Kawasaki ZX-10R Forum banner

2016 Superstock Build (WERA Legal)

Gen 5: 2016-20 
75K views 293 replies 37 participants last post by  piresito 
#1 · (Edited)
2016 Superbike Story

Literally I bought this bike on a dare. Last Sunday a friend of mine was ragging on me for still playing with my 2009 Yamaha R1. I've got basically every suspension upgrade you can think of and the motor is currently at KWS Motorsports getting some love. He made a good point that this bike will never truly match up with the current liter bikes and that I should stop spending so much time trying to make it on par with bikes like the ZX10R, S1000RR or the current R1. So I dared him to find me a TRACK READY bike (specifically a 2016 ZX10R or newer) for $10,000. I figured there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell he'd find one. 10 minutes later I get a text with a link to this bike. $10,950 OBO for a bike with 2094 miles... Stuned that he was able to find one, I grudgingly offered $10,500 then the owner countered with $10,700 + a new set of Pirelli SC1 slicks and the deal was set. The whole transaction took less than 24hrs to complete. That's the LAST time I dare him on anything!

Here's the R1 I currently ride:


So this might not be that interesting to some but I wanted to start a thread to capture all the data from this new adventure I'm about to embark on. First things first, the bike is mostly setup already. I purchased a '16 Gen5 that was used for in CCS club racing since it rolled off the showroom floor. It was also used at the Daytona 200 at least once and the owner won his class (Formula 40 I believe). The bike was completely setup and maintained by TSE up in Wisconson.






Track Side Suspension Engineering Trackside Suspension & Engineering | Motorcycle Suspension For You did some prototype custom valving to the SHOWA forks which I'll get into detail on later. They also installed a K-Teck DDS Pro rear shock. That's about it for suspension actually, but I can't think of a better way to enter a superstock class for less money vs performance. I guess maybe full Ohlins carts/rear shock would be the top tier but you don't necessarily need that level of performance if you (the pilot) needs more improving than the bike.





For power, the trend of simple/economical parts continues. There's a Hindle slipon with a decat pipe and a flashed ECU. Done...the shift pattern was switched to GP during the flash as well but the blipper function wasn't activated (which I find odd actually).



Woodcraft is the other major vendor to get some love with all the protection goodies and egro's coming from their catolog. Rearsets, clipons, lever guards, case protectors, frame sliders, axle sliders and rear spools are all installed.






So, I'll be picking the bike up on Friday and start going through it to get familiar with the Kawasaki way of doing things. Plans for the future include A LOT of kit parts and as much weight loss as I can make happen. Let see where this goes!
 
See less See more
13
#41 ·
Harbor Freight. It’s about $50 I think? Got it years ago.
 
#42 ·
So after hours of work in a 90* garage I have come to the conclusion that Kawasaki knows what their doing much more than I do.

There's been a lot of talk about flipping the swing-arm pivot to get a better feeling chassis on corner entry. I can 100% say that the evidence is very strong AGAINST this actually working like everyone might think. I am basing all of this off measurements before and after the flip. The goal was to flip the pivot and then reset the rear geometry to copy the stock REAR geometry but help the front throughout this process.

Now, my measurements are NOT perfect but they work for showing a difference between the two settings. The stock swing-arm angle (with the bikes weight on the shock), was 12.71 degrees. When I flipped the pivot insert AND THEN added 10mm to my KTeck DDS Pro, the angle was 9.5 degrees! The swing-arm was visually flatter and immediately I knew there was going to be a problem if I couldn't get that angle back to the "before" numbers. I continued to add length to the shock but was only able to get it to 9.7 degrees after adding around 15mm to my shock length. Seeing that I still had room on the clevis for adding shims, I stacked some 2mm think washers up to gain an additional 8mm off rear ride height. This brought me up to 10.91 degrees...

