Re: Lightech 7075 T6 Aluminum Bolt Kits (Engine/ Frame/ Fairing/ Fuel Tank Cap)

A really informative thread! Respect to the level of research and love you have towards your bike.

Re: Lightech 7075 T6 Aluminum Bolt Kits (Engine/ Frame/ Fairing/ Fuel Tank Cap)

At this rate, i guess you will have your own version of N300. Kawasaki will go out of the picture!!!

ZX 636 Projector Headlights

ZX 636 Projector Headlights

Some of my earliest memories of a 2-wheel ride were standing on the floorboard in the front holding on to the handlebars while my dad drove the scooter. It was a Vespa 150 if I recall correctly. One of the things that I remember about the rides in the evening; wherever we halted at traffic signal, Dad and I use to check the headlight by putting the hand in front of it to see it was illuminating. Its strange which parts of the whole experience get stored in long term memory and gets recalled vividly after all these years.

The point is that headlights were never a strong point in 2 wheelers in that day and age. Lights were weak to the point of being non-existent. Fast-forward to the mid 1980s and the new breed of Japanese bikes that were coming in to market at that time. While the bikes were better than the old generation bikes, the headlights seemed to be stuck in a time continuum.

My RX 100 had a headlight which was a simple dome with reflector built into it with a simple bulb. The entire system was on 6 Volts and to say very charitably, the illumination left a lot to be desired.

However, these weak headlights taught me some very valuable lessons in night riding. Due to the weak lights, one always had to be very alert and ready of the unexpected to happen. I once had 2 donkeys cross a highway on my way back from Goa. It was pitch black in the middle of nowhere and the first donkey was white in colour. As the white ass ambled across the road, I looked to ride around it. Suddenly I see movement behind the white ass in the weak illumination of the headlight. Lo and behold, there was black donkey behind the white one and I had almost run into it!

The most important lesson that these weak lights taught me was to stay within speed limits as dictated by the throw of the light. Every headlight system has a set distance of illumination throw. That set distance decides what should be your safe maximum speed on a clear road with headlights only for illumination. The moment you out pace the throw of the headlight you are asking for trouble and you don’t really have control over what will happen at such speeds.

I have heard load of comments about how weak the headlights are of a particular bike are. The fact is that the headlights are doing the job that they were designed to do, admitted that it may not be as desired. However, in majority of the cases the fact remains that people tend to out run their bike’s headlights and tend to get into trouble.

The stock lights on Ninja san are adequate, though I have heard many people complaint that they find the lights weak. The stock lights are good enough for a top safe speed of 90 to 100 kmph. Anything above that is not comfortable nor is it safe. Hence, many Ninja 300 owners convert their stock lights to projector setups and HIDs. I have tried such a setup on my R15 and it turned out to be a bad experience. The lights were finicky and temperamental. Some issue or the other would creep up with regularity of a Swiss made clock. I finally got fed up of the whole thing and dumped it to covert back to stock lighting. Hence, I was not keen on doing the same with Ninja san. I was content to live with the so-called limitation imposed by the stock lights than to deal with electrical headaches.

Vikram of Motozone and I have discussed the subject at length on many occasions. The end of the discussion was always the same; I will live with the stock set up of the sake of reliability.

One day, Vikram called up saying he had sourced a ZX 636 headlight assembly and that we should put the same on Ninja San. I was reluctant and not keen on any electrical changes. He convinced me that there entire assembly is bolt on with no changes required. He also proposed that as we would be using the stock bulbs there would no changes in the electrical system. After much debate it was decided that we would install the assembly and check it out, if I did not like it we would revert back to the stock assembly.

The installation of the ZX 636 assembly was simple and straightforward. In fact the assembly fits better than the stock one and there are no gaps in the panels.

As we were using the stock bulbs and sockets the assembly was done within 15 minutes.

The stock headlights have reflectors in them. While the illumination is good, due to the semi open nature of the reflectors, a lot of the illumination is lost through dispersion. The ZX 636 projector setup concentrates the illumination and focuses it on the road, thus giving better illumination and a throw that is twice as effective as the stock setup.


Stock Headlights


Stock Bulbs and Sockets being fitted into the ZX 636 Headlight Assembly






















Low Beam - Note the clean line formed at the top by the illumination. Reduced dispersion.



High Beam - These pictures were taken at 6.00 pm when there is enough day light.

There is the added benefit of the lights adding farkle value to the bike. The lights now really make the front more contemporary to look like current breed of sports bikes.

