leads to a very smooth front end that doesn't flex or knock as much. I enjoy them on my ninjette.

I hope that clarifies a little of what the shop mechanic told you.

[MR2Aaron]

The proper term for the "pitting" on the steering bearing races is "brinelling."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinelling

It's pretty common on bicycles. It makes them feel like the steering has an indexed "straight ahead" position that it pops into.

[choneofakind]

Yepp, sticky spots as the bars turn, notchy feeling as the bars turn, knocking over bumps or while braking; all symptoms of pitted races/bearings.

[NevadaWolf]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Lots of info coming. Hold on.

>snipping great info<

I hope that clarifies a little of what the shop mechanic told you.

Thank you! That does clarify it quite a bit!

Sadly, I'm not sensitive enough to have felt any of that in my riding, but I'll definitely pay attention to see if I catch it if/when it happens again.

You says riders should adjust the stem nut, what's the average interval to do that in?

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by NevadaWolf

You says riders should adjust the stem nut, what's the average interval to do that in?

I usually check it when I change oil. I just walk the bike the grab the front brake with my finger and listen/feel for knocking. You can also lift the front wheel and push/pull the front wheel and listen for knocking at the triple. Doesn't need adjusting often, but it's a good check. Little checks like that help you know your bike.

[NevadaWolf]

Thanks, I'm going to start doing my own oil changes in between trips to the dealer so I'll add that to the plan.

[ninjamunky85]

It was snowing, but warm today, about 34 degrees when I took this picture. Put some sta-bil in the tank and filled it up, then rode around for a little while.

[MR2Aaron]

Originally Posted by ninjamunky85

It was snowing, but warm today, about 34 degrees when I took this picture. Put some sta-bil in the tank and filled it up, then rode around for a little while.

Serious question: Does the sun ever actually shine in Ohio?

I was born there supposedly, but every time I've ever been there that I remember, it was cold and overcast and horrible, and the last time I was actually chased to the border with West Virginia by tornadoes.

[allanoue]

Very nice pic
I will take snow over Texas heat every time