Kawasaki Er6n

[Hili]

as we are talking about stickers already, someone knows a place where you can get sponsor or brand decals/ stickers? In the EU i used to order them from ebay 3M or Orcal quality. Thanks

[Timthai]

I was at Dirt Bike today, and noticed they had a heap of them under two of their display counters.No idea what the range is like, I just noticed them while I was waiting for the girl to bring some helmets in from the storeroom.Cheers.

[BigBikeBKK]

Kawasaki ER6 Training Bikes (for when the noobs outgrow their CB'r' 250's)

[snowflake]

Ok, you sold me Tony...

I sent the message home yesterday to transfer money to me... It will be the red ER6N, as soon as I have sold my CBR250... Any takers out there? Look at the advertisement I put up...

Bigger is better...

[Hili]

Congrats Snowflake, so you are the third former CBRler

Actually i find the ER6N easier to ride than the cbr250. Maybe its because i am a little man but the more straight up sitting position makes it easier to control.

[skybluestu]

Congrats Snowflake, so you are the third former CBRler

Actually i find the ER6N easier to ride than the cbr250. Maybe its because i am a little man but the more straight up sitting position makes it easier to control.

I find the Versys easier to ride than the CBR too. Anyone have any news yet on whether the 2012 er6n/f bikes will be upgraded or not?

[Kernow86]

Congrats Snowflake, so you are the third former CBRler

Actually i find the ER6N easier to ride than the cbr250. Maybe its because i am a little man but the more straight up sitting position makes it easier to control.

How you finding the corners? Much faster now?

[Hili]

Congrats Snowflake, so you are the third former CBRler

Actually i find the ER6N easier to ride than the cbr250. Maybe its because i am a little man but the more straight up sitting position makes it easier to control.

How you finding the corners? Much faster now?

Not much faster but i would say better to take now, also to navigate through small gaps in BKK traffic is more easy than it was with the CBR.

[Kernow86]

Does anybody have experience with Tweaked Triple Clamps??

[nikster]

Congrats Snowflake, so you are the third former CBRler

Actually i find the ER6N easier to ride than the cbr250. Maybe its because i am a little man but the more straight up sitting position makes it easier to control.

I find the Versys easier to ride than the CBR too. Anyone have any news yet on whether the 2012 er6n/f bikes will be upgraded or not?

I've read they will make it less polluting and a little bit heavier. Not exactly exciting... engine will be the same; chassis probably the same as it's not yet time for a full makeover.

[Timthai]

Put a set of Pirelli Diablo on the 650 Ninja today after taking a section of box cutter blade in the stock rear tyre yesterday. (Accidental - I hope!)

I was surprised at how much more stable they felt just on the ride home without pushing it.

(8,100 baht from Show Pow)

Anyone got a suggestion on the best options for bigger after market rear sprocket? What size and where they might be available? Thought I'd deal with the low 1st gear ratio and urge to shift up one more gear in top while I'm tinkering.

Cheers.

[rizla]

Go down one tooth on the front, cheaper, and no new chain req`d, in fact i think i have one in my bike box of parts with a new locking washer..Mmm..maybe i`ll check that in the morning?

[BigBikeBKK]

Go down one tooth on the front, cheaper, and no new chain req`d, in fact i think i have one in my bike box of parts with a new locking washer..Mmm..maybe i`ll check that in the morning?

Chain should be replaced when you change your sprockets.

Running an old chain with new sprockets will only accelerate the wear on both as the pitch of the old chain will not match the pitch of the new sprockets.

Personally I'd recommend going with a bigger rear sprocket as a smaller front sprocket puts more strain on the drive shaft.

I'm running a 48T (+2) Pit Bull Hard Anodized Aluminum rear sprocket on my ER6 now- it's significantly lighter than the stock steel sprocket.

Ride On!

Tony

[Timthai]

Go down one tooth on the front, cheaper, and no new chain req`d, in fact i think i have one in my bike box of parts with a new locking washer..Mmm..maybe i`ll check that in the morning?

Oops... thanks for the great advice and the offer rizla, but I just realised that I should be going down on the rear and/or up on the front... I want taller gearing... there's plenty of torque, but the engine revs higher than it needs to at cruising speed, and the vibration bands are in just the wrong spots. (though I think because it's so torquey down low, I have a tendancy to not rev it out so much, but with 11k redline, it's probably quite happy at hiher revs, it's just me that's not.)

Just found a cool website "gearingcommanderdotcom" that allows you to load your bike and current sprocket set up, then see the difference in top speed, rpm, speed per gear, chain length and relative chain/sprocket wear!

It looks like going up one tooth on the front would result in a 6.25% decrease in revs at any given speed, which is probably not so noticeable. Combine that with dropping the rear by 2 teeth, and the result is 10.3% reduction in revs. (3 teeth on the rear results in 12.36%, which may be a little too much.) All three configurations require the same chain length. It even tells you the change in sprocket distance (movement in rear wheel position) for the given congiguration.

