Warchild
Benevolent Dictator
Some of y'all might remember this thread from last summer, where a road trip to Reno, Nevada inspired my 19-year-old daughter to get her motorcycle endorsement and her very first bike, a 1994 Kawasaki Ninja 500:
This Ninja seems generally solid, but has only 20K miles on it and thus has been sitting in a garage for the vast majority of it's 16 year life.
For the 2010 summertime motorcycle adventure, Lauryn wants to ride her Ninja from the far northwest corner of Washington state to the World Superbike Races in Salt Lake City! I will lead her on my FJR1300...... this oughta be good!
Which leaves me with about 44 days to transform her quasi-neglected Kawasaki into a reliable, road-worthy Touring Ninja!
Here's what I started with.... 16 years old, 20K miles, has had one significant crash which resulted in having to replace both front forks, and it tweaked the front sub frame just a hair. Aside from tires, most everything is OEM, and who knows the maintenance history, or when the last time oil and coolant was changed. The previous owner had just mounted a ridiculous Kenda cruiser tire on the front; that will be replaced soon:
First order of business was to dump the ancient OEM rubber brake line up front, and install a nice Spiegler SS line. Between the Kendra tire and the oem brake circuit, the front brake had an exceptionally "wooden" feel to it. Below you can see the slightly bent OEM brake lever (A), and that nasty, swollen OEM brake line ( B ) :
Now, it just so happens that the beautifully-machined Pazzo Racing brake lever for the Suzuki Hayabusa is an EXACT replacement for the Ninja OEM brake lever. I had obtained a Brembro front master cylinder for my Hayabusa in 2009, which left the Pazzo brake lever I previously had on the bike to go unneeded. Happily, it has a new job nowadays on the mighty Ninja, pushing hydraulic fluid through Lauryn's new purple-anodized Spiegler end-fittings:
Another view of that gorgeous Pazzo Racing lever....
Here's a shot of the caliper end of things. I had to fashion a suitable grommet so the much thinner Spiegler line wouldn't flail away inside the fender retaining clasp, so a short segment of fuel line, wrapped in a short section of split wire loom, does the trick:
Starting to come together a bit more..... a little bit of soft luggage to give it that "touring" effect:
Still got an awful lot to do to this bike.... coolant, oil, a new Avon Storm up front, and install a circuit for the Warm-N-Safe liner for those cold mountains between here and Salt Lake City. Her single H4 headlight is just about worthless; I am toying with installing a HID kit, since we will be doing some night traveling.
The Plan is to depart before sunup on Friday, May 28th, and ride straight through to Salt Lake City, arriving late afternoon. We scored a hotel room about 24 miles from the racetrack, so after we check in, we'll dash over to Miller Motorsports Park and check it all out. Actual racing is Sat/Sun/Mon, with the main WSB racing on Monday.
Will add to this thread as the adventure unfolds!
This Ninja seems generally solid, but has only 20K miles on it and thus has been sitting in a garage for the vast majority of it's 16 year life.
For the 2010 summertime motorcycle adventure, Lauryn wants to ride her Ninja from the far northwest corner of Washington state to the World Superbike Races in Salt Lake City! I will lead her on my FJR1300...... this oughta be good!
Which leaves me with about 44 days to transform her quasi-neglected Kawasaki into a reliable, road-worthy Touring Ninja!
Here's what I started with.... 16 years old, 20K miles, has had one significant crash which resulted in having to replace both front forks, and it tweaked the front sub frame just a hair. Aside from tires, most everything is OEM, and who knows the maintenance history, or when the last time oil and coolant was changed. The previous owner had just mounted a ridiculous Kenda cruiser tire on the front; that will be replaced soon:
First order of business was to dump the ancient OEM rubber brake line up front, and install a nice Spiegler SS line. Between the Kendra tire and the oem brake circuit, the front brake had an exceptionally "wooden" feel to it. Below you can see the slightly bent OEM brake lever (A), and that nasty, swollen OEM brake line ( B ) :
Now, it just so happens that the beautifully-machined Pazzo Racing brake lever for the Suzuki Hayabusa is an EXACT replacement for the Ninja OEM brake lever. I had obtained a Brembro front master cylinder for my Hayabusa in 2009, which left the Pazzo brake lever I previously had on the bike to go unneeded. Happily, it has a new job nowadays on the mighty Ninja, pushing hydraulic fluid through Lauryn's new purple-anodized Spiegler end-fittings:
Another view of that gorgeous Pazzo Racing lever....
Here's a shot of the caliper end of things. I had to fashion a suitable grommet so the much thinner Spiegler line wouldn't flail away inside the fender retaining clasp, so a short segment of fuel line, wrapped in a short section of split wire loom, does the trick:
Starting to come together a bit more..... a little bit of soft luggage to give it that "touring" effect:
Still got an awful lot to do to this bike.... coolant, oil, a new Avon Storm up front, and install a circuit for the Warm-N-Safe liner for those cold mountains between here and Salt Lake City. Her single H4 headlight is just about worthless; I am toying with installing a HID kit, since we will be doing some night traveling.
The Plan is to depart before sunup on Friday, May 28th, and ride straight through to Salt Lake City, arriving late afternoon. We scored a hotel room about 24 miles from the racetrack, so after we check in, we'll dash over to Miller Motorsports Park and check it all out. Actual racing is Sat/Sun/Mon, with the main WSB racing on Monday.
Will add to this thread as the adventure unfolds!
