Ninja 300 queries

Hi Guys,

I have been planning to switch from my almost 8~9 year old ZMA to a new ride.
The Ninja 300 seems like the best choice but before i splurge the money and buy one needed to know a few things.

1. Where can i buy the Ninja 300 in Mumbai.
2. How many service centers are there in mumbai which can service the bike.

I stay in Malad are there any dealers and showrooms nearby.

3. For existing ninja 300 owners would you like to share some tips or good / bad points about your ride in a quick summary.

Will add my queries as i get feedback here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Ninja 300 queries

Got a Pipercross air filter installed at Motozone Pune. This simple, inexpensive, yet efficient upgrade as suggested by Vishal & Vikram has slightly boosted power and definitely changed the sound. There is some grunt to the otherwise staid stock exhaust and also found the bike revving cleaner through the RPMs.

A few pictures from my morning rides to Wai.

Re: Ninja 300 queries

The Brotherhood

Cooling down

Re: Ninja 300 queries

I am wanting to change the exhaust on my bike. What do you suggest from the various slip-on exhausts available? (I am not looking for noisy cans but more for a refined sound a higher revs).

Re: Ninja 300 queries

Check Leo Vince exhausts from Bachoo Motors.

Re: Ninja 300 queries


Buying a slip on exhaust would not help you increase the power out put in an appreciable manner. However if you are looking for some thing which is not a noise can...well almost every one changes their exhausts to add grunt to their exhaust note. May i suggest you to just change your air filter to K&N, you would appreciate the refined grunt at higher revs with increase in pulling power without having to go in for an expensive aftermarket slip on. This would probably meet your requirement of refinement at higher revs.

Re: Ninja 300 queries

Your suggestion is a good one. I changed the air filter to Pipercross (Rs.3750/- from Motozone, Pune) and all that you have described in your post has happened.

Brembo Marchesini Wheels and Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

Brembo Marchesini Wheels and Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

After a brief hiatus I am back to working on my bike. After finishing the first phase of changes I took some time off to simply enjoy the ride and also plan for the next phase of changes. This brief pause allowed me to better understand the changes made and also based on the results, identify and plan for the next set of changes. It is very tempting to be a bull in the china shop and try to change everything at one go. This can lead you astray very quickly. One of the key ingredients to successful and satisfying ‘upgrades’ is to identify the right changes to make and also to understand the pros and cons and the tradeoffs that the changes will entail.

Newton’s Second Law of Motion

F = MA or Force = Mass times Acceleration

Quite simply put, Acceleration is produced when a Force acts on a Mass (Object). The greater the Mass of the Object, the greater Force required to Accelerate the Object.

The above-mentioned law is the fundamental pillar on which all performance upgrades are based. This law is inviolable in this universe (may be different in a parallel universe but then no one has gone to a parallel universe to confirm it ).

Considering the above law there are essentially only two choices to increasing acceleration i.e. increase the force applied or decrease the mass of the object.

Brembo Marchesini Wheels

A set of aftermarket wheels was always on my mind. However, this particular change was not contemplated in the near future and was always thought of as something over the horizon. Even before I started with the first set of changes I had remarked to Vikram of Motozone that one day we will need to do after market wheels maybe even BST carbon fiber ones. Having experienced Marchesini Magnesium alloys on a R1, I was in no doubt whatsoever about the benefits of a pair of lightweight after market wheels. While reducing the weight by a few grams on any other part of the bike may not make much noticeable difference, reduction of even 500 grams in wheels will have a significant and profound change. Not only is weight being remove from un-sprung weight category, it also being reduced from spinning mass where the effect of the said weight gets magnified greatly. It also falls perfectly in line with Newton’s second law of motion.

While contemplating the next set of changes, one evening Vikram gave me a call informing me that he had come across a pair of Brembo Marchesini wheels. My first reaction was to ask him if it could be used with the stock tire sizes. His answer was negative, we would have to upsize the tire sizes to make use of these rim. He also told me that they were not a direct fit on the Ninja 300. My initial reaction to the proposal was negative. The first thought that ran through my mind was that bigger tires mean more weight, which would certainly not help my quest for performance.

However, the seed had been planted in my mind and the more I thought about it the more I was convinced that a set of aftermarket wheels was something that I needed to do sooner rather than later. During my research on the subject I found that the smallest size of rear wheel from any of the aftermarket players was suitable for a 150 tyre and there was nothing for the stock size of 140. So it seemed that there was no choice but to upsize the tyre to make this change possible.

During one of my meetings with Vikram, he showed me the Brembo Marchesini wheels. The first thing that one notices was really remarkably light the wheels were. I discussed my apprehensions with Vikram about upsizing the wheels. The quality and finish is exquisite. Vikram assured me that even with upsize tyres these wheels would weigh significantly less than stock. He also assured me that the quality and accuracy of the fitment of these wheels will be better than stock. Every parameter and alignment would be measured and zeroed in. The estimated time given for the work was one week.

Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

As mentioned earlier, my first choice would have been not to fool around with the size of tyre and retain the stock tyre dimensions. However, if we wanted to use the Brembo wheels we need to upsize the tyre. The stock rim is 4 inches in breath, which supports a 140 tyre. However, the Brembo rear wheel was 5.5 inches in breath and the minimum tyre size needed to be 150. Upsizing a tyre one size from the stock is easy, but this seemingly simple change has repercussions that seems to take many by surprise.

My first choice for tyres would have been Bridgestone Battlax tyres. I informed Vikram that the same would be my first choice. Vikram started looking out for the Bridgestone tyres. However, wherever he inquired it the quote for a pair tyre was above Rs. 30,000/-. He suggested Metzeler M5, which were about Rs. 17,000/- for a pair. Considering that the Metzelers’ were ‘Z’ rated steel belted dual compound tyres this was definitely a good VFM proposition.
This brings us to the issue of the size of tyres. As mentioned earlier changing a tyre size affects the bike in surprising ways.

Let us consider the stock tyre sizes;
Front: 110/70/17, which is 110 mm is the breath of the tyre, 70% is aspect ratio (height) of the tyre and 17 inch is the wheel size on which this tyre will fit. Similarly rear is: 140/70/17.

What is interesting is the height of the tyres. The calculation of the height of stock tyres is as follows:
Front: 70% (aspect ratio) of 110mm (width of tyre) = 77mm.
Rear: 70% (aspect ratio) of 140 mm (width of tyre) = 98 mm.

Thus there is a difference of 21 mm between both tyre heights. This 21 mm difference is quite a crucial number. The difference is quite intentional on the part of Kawasaki engineers and it has implications in steering geometry, weight distribution between front and rear of the bike and the overall handling of the bike. In order to maintain the handling characteristics of the bike it is extremely crucial that the new tyres are able to maintain this height difference or come as close to this number as possible.

Considering the above, while a M5 tyre was available in stock size (110/70/17) for the front, the rear tyre 150 mm tyre was not available in 70% aspect ratio. The rear size was available only in 60% aspect ratio and below.

Therefore, if we had considered a front 110/70/17 and a rear 150/60/17, we would have the front tyre height at 77mm and the rear 90mm. The difference in height would have been 13mm instead of the original 21mm. This 8mm change would have a profound impact on the handling of the bike as it is lower at the rear than front. This changes the weight distribution and steering geometry, which effect handling adversely.

Thus, we had no choice but to go for a 120/60/17 in the front and a 150/60/17 in the rear. The height for these tyres was 72mm (front) and 90mm (rear), which translate to a difference of 18mm. This was as close we were getting to the magic figure of 21mm as possible with the tyre sizes. While there would be some effect on the handling, it would not be as pronounced. The residual difference will need to be dialed out when we upgrade the suspension (planned for near future). For now we were going to have to live with the difference that 3mm is going to make.

Using lower aspect ratio tyres has couple of other effects that change the overall ride experience. The first one is the quality of ride. Due to lower aspect ratio the ride is not as smooth as stock. The ride will be bit harsh and will one seemingly will feel every imperfection that is present on the road.

The other problem in using the above mentioned upsized tyres is the difference in the rolling circumference of the tyre. The stock rear tyre (140/70/17) has a rolling circumference of 1972mm whereas the new tyre (150/60/17) will have a reduced circumference of 1922mm. This difference of 50mm has 2 outcomes. The first is that the bike will show a higher indicated speed than the actual speed. In other words, the speed error will increase. The second and more important is the reduction in top speed by about 4 kms.

We plan to conduct a few runs with a Gtech data logger find out what is the actual speed error.

To correct the first problem we will need to install a speedo healer in the future. To correct the second problem we will need to play around with the final gearing.
Having considered all the pros and cons mentioned above we decided to install Metzeler 120/60/17 and 150/60/17 tyres on the Brembo Marchesini wheels.

Installation of Brembo Marchesini Wheels and Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

As promised by Vikram, the installation of the wheels and tyres was completed in a week. Vikram ensured that all the parameters were measured and zeroed in during installation. Its very interesting to note the values that he came up with while measuring the stock fitting. It seems that the alignment of the front and rear sprocket was out by 2mm, which would in turn lead to premature wear of the chain and sprockets and also add to some amount of vibration and transmission loss. The front caliper alignment was also found to be out by 0.3 mm which once corrected has led to improved breaking by leaps and bounds. The front caliper now feels like a four pot caliper instead of a 2 pot. Similarly, a whole host of parameters were found to be having deviations. Such deviations are part and parcel of production-based vehicles.