Stepping back and looking that the math to make sure I was at least seeing the correct information, I concluded that this cannot be right. Then I realized that I remembered the Kit pivot insert was a "0" and that all the 2017+ machines come with a "0". Maybe there's a reason for this I thought. I can see how adding a zero pivot insert would help but a full 4mm over my current setting is way to far. Hence I moved the setup back to my original numbers and called it a day. Took me about 5 hours but I think it was well worth the time and energy to gain a better understanding of what this bike needs to work properly.

Kit parts will have to be the only way I'll change this bike if I give up on the superstock class.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2wheelmike
#43 ·
Hmm, well you sir are much more thorough than I :lol:

I'm going to start my own thread tonight and will post some video but initial thoughts on this past weekend were the bike feels fantastic.

I'm using the stock shock and honestly have no idea if anything was changed on that, I think he just flipped the pivot so my angle had to increase right?

The bike turned in great but was still stable and never felt twitchy. I felt like I could put it wherever I wanted. The only problem that developed is it went from a wheelie machine to a wheelie monster. I haven't touched the suspension in any way aside from setting sag last year and have a stock steering dampner so hopefully TSE can help me keep the front end down for this next weekend of racing.

To also give some input my buddy who won a bunch of Amateur CCS championships last year on a 675r and is now on a 2017 r6 was blown away but how great this bike handled.
 
#44 ·
Yeah, I'm not sure why things added up this way, but that's how it went down. For me, the bike steers slow and transitions slow. I've barely had anytime on it so I'll see what happens this weekend at Gratton.

On the exit, the bike is incredible. Very stable and confidence inspiring.
 
#47 ·
Yeah, I'm not sure why things added up this way, but that's how it went down. For me, the bike steers slow and transitions slow. I've barely had anytime on it so I'll see what happens this weekend at Gratton.



On the exit, the bike is incredible. Very stable and confidence inspiring.


Have you tried lifting the front end? Maybe you have too much weight on the front and the bike is pushing through the corner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#48 ·
Yes, WERA allows the stock components to be rearranged however you like as long as you don't replace the factory components.

Have you tried lifting the front end? Maybe you have too much weight on the front and the bike is pushing through the corner.
The front is at stock fork height. My forks are modified and have been interally lengthened by 20mm that's why you can see what looks like a severe "drop" in front ride height. Trust me, the front is at stock levels.

I'll look for this feeling when I'm out on track this weekend. Honestly, I've had no really hard laps on it yet so, I think it best to fully understand the situation before making drastic changes. I think I'll focus on the ergonomics and try to understand the electronics the first morning. By the afternoon, I should have an understanding of whats going on, and can make a step from there.
 
#51 ·
So my weekend at Grattan over May 19-20th was a wash (literally). I drove the 14 hours up to the track through a monsoon, praying and hoping it would be clear skies at this amazingly technical track. Unfortunately it wasn't good the next morning after the rain continued to fall until about 1230. We did manage to get a few "damp" sessions, but no one was pushing and I couldn't really get anything out of the track time except becoming more familiar with the ZX10's controls after my time on the R1.

The next morning started well and I was able to get one dry session in on a green track. However, when we headed out for the second session, more rain fell and started another horrible day of waiting for the track to dry enough to ride. I decided to pull out of there around noon, which turned out to be the wrong move. My buddies called me from the track about 2 hours later as I was leaving Michigan and said the track turned out pretty good. I guess I learned my lesson.

I'm headed to CornerSpin this weekend for some more training with Aaron Stevenson. I find that when every I work with them, another piece of the puzzle get found and put into practice with my riding. Hopefully, Carolina Motorsport Park will be 100% dry at the end of the month and I can finally get in some quality time on the new bike.

Graves Progressive Throttle Tube on order...
 
#52 ·
So my weekend at Grattan...
Nice to see you're from MI haha. I was looking at heading to Grattan this season but its such a hassle for me :crying: not to mention the cost. Maybe one day.