Acknowledgements: Once again a big thanks is owned to Vikram and Vijay of Motozone.

Re: ZX 636 Projector Headlights

Now this is killer stuff! I'd love to do this mod if I own a N300 one day!

Re: ZX 636 Projector Headlights

One word, this is the most super pimped up mod jobs ever I've come across. But I should say, the only thing left of the orig Ninja is the chassis and I won't be surprised if you've got something in store for that as well.

Don't take me wrong but It makes me feel you're obsessed with "the mod job" on the bike more than the bike.

Re: ZX 636 Projector Headlights

abhimanyu: I must say it's a piece of art the way you've modded up your Ninja san. It's a job where every details has been thought out from the science, reliability and looks perspective. An awesome job and a fantastic read, I'm so glued that I read the whole thread at one go.

And please don't be disappointed by those people who say 'instead of spending money on mods go for a bigger bike', as they'll never understand your perspective, modding a bike is like pleasing your gf/wife with different gifts and it's always better to make your loved ones happy rather than leaving them and going for another.

Another request, please post the cost involved as many would like to do/decide on which mods they can do depending upon the costs. Yours is an inspiration which I'm sure will be followed by many.

Re: ZX 636 Projector Headlights

May be a big bore too

Re: ZX 636 Projector Headlights

Yes, I'm one of them..

Re: Ballastic Lithium Iron Battery

[MENTION=26077]abhimanyu31[/MENTION] : Your passion for your Ninja 300 San is unparalleled. RESPECT. I have a very silly query / request. Could you do some research on how to make N300 Naked but elegant? Any aftermarket ABS available which is effective but not ULTRA expensive?

Brembo 300mm Floating Disc

Brembo 300mm Floating Disc

In my post about installation of WP USD forks we have briefly touched upon the radially mounted Magura caliper. When we incorporated the radially mounted Magura forged 4-piston caliper the idea was to reduce weight and at the same time improve brake feel and feedback to enhance the riding experience. In this post we will look at radial mounting in a bit more detail as it created a small complication that was addressed through the floating disc setup.

It is a common misperception that radially mounted calipers offer better braking power than an axially mounted system. Actually how a caliper is mounted has less bearing on the breaking power than things like alignment of the caliper to the disc, break pad and disc material, number and size of calipers, number and size of the discs and hydraulic pressure ratio, etc. It is equally true that the radial mounting does enhance the feel and feedback of breaking by eliminating torsional flex of the break caliper. It also helps in reducing break pad wear.


Figure 1; the caliper on the right is radially mounted, whereas the caliper on the left is axially mounted like the stock N300.

Not that improved feel and feedback are not reason enough to do radial mounting. On the contrary, the improved feel and feedback are an extremely important element of riding experience and therefore just cannot be ignored. Precise control and knowing what the brakes are doing at any given time rewards that translate into enhanced speed regulation with radial mounting.

Also while the stock single-action axially mounted calipers that are incorporated into the N300 are adequate, they are also a cost saving measure. These type of calipers have been replaced with radially mounted four opposed piston calipers in most sports bike applications due to the fact that they suffer high levels of flex inherent due to the floating pin design that the axial mounting incorporates (Figure 2). The caliper moves on these floating pins to align itself and pads to the surface of the disc that in the case of N300 is solidly mounted plate. Add to that even slightly misaligned axles, fork tubes, and disc mounting that though maybe within factory specified tolerances and we have host of problems including piston retraction problems, discs noise, abnormal pad wear and spongy feeling.




When we incorporated the Magura 4 piston caliper we increased the number of pistons to double and thus we increased the breaking power substantially. By radially mounting the caliper on the WP USD forks we enhanced the feel and feedback of the braking system by many folds. The Magura caliper is CNC machined from billeted aluminum, which makes it exceptionally strong and light, while also being extremely accurately machined giving very high level of breaking and feedback.

300 mm KTM Duke 390 Disc300 mm Brembo Disc

A solid disc is just what its name suggests, a single piece disc, which is mounted on to the hub of the wheel, and the disc has virtually no lateral movement.


Figure 3: Solid disc rotor is made from single piece of metal.

A floating disc is made up of two parts. An aluminum center carrier, which is mounted on to the hub of the wheel and a stainless steel rotor on which the brake pads apply pressure (Figure 4). The stainless steel rotor is affixed to the aluminum carrier with help of rivets. The setup allows the rotor to move axially to align with the brake pads, thereby allowing for optimum contact between both the surfaces (Figure 5). This optimum contact enable better braking and also increase the brake pad life by evenly distributing the heat generated.


