Re: Front Fork Re-Valve

Thanks for the quick revert. I've been following your thread and knew the background but got confused that why the stock settings are again attempted with reduced weight and better rebound. Further, why is it treated as a joy. [emoji4]
Anyways, kudos to all the efforts put in by you for the betterment of the bike and more so on the way you enlighten us.

Motozone Rear View Mirror Extenders

Motozone Rear View Mirror Extenders

Definition: Situational Awareness

Re: Motozone Rear View Mirror Extenders

I don't think I have ever said that this is a track going machine. Ever.

Re: Motozone Rear View Mirror Extenders

What are the mods that are street illegal ???

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

First of all hat's off to your passion for your bike man, i mean you got lonngg list on Ad on's and some of them are best in business.

But don't you crave for more power??? I went through my stock N300 for 1.8 years or so before exchanging it for bigger bike.

Most of your Mod's are performance driven and we Mumbaikar's don't even have a Track to use these bikes to full potential not sure how much touring you are into... no offense it's your bike your decision but all i am trying to understand whats the end goal for you???

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

The bike is already making more power than its counterparts while at the same time it is now 22 kgs lighter, which makes it lighting quick. I understand the allure of bigger displacement bike with more power, but the aim here is to take it to max power it can make without sacrificing street reliability and making the bike as light as possible at the same time.

It's not about outright speed, it about making useable power. While a stock bike will really start showing its true colors post 8,000 rpm, this bike makes power right off 3,000 rpm and being lighter than stock is a delight to point and shoot through Mumbai traffic. See a gap, point and just shoot through with a burst of throttle. Due to a number of factors such as strongly mid range tuned exhaust, light weight, fueling, etc, the bike has a super quick throttle response. At the same time having superior brakes gives you the confidence to be control of the situation as any given time.

I really don't know how to explain this but it is something like this; give me a choice between a Mitsubishi Evolution & a Porsche Boxster S, I will always end up selecting the EVO. Because there so much that I can do with the EVO and planning and doing it is a major part of the game. It's a hobby, just like some people would rather build their own music system then buy a ready made B & O system.

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

What is 0-60 n 0-100 timings? Have you tried? Just curious Nonetheless, I understand your work, it requires passion n dedication to make your ride one of a kind. 👏

Sent from my SM-N750 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Ninja San goes to Kawasaki Chakan, Pune

Ninja San goes to Kawasaki Chakan, Pune.

Meet Mr. Shigeto Nishikawa, Dy. Managing Director of Kawasaki India. Mr. Nishikawa is a very passionate motorcyclist and also a very skilled rider. He is also very passionate about rider safety and skill improvements.


Mr. Shigeto Nishikawa, Dy. Managing Director of Kawasaki India


Therefore, during one of the Kawasaki meet he expressed his desire to hold rider safety and skill improvement sessions on regular basis. He discussed his ideas with Mr. Abhijit Pendharkar who incidentally owns a ZX 14 (and is quite skillful with it). They decided to try a few pilot sessions at Kawasaki’s Chakkan plant to get a better feel and response to such a program. Nishikawa San is so passionate about motorcycles that he wants these sessions to be open to all motorcyclists irrespective of which make or type motorcycle you own.

One of our Ninja 300 Whatsapp group’s friend Pushkar Patil was one of the first to attend such a session. As an add-on, all the attendees got a tour of the Kawasaki plant where Ninja 300 and 650 are assembled. After attending the session, Pushkar offered to arrange for any of our group members who want to attend the next session. Another group member Amitava Choudhury and I jumped at the offer and grabbed with gleeful hands.

As the session was from 8.00 am to 12 pm, we had to leave Mumbai early at 5.15 am. It had rained the whole night before and we were a little bit apprehensive about whether to go ahead with the trip or not. But the allure to see the Kawasaki plant and to learn something more about better riding was too strong for both of us to give this opportunity a pass.

Therefore, we started our journey at 5.15 am and by the time we started our journey it had stopped raining. However, the roads were slick and we had to be careful, as we had no idea what condition the roads to Pune were in. These conditions persisted till Lonavala. As we crossed Lonavala the sun came up giving us better visibility and drying out the road. As the roads were relatively empty we were able to make good time and reached Chakkan by 7.30 am, where we waited for Vikram of Motozone to join us for the training session. 4 more riders from Pune joined us for the session.