Truck/Trailer rental: $350
Track Fairings: $850 (optional)
1 Piece Suit: $800
Hotel: $150
Tires/mounting: $400 (current set almost at the end of its life)
Track accessories: $100 (food, drink, tent, fuel)
Drive: 3 hours each way w/ no stops
Dragging my b*tchy girlfriend along so I don't have to drive and race alone: nuff said :lol:
 
#53 ·
I'm not from Michigan. I'm out of Atlanta, took me 14 hours one way to make the trip. It's one of the reasons it sucked so much for me. Lots of $$$ spent for not a lot in return.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ddipaola
#57 ·
Nice dude I just got off the same situation I have a 09 R1 I was about to start doing ohlins suspension etc I ended up picking up a new left over 17 ZX10R we are setting up now I own a shop we are a Cnc gun shop make parts etc but we ended up doing bike parts too mainly for HD some flat track stuff but got into the race bike end so I am currently setting up the new ZX10R new world for me. I was looking to get a full Akrapovic system but deal with woodcraft a lot and heard leaving the stock TI headers and just doing a Hindle 3/4 system is the way to go. What do u think . Suspension I am gonna throw the Öhlins TTX gp and do some FGR 100 kit and it will be insane.. I did the Nix30 and rear shock on my Z900 Zcup racing naked and couldn’t believe the night and day difference. Hopefully you can give me some tips on the ZX10R , I love Akro pipes but for almost 2K running the Hindle I will save almost a grand and I can get a lot more goodies plus Eric wood swears by the hindles
 
#58 ·
Thanks dude, yeah she’s a bit different than the 1st gen xplane R1! Night and day...

In other news, I made a bracket for my AiM Solo 2 DL. Check it out:



 
  • Like
Reactions: or10r and Newf
#65 · (Edited)
A buddy of mine bought a MotoD Star timer. He used it three times and now it won't turn on unless it's plugged in. It was never crashed or even dropped. He's very bummed out about it. Granted, all timers have their issues so I am not trying to put MotoD down, as I am reasonably sure this issue is not common. MotoD offered to repair it, I presume for free. My other racer buddy's AiM Solo unit wouldn't register any satellites from time to time and that was a point of frustration. I personally run a Solo DL and it's been nothing but reliable for me. I prefer it because I really like the "predicted lap times" feature, AiM Race Studio software is very powerful--especially since I collect the ECU data. I also like the way it mounts with the powerful magnetic attachment and mounting plate. I bought a couple of extra back plates and put them on other bikes so I can just seamlessly move the timer around.
 
#71 ·
I had an R6 for a long time and absolutely loved it. I want to trade my built crossplane R1 for an R6 once I get the motor back from KWS.
 
#73 ·
Here's my solution to the lap timer mounting problem. I had the ignition bracket milled off and custom bracket fabricated. Works very well, as it falls in the line of sight when I need to see either the dash or the lap timer (predicted lap times). Also my go-pro can see the screen of the lap timer so it records videos with lap times and predicted lap times. It makes watching race videos more interesting.
 

Attachments

#74 ·
Yeah that's my goal but I need to pull my key assembly first...:(
 
#78 ·
Wow, that's a beautiful little piece I didn't know existed. I really like Zeta products. They're all designed and made in Japan. If I didn't modify my stock one, I would consider this one. I doubt it would make any meaningful handling improvements though.

As far as looking at the timer while riding, I certainly know the importance of keeping your eyes up--so it's important to place the timer so that you can glance at it while keeping your peripheral vision still working. MotoGP riders always look at their dash but it's in their line of sight. With your Solo 2 DL, you can configure lights to indicate split times being better or worse so you can see those with peripheral vision.
 
#80 ·
I’ll stick with the stock upper to keep the Superstock nazi’s happy. I’ll pull it after CMP next weekend and get it modified over my summer break.
 
#86 ·
My boys at Hustle Hard Racing, came through big style! Got me this SE Composites shroud QUICK. Ordered it Wednesday and I got this morning, perfect timing! Headed to CMP in the morning, can't wait to really give this thing a go...




 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top