Anyone played with the final drive ratio's much and have any real world experience?

Also, what's the impact on speedo accuracy? I've not checked the Ninja before. I might put the GPS on for the ride home tonight and take a look.

Cheers.

[Timthai]

Go down one tooth on the front, cheaper, and no new chain req`d, in fact i think i have one in my bike box of parts with a new locking washer..Mmm..maybe i`ll check that in the morning?

Chain should be replaced when you change your sprockets.

Running an old chain with new sprockets will only accelerate the wear on both as the pitch of the old chain will not match the pitch of the new sprockets.

Personally I'd recommend going with a bigger rear sprocket as a smaller front sprocket puts more strain on the drive shaft.

I'm running a 48T (+2) Pit Bull Hard Anodized Aluminum rear sprocket on my ER6 now- it's significantly lighter than the stock steel sprocket.

Ride On!

Tony

Thanks Tony.

Notwithstanding the issue of whether I actually need a larger or smaller front/rear sprocket, your advice re the new chain is good. I was considering that anyhow, as the stock chain is so noisy, and there was plenty of discsussion on that topic earlier in the thread.

Not sure if I understand why there would be more load on the drive shaft with a smaller front sprocket though... I would have thought the increase in radial force would be the same as a stock front driving a larger rear at the equivalent ratio change, but I am willing to acept the wisdom of your experience.

Awesome photo BTW.

Cheers.

[katabeachbum]

Congrats Snowflake, so you are the third former CBRler

Actually i find the ER6N easier to ride than the cbr250. Maybe its because i am a little man but the more straight up sitting position makes it easier to control.

I find the Versys easier to ride than the CBR too. Anyone have any news yet on whether the 2012 er6n/f bikes will be upgraded or not?

I've read they will make it less polluting and a little bit heavier. Not exactly exciting... engine will be the same; chassis probably the same as it's not yet time for a full makeover.

less polluting in some markets is probably obtained by using Thai/EuroIV ECU and cat size in all markets including Japan and USA

[Timthai]

Go down one tooth on the front, cheaper, and no new chain req`d, in fact i think i have one in my bike box of parts with a new locking washer..Mmm..maybe i`ll check that in the morning?

Oops... thanks for the great advice and the offer rizla, but I just realised that I should be going down on the rear and/or up on the front... I want taller gearing... there's plenty of torque, but the engine revs higher than it needs to at cruising speed, and the vibration bands are in just the wrong spots. (though I think because it's so torquey down low, I have a tendancy to not rev it out so much, but with 11k redline, it's probably quite happy at hiher revs, it's just me that's not.)

Just found a cool website "gearingcommanderdotcom" that allows you to load your bike and current sprocket set up, then see the difference in top speed, rpm, speed per gear, chain length and relative chain/sprocket wear!

It looks like going up one tooth on the front would result in a 6.25% decrease in revs at any given speed, which is probably not so noticeable. Combine that with dropping the rear by 2 teeth, and the result is 10.3% reduction in revs. (3 teeth on the rear results in 12.36%, which may be a little too much.) All three configurations require the same chain length. It even tells you the change in sprocket distance (movement in rear wheel position) for the given congiguration.

Anyone played with the final drive ratio's much and have any real world experience?

Also, what's the impact on speedo accuracy? I've not checked the Ninja before. I might put the GPS on for the ride home tonight and take a look.

Cheers.

On the subject of rev range... a question to Tony and others who are regularly using their Er6 of the track... are the rest of us always reaching for a 7th gear because we are just not revving them out as hard as they like to go? Are you comfortable at cruising speed, or are you tempted to shift up at times as well? (if you are running a larger rear sprocket, you are obviously revving higher than stock at a given speed.)

BTW, checked my speedo tonight, and at 60kph on the speedo, it's doing 55 on the GPS, so about 8 or 9% out.

Cheers.

[snowflake]

so i went to surat thani yesterday to test the 3 main candidates for my next bike.

The ER6N was ok, but felt really short. My legs were fiitting nicely with the tank, but it did feel like the cbr (nothing bad with that, but i want bigger).

The ninja was there in orange, beautiful! Love that colour. It felt smaller than the cbr, height wise. Looking at the pictures it is a little taller (angle on my knees)...

Then the mighty versys... Hmmm tall, meaty looking, red which i love, solid, big, lovely,comfortable... I have got to have one of those... (but is it the best option at this time???

Difficult choises are on my doorstep. Might go and buy it on saturday afternoon, if time permits.

[BigBikeBKK]

so i went to surat thani yesterday to test the 3 main candidates for my next bike.

The ER6N was ok, but felt really short. My legs were fiitting nicely with the tank, but it did feel like the cbr (nothing bad with that, but i want bigger).