The training session started at 9.00 am with briefing by Nishikawa San in theory explaining the purpose of the training exercises and the theory and logic behind each set of practice movements. We were put through the paces to learn finer throttle control, relationship of balance of the bike and the rider and how it affects handling. After about an hour and half of being put through the paces, we took a tea and vada pav break. During the break we were given a tour of the factory.


Theory explaining the purpose of the training exercises

While the factory is miniscule in size compared to plants (heck, is just 1/4 of a building in the huge Bajaj Chakan Plant premises) is very well equipped with all that is required to assemble the Ninja 300, Z250, ER650 and Ninja 650.

The plant consists of a clean dust free assembly room in the middle on the building wherein an engine assembly line has been setup. All parts a put through a special wash process before being moved into the assembly room. Once the engine is assembled it is put on to engine firing bench to test the engine thoroughly for all parameters.


Clean dust free Engine assembly room (Cleaner than any hospital!)

From hereon the engine moves to the bike assembly line. There is single assembly line. What was reinforced through out the tour to us was the attention to details and quality Kawasaki India puts into making each bike in this plant. There are approximately 25 staff who do everything; from unpacking the parts, to washing, assembly, packing and shipping. About 1.5 to 2 bikes are made in a day. Assembly normally starts after an order is received from the dealer. Therefore, each bike is like a made to order bike especially for you. Therefore, all you Kawasaki owners out there, this is as close you are going to get to a made to order bike as possible in India.


Ninja 650 Engines ready for chassis mating
Ninja 650 on Assembly Line. Note the torque wrenches on the assembly line.

After the bike is assembled, it is put through a full electronic diagnostic scan before being put through its paces on a dynamometer to test the bike fully before it is ready for being packed for shipping.

There are no vendor supplied sub assemblies. Everything is assembled in house. For example, ball bearings are fitted into the wheels with a special hydraulic press to ensure correct fitting. Nothing comes pre assembled to the plant. Thus ensuring everything is done in house better controls quality.

After the tea break we were put through another series of exercises, which culminated with breaking practice.

The session ended at 1.00 pm and Amitava and I moved towards Mumbai soon thereafter.

We reached Mumbai at around 5.30 pm after taking a halt at Lonavala for lunch. Both Amitava and I agreed that all in all it was a Sunday well spent meeting fellow bikers from Pune, we got a unique opportunity to see where Ninja San was born and meet the minds behind Kawasaki. We also got to learn a lot in terms of riding and came away with better understanding of our machines.


Nishikawa San and his team along with the attendees of the training session.

A very special thanks to our friend Pushkar Patil for making the visit a reality. Thanks to Abhijit Pendharkar for arranging the training session and a huge thank you to Nishikawa San and his team for their generosity, time and hospitality. That they took time out on a Sunday (which is holiday for them) to arrange for the whole thing shows their dedication towards us Kawasaki owners and bikers in general.

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

Wow!! That should be one helluva experience. Thanks for sharing

Looking at pictures of assembly line, I feel Kawasaki should do something to keep their service centers also up to their standards. Starting from cleanliness to technical expertise it's worse here in Bangalore. Unfortunately no one including their management is not bothered.

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

Thanks for giving us insights of Ninja 300. It's not everyday we come across such a thread.

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

This is definitely a proud moment that anybody can tell about. I meet Mr.Nishikawa during the Chennai Kawasaki showroom opening, He wasnt any High-level MD guy we see...He is into so much details when he talks. Apparantly the conversation was very short. We know how Japs are with their work-schedule and timings.

Nice write-up bro.

Fuel Efficiency

The Pune trip threw up some interesting fuel efficiency figures. Amitava's bike is completely stock. According to him his bike gave a fuel efficiency of 30 to 31 kmpl. Whereas, my bike ran 8 liters/ 300 kms i.e. around 37 kmpl. We ran the bikes at approximately the same speeds and were within each other's sighting distance for 80% of the journey. There were places were I was running at higher speeds as I had clear road ahead of me. I would then slow down for him to catch up with me. The point I am trying to make is that Ninja San was not being run conservatively vis-a-vis Amitava's bike yet it ended up giving better fuel efficiency.