Figure 4: A floating disc.

The other advantage that such a setup offers is in terms of better manageability of thermal expansion. When a solid disc heats beyond a limit, it will start to warp, whereas floated disc has enough space and margin to allow for thermal expansion. All high performance braking systems now use a floating rotor design to these very advantages offered by them.



Brembo 300mm Floated Disc. Note the Brembo logo.

As the disc was new, the break pads needed to be bedded in gently to ensure that there is 100% contact with rotor surface area. Hence a 360 kms trip from Mumbai to Daman was under taken the next day to go to Daman Superbike meet. By the time I came back the brakes were in superb working condition. Just a light touch on the break lever starts the breaking and a light squeeze on the lever brings the bike to a stop in a hurry.


KTM Duke 390 Solid Disc






Brembo 300mm Floated Disc

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

^^^ Man, your post are like I'm going to school. Lots of knowledge with pictures and theory

And I'm loving it.

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

Ninja San is evolving like anything. Was away from xBhp for sometime and the way this bike has taken shape will definitely make it "one of a kind' in this planet!!

This has given my an itch to tinker my 250R. Will get in touch with you Mr.Abhimanyu!!

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

[MENTION=9385]abhimanyu[/MENTION] 31 This is the most awesome thread that i have come across on Xbhp..so informative and each and every mod explained in detailed.the physics the logic...awesome work bro!! Respect

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

i seriously for one am totally confused about whether i love your posts or feel that you are crazy and blowing up your money.. Despite that i keep coming back time and again to view your posts and read them fully...

on one hand i feel that you actually could have bought a busa for this kinda money (or maybe a Z800 or something) .. now i do understand that modding your bike is a altogether different love that you have for it and upgrading to a bigger bike doesnt make sense here..
On the other , i have absolute respect for what you are doing as well.. Enormous knowledge on this thread and its like being introduced to the biking world with me being a kid..

Mindblowing.. 1 word..

Re: Making of Kawasaki Ninja 300 San

I see that there are quite a few comments about how i could have bought a bigger bike for the 'amount' of money that has been spent on Ninja San. I normally don't respond to such comments because I personally feel that it takes too much of effort to explain the 'why' and at the end of explanation, people still don't get it. Its like a frog trying to explain what the world looks like outside the well he and his friends have been living in. The frog's friends neither have the imagination nor the experience to visualise nor imagine what their friend is trying to describe to them. Nor do I feel the need to explain as it is my ride, my money and my life, not handed to me by my parents, but worked for quite hard since the age of 17 to achieve what I have in life. Thus, Ninja San is much more than just a ride for me.

I will try and explain the 'why' this one time to the best of my ability as I am sure that there will be some people out there who genuinely want to know the reasoning behind all that is being done and are asking themselves if they should get in to the same with their own rides.

1. First of; YES, I COULD have bought a bigger bike for the 'money' that has been spent on Ninja San. However, it is equally true that after buying a bigger bike, I would still not have been content to just ride it bone stock. I would have worked as much or even more and spent just as much money or more on customising the bigger bike. So in a way I have taken a smart decision to buy a bike for 4 lacs and spend 'x' amount on it, whereas if I had bought the R1 I would have spent 14 lacs and still spent 'x' amount on it.

2. While it may sound snooty and uppity, which believe me I am not, I want my ride to be uniquely mine.

3. It is a hobby. I don't go out for late night clubs, parties and stuff. Those things are not me. This is what helps me relax and unwind myself. Its not just about the 'money', there is a huge amount of learning that is happening over here.

4. This is not a show bike or what many people derogatorily say 'poser' bike. This is machine that is used daily and has cover over 20,000 kms in the past few years. So nothing on this bike is just for 'show'. Yes I give importance to form, however, it comes second to function. Everything on this bike is functional and has a purpose.

5. It is about the journey. It is about the challenge to learn something new, do something new, and learn from the inevitable failures along the way.

6. It is about the unique bond that one forms with something that they have worked with own hands on.

Thus, Ninja San is much more than just another bike for me. It is a fulfilment of a childhood dream that I would one day own a sports bike and make it into a very special machine.

For people who still can't understand what this is about I will quote George Mallory who was asked "Why do you want to climb the Mount Everest?", his answer; "Because its there!"