Attention to such details is the key to successful changes and enhanced experience. And kudos to Vikram and Motozone for paying attention to such details.

Before completing the final installation the stock wheels with tyres and the Brembo wheels with Metzeler tyres were weighed in on a digital scale. The results were surprising if not astounding to say the least:
Stock Front (with IRC tyre): 10.4 kgs.
Stock Rear (with IRC tyre): 16.3 kgs.
Brembo Front (with Metzeler tyre): 8.6 kgs.
Brembo Rear (with Metzeler tyre): 12.6 kgs

A total weight reduction of 5.5 kgs was far beyond our expectation. I am sure that Newton’s Second Law of Motion would be happy with our offering of tribute and would reward us with better acceleration .

A wheel being weighed.

Reduction of un-sprung mass is not without its cons. By reducing the un-sprung mass we have upset the rebound settings of the suspension as tuned by Kawasaki engineers. On a superbike this change is fairly easy to correct due to the availability of fully adjustable suspensions. However, the Ninja 300 does not have adjustable suspension and thus it is now fait accompli that we will have to upgrade the suspension. We have identified the after-market suspension components and will be doing the changes in near future.


Front Wheel


Brembo Logo on spoke


Rear Wheel


Note the hollow hub...Drastic weight reduction


The finished bike


Rear


Front

Ride On Tire Protection System.

The final thing that needed to be done was to balance the tyres. I have used Ride On TPS on my bikes for the past couple of years and have been very happy with the performance. Inserting the solution is 2 minutes job literally and a drive of 3 to 4 kilometers coats the tyres with the solution and balances them without any fuss. Once the process is completed, the tyres are balanced for their lifetime. The solution is so effective that the metal counter weights on your wheels can be removed without any adverse effect.


Ride On TPS




Acknowledgements:
Once again thanks to Vikram and Vijay of Motozone Pune, Mumbai for their brilliant work.
Also thanks to @satyenpoojary for pointing me in the direction of Ride On TPS. Its been one of the best tips I ever got.

Re: Brembo Marchesini Wheels and Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

Those wheels look stunning, apart from being so light! I believe these are much stronger than stock rims too right?

Btw, I wanted info regarding the alignment of the brake caliper. How does one find that it is out of alignment and how is the correction done?

Re: Brembo Marchesini Wheels and Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

[MENTION=26077]abhimanyu31[/MENTION] I saw Motozone's update on Facebook a couple of days back, I immediately started searching through this thread for any new updates from you. Really well explained. Even i'd like to know about the alignment of the brake caliper, 0.3mm can make such a difference :O ?

Also, I think you have the most tricked out Ninjette over here, but you still haven't installed any frame sliders on your bike..any reason? :P

Re: 2013 kawasaki ninja 300 - rush is addictive

^^^ apparently it does make a difference. Efficient braking is not just about the amount of pressure exerted, it also about how evenly that pressure is distributed across the total braking area. To achieve the same, a perfectly mounted calliper helps.

Consider this; a traditionally mounted calliper does not give the bite or feel that a radially mounted one does. The reason, flex. When pressure is applied during braking equal amount of pressure will try to push the calliper in the opposite direction. The calliper will flex maximum at the mounting points. If the flex is even 0.1mm (it will be more), the effect of a misalignment of the calliper is magnified by a multitude.

The alignment of the calliper is checked in relation to various points, including but not limited to disc, mounting collars on the fork (machining and casting flaws), mounting plate (if any), wheel alignment, mounting points of the calliper, etc. An accurate set of measuring instruments, whole lot of time and diligent measurements are required. Essentially it's a blue printing exercise. Depending on the magnitude of flaw and where it's origin is, correction of alignment may require something as simple as using shims of the right thickness to as complicated as corrective machining of the component to even replacing the said part.


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Re: 2013 kawasaki ninja 300 - rush is addictive


And all these minor defects come right from the factory itself ? Wow..!!
Moreover, so much level of dedication to carefully measure and correct these tiny mis-alignments..!!! Really Motozone is doing a god job..!

Cheers
Ride Safe
Krishna

Re: Brembo Marchesini Wheels and Metzeler Sportec M5 Interact

Its great reading through your posts. Actually i guess you are lucky to be in a place where you can get stuff to modd your bike and secondly more importantly you have some one who is technically competent to carry out the mods. Well for lesser mortals like us we are euphoric just taking the ninjette for a spin as and when time permits.

SOME SNAPS FROM OUR RECENT RIDE

Re: 2013 kawasaki ninja 300 - rush is addictive

Just one question guys.. For 4+ lacs! is this the best racer bike available in India?

Re: 2013 kawasaki ninja 300 - rush is addictive

Lol. "Racer bike"


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