Long term Review of Scottoiler system, Rolon X Ring chain & Renthal rear Sprocket

Long term Review of Scottoiler system, Rolon X Ring chain & Renthal rear Sprocket

16 months (which included 2 monsoons) and 11,000 kms is long enough period to provide an accurate evaluation whether a product works the way it was advertised and a meets the claims made by the product maker’s marketing department.

The long review is of course as the title suggest that of Scottoiler system and its effect on the Rolon X ring chain and Renthal rear Sprocket which incidentally is made of 7075 grade Aluminum. When we had first installed the aluminum sprocket there were questions on the forum about the durability of the sprocket and how long it would last. Today we will be able to provide a definitive answer to the question along with this review.

As mentioned above the Scottoiler system has now run for 11,000 kms and has gone through 2 whole monsoons. Surely, by this time the chain and sprocket should have some wear and tear being exposed the elements and vagaries’ of the engine power that it transmits to the rear wheel to drive the 170 kg plus the rider forward. Sometimes one is gentle with the throttle and at other times one just snaps open the throttle for a burst of speed.

The chain and sprocket go through incredible strain and get pulled and stretched with application of power before settling back to their original form. Over a number of such cycles, the chain inevitably deforms and stays in that deformed state. That is when you need to adjust the chain to compensate for the deformation and maintain the proper tension in order to ensure optimum transfer of power to the rear wheel. The sprocket also goes through wear and tear as the rollers in the chain move between the sprocket teeth. These hardened rollers pass on all the power transmitted by the engine and carried by the chain in the groves between the sprocket teeth. Inevitably as there is metal-to-metal contact, the sprocket groves starts to wear out due to the incessant grinding contact between 2 separate metals.

To add further misery on these parts is their exposure to elements such as rain, heat and dust. All of these factors lead to wear and tear of the chain.

While looking for more power and reducing rolling resistance, we had come across Scottoiler as device, which claimed not only to decrease rolling resistance dramatically, but also increase the life of the chain and sprockets by up to 7 times.

After running the system for 16 months, 2 monsoons and 11,000 kms we can emphatically say that the system works as advertised.

After 11,000 kms the chain is still in its original position as when it was first installed. The chain not been adjusted for slackness for 16 months!!! Below is picture of the chain after 1,000 kms run of which the last 300 kms was on slick wet roads. Normally, a chain needs to be cleaned and lubed every 500 kms and even more frequently when run in the rains. However, the chain and sprockets on Ninja San get cleaned every 1,500 kms and even then there is no gunk and mess to deal with. A simple spray of chain cleaner and wipe with clean cloth is sufficed to clean the chain.


Chain after 1000 kms run with 300 kms on slick wet roads

While the sprocket is now dis-colored due to the constant oiling and running of the chain over the sprocket, it shows very little wear and tear and is good for another 30,000 kms along with the chain at this rate.


The original new sprocket


Sprocket after 11,000 kms

As observed in the pervious post, the bike has been giving consistently better than average fuel efficiency. While this better fuel efficiency is the sum of a lot changes made to the bike, it is also in no small part due to the reduced rolling resistance offered by the Scottoiler system.

Till date we have used 250 ml of Scottoiler’s special high heat oil. At UK Pound 5.50 per 250ml bottle that works out to INR 580 per 250ml. Therefore, the cost of lubricating the chain for 11,000 kms has been INR 580/-. This is far less than the cost of lubing the chain with chain lube cans for the same distance.

Thus the system pays back in terms of investment by enhancing fuel efficiency, reduced cost of lubing the chain and also increasing the life of the chain and sprocket.

Well, worth the investment I would think.

New Case for Scottoiler control unit

Vikram of Motozone insisted that Ninja San now deserved a new casing for the control unit instead of the one that he fabricated by hand. Therefore, he designed one on the 3D software and created it on a VMC machine. He then hard anodized it. The results to say the least was an sleek, elegant and sophisticated looking casing that the control unit deserved.


3D design of the casing


Casing fresh off the VMC machine


Casing after hard anodising




Sleek and Elegant

Re: Long term Review of Scottoiler system, Rolon X Ring chain & Renthal rear Sprocket

Awesome updates sir jee!
Maybe I missed an update somewhere, but Ninja San's handlebar was red color anodised, isn't it?

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

What a treat that Chakkan plant visit that must have been. One of the diagrams depicting taking corners and showing roll on/off throttle control is very well detailed in the book 'twist of the wrist' which is a masterclass for riders. Thank you for sharing your day at the plant with us.