The ninja was there in orange, beautiful! Love that colour. It felt smaller than the cbr, height wise. Looking at the pictures it is a little taller (angle on my knees)...

Then the mighty versys... Hmmm tall, meaty looking, red which i love, solid, big, lovely,comfortable... I have got to have one of those... (but is it the best option at this time???

Difficult choises are on my doorstep. Might go and buy it on saturday afternoon, if time permits.

Go for the Versys- it's got higher spec adjustable suspension, a much more comfortable seat and a larger tank than the ER6/650R. The only gripe I have about the Versys is less top end but let's face it, the Versys was never designed for speed.

Oh, FWIW, if you sat on the ER6 and the Ninja they are IDENTICAL as far as seating position, seat height, bars and footpegs are concerned.

[snowflake]

This bike will be used mostly in town with the occational 3 hours ride to Phuket or 1 1/2 hours to Had Yai...

I love the Versys, and the orange Ninja... But I think that the little ER6N will be good for me, not mentioning that my mate will buy it off me in two years time when I upgrade to a bigger bike again...

The problem I have is that I want all the bikes, but my bank will not allow that, I can pick one, after spending too much money on the accord this year (I am sure some people will understand what I mean)...

I can buy either one of them, but I think that the ER6N might be the best option for me now, besideds, I can always change next year if I don't like it :-)

[rizla]

Take into account the loss you will have to stand if you sell next year, the versys will hold up better than the er6 or ninja me thinks..good luck, oh and if you are looking for a PCV+Autotune, my friend has a set for sale secondhand, 15,000 bhat for the 2...

[BigBikeBKK]

This bike will be used mostly in town with the occational 3 hours ride to Phuket or 1 1/2 hours to Had Yai...

I love the Versys, and the orange Ninja... But I think that the little ER6N will be good for me, not mentioning that my mate will buy it off me in two years time when I upgrade to a bigger bike again...

The problem I have is that I want all the bikes, but my bank will not allow that, I can pick one, after spending too much money on the accord this year (I am sure some people will understand what I mean)...

I can buy either one of them, but I think that the ER6N might be the best option for me now, besideds, I can always change next year if I don't like it :-)

You love the Versys and the Orange Ninja but will buy the ER6 which is your least favorite of the three?

Up to you...

[snowflake]

This bike will be used mostly in town with the occational 3 hours ride to Phuket or 1 1/2 hours to Had Yai...

I love the Versys, and the orange Ninja... But I think that the little ER6N will be good for me, not mentioning that my mate will buy it off me in two years time when I upgrade to a bigger bike again...

The problem I have is that I want all the bikes, but my bank will not allow that, I can pick one, after spending too much money on the accord this year (I am sure some people will understand what I mean)...

I can buy either one of them, but I think that the ER6N might be the best option for me now, besideds, I can always change next year if I don't like it :-)

You love the Versys and the Orange Ninja but will buy the ER6 which is your least favorite of the three?

Up to you...

the least favourite, well they are all good bikes, the versys is brilliant and the ninja georgeous, the er6n is practical... If this was not such a difficult choice i would have booked one allready, but not yet. I cant make my mind yet...

[Kernow86]

Sunshine, dry,clear roads and a big smile on my face in Phuket this morning.

Building more confidence in the bends and really enjoying the new bike!

[Hili]

Sunshine, dry,clear roads and a big smile on my face in Phuket this morning.

Building more confidence in the bends and really enjoying the new bike!

Nice! I hope the weekend up in BKK and around will be the same so i can have some fun too.

After reading some reviews that the stock handlebar is not the best i ordered a Rizoma Superbike handlebar. Will report handling after.

[Timthai]

Any opinions on the best aftermarket exhaust for the Er6?

The three options I'm looking at are the Akrapovic, Two Brothers and Leo Vince... prices are all pretty similar.

Any poinions/experience?

(This thread has got so big, it's impossible to find anything... should have an Er6 subForum!!!)

Cheers.

[snowflake]

on the topic of after market, which tires are the best?

[thaicbr]

on the topic of after market, which tires are the best?

Well Pirelli have a good name.. depends on what your riding is going to be.

[Kernow86]

Any opinions on the best aftermarket exhaust for the Er6?

The three options I'm looking at are the Akrapovic, Two Brothers and Leo Vince... prices are all pretty similar.

Any poinions/experience?

(This thread has got so big, it's impossible to find anything... should have an Er6 subForum!!!)

Cheers.

If you want people to 'kee tag' as you go past get the Two Bros!

[snowflake]

Being on my Ninja now for a few days, my riding will be fast as I can go... Have touched 200kmph quite a few times now, but I feel that I like 170kmph more during day...

Fast is good, faster is better, but the standard tires are not the best in a slightly wet weather!!!