Well, it’s been quite a while since I updated and I’ve gotten almost quite a lot done.

Brake Rebuild

I installed stainless steel brake lines, even got blue to match the color of the bike! I also rebuilt my calipers at the same time and found a surprising amount of crud inside the calipers. You can see what I found in one piston here (the other one had already been cleaned):

That piston was also stuck and had to be pulled out with pliers. For the uninitiated, the pistons should come out by hand with some, but not a lot, of resistance. This probably is part of why my front brakes weren’t as strong as they should have been. Between fixing this and the new lines (and new fluid), things should be much improved when I get the bike back on the road. This was also my first time working with multiple piston calipers, so it was interesting to see how they work (which is really quite simple).

It also gave me a chance to thoroughly clean my calipers, so they’re nice and shiny. Brake fluid is an incredible cleaner. I followed the directions for rebuilding the calipers listed here.

4-Way Flashers

I also replaced my left control cluster on the handlebars with a different part that includes the button for 4-way flashers. It has everything it needs to do the work contained in the cluster and the cables and connector are all the same, so it was a simple swap. The part used is #46091-1857. This can be searched on eBay or Ron Aeyers, though searching “Kawasaki Left” on eBay will usually find the part for cheaper. Unlike my 250, the 4-way button does activate the flasher indicators. As a bonus, the flasher toggle moves easier and turns off easier, so I should have fewer situations where I’ve had my blinkers on for forever just because I thought I turned them off.

Airbox Modification

I did the legendary FOG Airbox Mod. When I opened my airbox, I found this:

I can’t believe I didn’t check it sooner. The filter seems to have some sort of foam base with all these “hairs” coming out of the foam. It’s a terrible filter to start with, and I’ve been running with it since June. Luckily, I already had my K&N filter to replace it with, so I cleaned out the box and installed that. I removed the left side of the airbox to drill the necessary holes.

When I went to remove the plugs from the carburetors, I found they’d already been removed and the pilot jets were set to 3.5 turns out, which is very rich. I recorded the position of each jet, then set them to 2.5 turns out as per the FOG airbox instructions. We will see how it runs once the bike is back on the road.

Rear Frame Sliders

I bought a set of rear frame sliders made for a Honda 599, but they also fit the Ninja 500 quite well in place of the passenger footpegs. Since I have a 2-1 exhaust that goes to the left side of the bike, installation on my bike was different for each side. On the right side, I had to cut out a little bit of the slider to fit around the locking peg for the passenger footpeg. I’ve seen people say that they just cut/ground off the locking peg, but when it comes to modifications, I prefer to modify the part to fit the bike and not vice versa when possible. I used a ball cutter bit in my Dremel to cut it out by hand. It worked out really well.

I also didn’t want to give up the ability to carry passengers, but the sliders aren’t grippy in the slightest. A passenger wouldn’t be able to keep their feet on very well, so I got some grip tape that you’d normally put on a skateboard and cut a piece off to put on the slider. It worked quite well and is certainly grippier than the original footpegs.

You can see how far the slider sticks out here:

On the other side, I had to solve a problem before installing the slider. When I took the rear apart in preparation for installing a new shock, I found that my swingarm was contacting the exhaust. I lost some paint on both and wore a flat spot in the exhaust. I experimented until I found that it took 7 washers to space out the exhaust enough. Wanting a better solution than 7 ill-fitting washers, I ground down a socket that I didn’t need (it was a terribly quality socket anyway, and I have more of that size) until it was the right height.

I painted it black and it will be my spacer for the installation. However, until I paint the exhaust and install it, this part of that project is on hold.

SV650 Shock Install

The suspension of the Ninja 500R is renowned for being too soft. To compound the issue, I’m not a small guy. A friend of mine gave me his SV650 shock for free when he heard I was looking for one to put on my bike. Quality-wise, it’s a lateral move; I’m not gaining or losing quality, but it does stiffen up the rear quite a bit, which is what I was going for. It also raises the rear, but the measurements my dad took only show a .5″ raise which can’t be correct, so he mis-measured somewhere and we don’t have a good way to figure all that out. The long and short of it is my center stand doesn’t really work. It still raises the bike, but not enough to lift the back tire off the ground. I have a friend who will weld some pieces of steel to the bottom of the center stand to make it work, and I can use a block under the stand for any work I have to do.

Here are the shocks, white is the SV shock.

There are three issues that have to be overcome in order to successfully install the shock: the mounting holes are too small, the fork is slightly too narrow, and the spring itself is wider.

You can see the difference in length and hole size here:

The SV uses 10 mm bolts for the shock, while the Ninja uses 12 mm bolts. I used a 15/32″ (11.9 mm) drill bit to drill out the top and bottom holes and the bolts from the Ninja fit through them well. I also ground off the nub on the SV shock that was previously (before I drilled it out) threaded to accept the 10 mm bolt.

For the fork, I ground out a lot of material, but in the end my grinder was just barely too small to get far enough in. I ended up slightly bending the fork in order for the sleeve to fit in it.

This allowed us to get the shock in the bike, but it’s still too wide for the dog bones to fit. In order to make the dog bones fit, I got two 12 mm x 120 mm bolts with lock nuts and twelve 12 mm washers. Using 3 washers on each side, I was able to space out the dog bones enough to fit. Using that many washers also allowed the center stand to (barely) clear the longer bolts.

The bike sags less when I sit on it now and the rebounding of the suspension is tighter and more controlled. It feels good, just sitting in my basement, but obviously the real test will come when I get it back on the road.

Much of my information for this modification was found here.

Bonus: I got a new helmet! It’s an HJC IS Max 2 Elemental and it’s much nicer than my previous helmet. I wanted something quieter than my old helmet that didn’t fog as easily, and this helmet fits the bill, especially since it has Pinlock-ready visors.

Next up I will be replacing all the lights on the bike with LEDs and working on putting in valve emulators for the front suspension.

Gallery of work

Posted in Self, Technology

Tags: Motorcycle, Ninja 500R