The New Ninja 300

[Navin]

I expected to send my seat out ASAP to Renazco or someone to add padding but after 1500 miles I gotta say it hasn't been an issue. Maybe too many years on KTM dirt & street bikes?

[Navin]

Originally Posted by Anteraan

The first comment on that video is correct. There is no way that is a 4,400rpm idle. I don't trust those tach readings at all.

The guy who races it is a English as a second language guy for sure but replied to another question about the tach reading with this,

"We using AIM/Italy dashboard as you saw. If you not truth in me you should truth in AIM.
We have a lot modify on this engine. and This is Racing ECU(Stand alone) not OEM so RPM setting by computer. This is real bro. And Camshaft change power brand from 9000-11000 RPM to 14500-16000.

Sound.
Because next race in BIRA circuit straight not too long exhaust have to be a bit short then sound is not sweet."

He claims they have sold ECUs to Yosh himself recently. This is a FI 250 too, they can't get the 300 although they are built there. I doubt I want to mod to the levels this guy is at but bumping up the rev ceiling with the right upgrades and adding a bump of HP up top wouldn't be a bad thing. I could live with less torque at under 6k for sure.

You don't really need to ride the 300 like a 300, I expected alot of shifting and revving. I can lope along in 6th at 40-45 MPH and roll on decent power.

[Anteraan]

Thanks for the quote from the guy, Navin. I still don't buy it. I've ridden the 250 for too long not to know what it sounds like at different engine speeds.

As for the 300, I've read about the powerband "sliding down the rpm range", so I believe that the 300 rides very differently. I would expect to be about 2k rpm down on the 300 if I rode my usual commute, compared to the 250. That bodes well for engine life.

[Cortez]

Originally Posted by Anteraan

Thanks for the quote from the guy, Navin. I still don't buy it. I've ridden the 250 for too long not to know what it sounds like at different engine speeds.

As for the 300, I've read about the powerband "sliding down the rpm range", so I believe that the 300 rides very differently. I would expect to be about 2k rpm down on the 300 if I rode my usual commute, compared to the 250. That bodes well for engine life.

[Navin]

2K lower might be a conservative estimate!

I let her sink to 30 MPH today in 6th on a country road. Rolled on the throttle and it pulled hard enough to skip the speedo from 31-34-36-40-44 and right on up to 60. The flexibility of the powerband is remarkable.

Me preference would have had this engine pulling as it does down low with a kick at 7-8k to a 45-50 HP shriek but it is what it is, and for regular sport street riding it works just fine.

I'm told by my new Tiawanese racer buddy that the 250 FI needs valves, springs and an ECU to make regular trips to 16k safe and reliable. This might just interest me enough to bump the rev ceiling up and get that top end wail I'd like. I gotta see what the new tuners will do to it first. I've been hearing Kawi left alot of meat on the table to be unlocked with custom tunes.

[Anteraan]

Originally Posted by Cortez

Care to elaborate?

[Anteraan]

Originally Posted by Navin

2K lower might be a conservative estimate!

It very well could be, and I think that's a great thing, frankly. I can't wait to ride the 300 and the CBR500R back-to-back and make a determination on which is best for me.

[Cortez]

Originally Posted by Anteraan

Care to elaborate?

I am agreeing with you.
What's there to elaborate?

[Navin]

I ordered a set of All Balls tapered roller steering head bearings tonight. I'm going to stick with the 37mm forks at this point. I'll do the emulators from Race Tech by spring and add the GSXR 4 pot Tokiko caliper once I can get my buddy to fab up a bracket for it. That should give me pretty sick brake power and I can't feel these tubes flexing, yet anyway, so I should be pretty happy once they can flow better.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALL-BALLS-KA...0b3b91&vxp=mtr

I expect the decel, no hands steering wobble to disappear after this mod. I'll test without the Scotts damper to be sure, still need to break the bike down to weld that tower pin on. So lazy lately...

[Anteraan]

Originally Posted by Cortez

I am agreeing with you.
What's there to elaborate?

I thought you were referring to me as stupid. I was curious as to your rationale.
But since you're agreeing with me, there is no need for explanation.

[Cortez]

Originally Posted by Anteraan

I thought you were referring to me as stupid. I was curious as to your rationale.
But since you're agreeing with me, there is no need for explanation.

Um, no, sorry, that's the same as "+1" or "what he said" or "amen to that".

[Navin]

Stock headers getting the track only treatment

[Navin]

10 minutes of saw, drill, hammer & screwdriver work and done. About 2" deep substrate. Tuner shopping very soon!

[Navin]

Test ride today after welding it back together. No noise increase over my Akra open Ti slip on, feels like it has a real hit off the bottom, pulls the forks to top out harder for sure. I can't feel any "jetting" problems, fuels just as well as stock. No popping on decel, maybe a slightly louder burble when you just touch the throttle on decel but no real difference there.


All good and it cost me a lunch for my buddy and under 30 minutes total wrench time.


Tuner time!!!

[Navin]

Originally Posted by Navin

I've been chasing a decel wobble that I thought was tire/balance related but after retightening the roller ball bearing headset more than I wanted to, it has gotten less severe. I'm going to point the finger squarely at those as the cause. Maybe they got hammered when they got loose? Who knows? I don't feel any notchiness or binding but I'll be revisiting this when I get the roller bearings. I've been setting tension on steering heads for a long time but have been spoiled by non budget foo-foo hardware since the crap-bike pee-wee days of my kid's MX racing adventures.

Meanwhile, both hands on the bars on decel from 50 to 40 MPH!

Oh yeah, both top triple clamp pinch bolts dissappeared. I recall tightening them by hand as I figured being too tight wasn't a problem like on lower clamps with inverted forks. Well, the torque wrench came off the wall and a pair of Husqvarna bolts went in. How long they stay is yet to be determined.

The high frequency vibration is alive and well now, I admit I didn't feel it the first several hundred miles, probably numb from the KTM 950?

I expect more stuff to get loose and fall off. When the fairings come off next week I'll be checking the engine mount bolts and adding lock tite everywhere. Hopefully a mount came loose and I wasn't imagining the totally vibe free smoothness I thought it had day 1.

Bolted in the All Balls tapered roller bearings today, not the nightmare it is said to be. I didn't need to touch the fairings at all. Top clamp pushed forward & tied out of the way, wheel, caliper, fender and mount (that should be a frigging brace since they went to the trouble of building it so complex anyway!!!) the forks drop out, the bottom triple falls thru and simply swap the bearings.

Wobble is gone, steering precision is WAY up!!!

Do this bearing replacement. It makes the bike feel so much more stable and smooth, no comparison to stock. Absolutely excellent mod. It brings the bike up from bargain basement bicycle to actually feeling like a precision motorcycle. Is it THAT fookin hard to do this at the factory?

Under $40 and 2 hours of slow paced wrenching start to finish.