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Hawt Motorcycle Talk

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  • Swaye
    Swaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,741 Founders Club
    I have a boner.
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  • PurpleBaze
    PurpleBaze Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 30,544 Founders Club
    I want to go keyless on the Ninja 400 for the convenience. The cool factor thing wasn't a consideration.

    As for the throttle, I was thinking about installing the Norton race spec quick-turn throttle. A buddy did this with his Ninja 400 track bike and recommended it. Plus, it would go with the Norton keyless start system. As for the grip removal, I've seen the compressed air trick.

    As for the Lacomoto fairings, they are indeed nice. But, I'm thinking about installing 3M style vinyl on it with the carbon fiber pattern on it. I have been thinking about some kind of paint scheme, but can't decide. Plus, I really don't want to deal with painting them myself or paying someone else to do it.

    I look at the Ninja 400 as a fun project. Sure, I'll take it to the track, but I just want to have fun modifying it.

    Ducati does not limit your RPMs during the break-in period. They expect you to keep things below 10000 RPM until you get to 650 miles and the oil change.
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  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    Swaye said:

    I have a boner.

    Wanna cyber?

    This sucks, because I have some more thoughts on that Ninja build, but I have chores to do, so it'll have to wait until I get to work. In the meantime, they're going to look at me weird at the dump when I hop out of my truck with a motoboner...
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  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    Alright, finally have a break at work. First off, if we're bashing "cool factor," I'm out. Didn't mean that in a disparaging way at all, rather pointing out that every extra billet part that's added to a bike is, indeed, cool in a way that I fully support.

    That being said, there's a hierarchy of needs when it comes to building the ultimate track weapon. Your recent baller level board donation and expanding sweet Ducati collection suggests to me that there's a lot of whynotboth.gif choices to be made here, but the list of bike upgrades in order of how beneficial it is goes (as far as getting a N400 onto the track):

    1.) Tires: ~$400.
    2.) Suspension: ~$1500 or cheaper if you're willing to fuck around with emulators.
    3.) Brakes:
    ---Stage 1: $100 for pads, $130 for lines. I like Spiegler's rotating fittings.
    ---Stage 2: $300 for 6mm rotor
    ---Stage 3: $290 for Brembo RCS master.
    ---No mater what, you'll need a $240 ABS delete plug if you want to fully remove the ABS module and still have the speedo work.
    4.) Ergonomics: $700 for Woodcraft rearsets and clip-ons. Can also add levers and throttle tube* to taste.
    5.) Bodywork and protection: You already have bodywork. Call it ~$500 for case covers and frame sliders.
    6.) Mandatory convenience: Swingarm spools and front and rear stands for tire/brake maintenance.
    7.) Grip pads.
    8.) It's debatable, but you might put lightweight forged wheels here. At somewhere around $3000, price is high, but there's benefits for both acceleration and handling. Only reason I hesitate is that I imagine these bikes already have a fairly light wheel and the cost might make for lower bang-for-buck than things below. If you just have a shitload of money to spend on the most fun track bike possible... Let's just say wheels either go right here on the list or not at all depending on budget.

    After all that is done comes performance mods...

    9.) FTECU bike side tuning harness: $380 gets you the interface and a license to hook up your laptop and go nuts. Mostly, having this allows you to add on other things like a quickshifter, exhaust, race air filter, etc. And it's cheaper than a PCV anyway.
    10.) Quickshifter: $240 from FTECU. I'd take a quickshifter over moar power any day.
    11.) Exhaust and air filter: You can't do this until you have a way to tune afterward, hence down the list. Saves over 7 pounds and you get a >10% power bump, so not bad. I like Hindle exhausts even though they're MIG welded (and ugly MIG welds at that...) because they're great power and sound per dollar and you can get a replacement extremely quickly if needed.

    Things that are cool but not necessary...

    12.) Cool paint job or vinyl***
    13.) Billet bling like gas caps, chain adjusters, brake lever covers, etc. Ignition key delete**.

    ...

    65.) Glue-on winglets.

    ...

    10459.) Helmet mohawk.


    Anyway, everything costs money, everyone has a budget (especially for a "cheap" track bike that's going to be ridden sparingly and expensively), so, having built (and occasionally rebuilt) four track bikes at this point, this is exactly the order of operations I would go after if I had a Ninja 400 and wanted to have the most fun at the track.
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  • 1to392831weretaken
    1to392831weretaken Member Posts: 7,696
    My coworkers are all sleeping, so I guess I have time for a tripleshitpoast to cover two more tidbits that might be of interest:

    1.) Not sure if you went to the Superbike races in June, but one of the better races was the Junior Cup race on Sunday. Kayla Yaakov won the race on a Ninja 400, making her the second woman ever to win a professional road race in the United States. What blew me away was that she did so with a best lap time of 1:53.6, which is two seconds faster than I've ever gone around that track and using less than one-fourth of the horsepower (never mind the disparity in chassis and electronics). To add insult to injury, I see them interviewing her afterward on the big video screen, and I say to me kids, "Holy shit, she has to be maybe 14 years old!" Turns out that's exactly how old she is. So, yeah, I'm a pussy, whatever. Point is, it's entirely possible to make a great bike out of a Ninja 400. Hell, the one she was riding even had to conform to series rules. After seeing that, I started really wanting one. I'd probably be able to ride one for more than seven laps without collapsing from exhaustion! I bet you're going to have a ton of fun on that thing once it's finished.

    2.) Panigale break-in. A long time ago, I stumbled upon an article online that really made me think about my break-in process. I've built several engines (mostly dirt bike singles, but not always), and I completely changed the way I was breaking them in after reading this. I know it looks like a Geocities page that's so old none of the picture links work, and I guess that's probably because that's actually what it is. But the information checks out and jives with what I learned when I was studying these things in college.

    Anyway, with dirt bikes, I start the bike up for the first time with cheap, shitty mineral oil in it, let it get warm, then run it down the street and back really hard, doing several sustained WOT pulls through all six gears. Come back, dump oil, put in expensive synthetic, bike is ready to go. With my track bike, it was the same thing. Bought new with zero miles, took it straight to the track and went full send in the morning session. A track session is a perfect hard break-in. Dumped the oil and filter between sessions, replaced with new, and I've had seven trouble-free years since. The bike made more power on the dyno than a guy there the same day with a full Graves system.

    I would be seriously pissed to buy a bike and have it nanny me until 600 miles or some such nonsense. I'd have that ECU flashed before the first mile ticked off...
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