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Gen 5 street/strip thread

13K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  ctsvjunkie89 
#1 ·
So I've noticed no one has really done a build thread on a gen 5 drag racing so I figured I'd be the guy. Some may remember I had a thread a couple years ago on my gen 4, went through a lot of trial and error with that bike more error then trial, it was my first bike and I learned a lot with it.

Quick refresher, (I still have the 2011) I bought a gen 4 and learned how to ride and race on that bike, I made a mistake at the track at the end of the season, I had moved to a 43 sprocket in the rear, only had a couple test passes at test and tune fighting wheelies and then entered a 2 day big bracket race that weekend, something in my gut that morning told me to leave the bike home and to this day I still wish I did, fast forward to the semi finals that night, I was still fighting the front end coming up and it getting sketchy down track, it was could like 40 degree range and it was ice skating down track and bringing the front end up with the head wind.

So I really strapped the front down tight, come up on stripe, get on the brakes to slow down and the front end washed out because there was no travel from having it strapped to tight, went down at 150 and the bike broke my tether causing it to not shut off, they picked my bike up out of the sand trap and shut it off, other then the fairings there was only 100 dollars worth of damage. I got LUCKY, I walked away with a few stitches in my elbow, sore all over my body and a big hit to my pride.


Fast forward to the winter, I sunk a stupid amount of money into it, brand new catalyst body and tail, +10 swing arm, and a lot of other miscellaneous items, I think when it was all said and done after repairing damage and upgrading I dumped around 3-4k into the bike. End of February rolls around and I get the bike back on the ground and road worthy. I'm literally crapping my pants because I was so excited to get back on it, so I get to ride it about 2 weeks and the motor went. To this day I still don't know what happened to the motor, it's out other then the throttle linkage still holding it to the bike but I haven't went farther then that. I basically washed my hands of it for a year keeping my eyes open for another motor.

Right after the motor went at the beginning of march 3 weeks later my drag car blew its motor. Then that started a total revamp of the car. Here I am a little over a year later and 25k dropped into my car trying to chase down a ls world record. The car is almost done. I raced a few times last season and the beginning of this season on borrowed bikes, nothing bigger then a 600 cruising bike. It killed me being away from my kawi. So fast forward to the 3 weekends ago and I somehow ended up at a dealership. 2 hours later I'm riding away on a brand new 2016 KRT. Hurried up on the break in, I broke it in as I would a race car, hard but not abusive. I varied the rpm, kept it under 10k and loaded the rings and took it in for the first service at 400 miles.


That same day I went straight to the track and bracket raced it. Let me tell you a bone stock gen 5 is more rowdy then my gen 4, my '11 put 200 down at the wheel up at Schnitz, the way the power comes on with the 5th gen is way more violent. I definitely struggled that Saturday, this was the first time I have been on a bike over 100 hp since my other bike and my first time riding something with a lot of power on a swb.

Immediately after getting home I went straight to my other bike and I've been scavenging some parts here and there, I'm learning what can and can't switch over from those two generations. The first two immediate things I've done is switch my strap over, the brackets bolt up the same, no surprise there, and my lowering link bolted right up. I only have it lowered two inches right now because of the stock kick stand but it helped a lot with the issues I was having launching the bike with it being too tall.


I've also learned that they share the same clutch fibers and steels. I had an extra gen 1 drag pak from Dwayne at Cycle Concepts with extra hard springs and I put a clutch mod in, let me tell you the clutch now is unreal. So much smoother be it racing or cruising. It took a few minutes to get used to hard springs but even if you don't race I highly recommend adding some better springs in your clutch, you won't be sorry. Funny thing is I've actually seen a pick up in fuel mileage from the whole clutch swap.


So this weekend I raced it again for the second time, did alright, I made it to my first final and lost. Took 16 years of bracket racing to make it past semi finals and I do it on something I've only made like 8 passes on.

I'm struggling with launching right now just because I'm way out of the loop since the last time, and I'm fighting it being gutless down low. My best pass was 10.85 at 139 with a 1.90 60. I'm bogging it. So I'm about to put my new back up 16 tooth sprocket in the front to try and alevate some of that. I've also been trying to get a hold of Rifleman to buy a throttle insert.


I've got a full system on the gen 4 and I've been contemplating about putting it on. I know it's shorter at the header a hair but it doesn't matter because my muzzy doesn't bolt to anything other then the head. That or I was going to do a 3/4 system. I can't justify the price of a full system right now. I will definitely be going to Guhls for the flash since I won't need a power commander at that point.

I've been looking at swingarms and extensions also but I'm trying to stay swb for now, a really great racer told me that if you can master stock wheel base there isn't anything out there you can't ride. Plus I've learned cornering hard with the knee down is amazing.


Something I had to do to the bike that worked for me and may be something for others to consider, I loosened my clutch and brake levers and tilted them down for better angle. It made the ergonomics feel a lot better. I feel like this bike has my legs higher then my gen 4 though so I need to get some rear sets. The factory quickshifter is awesome but I feel like the kill time needs to be cut down. Another cool thing about it is it's ignition cut not fuel so it's already got the potential for nitrous.

Stock form gen 5 to a pimped out gen 4 I will say this. The potential with the gen 5 is so much more. I can already tell that once this thing is dialed in it will be faster then my 4th gen.


Oh before I forget. I about killed some guys Saturday racing. I come back to my trailer and mind you my bike is on the rear stand while I'm gone. My brake lever is broke, the exhaust and engine cover scratched as well as the body. My bike was freaking perfect and these asshole circle track guys who after every lap kept coming and farther into my pit knocked my bike over.


Needless to say a few choice words were exchanged and I was grabbed by one of my bike buddies before I put the rear stand through the front of their car, they knocked it over changing their tires then protended like they didn't. The only reason I know it was them was the fact the lady in the ticket booth saw it happen. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it so now I have almost a grand of damage to fix because of someone else. I'm getting sick to my stomach just thinking about it right now. First thing I've ever bought new in my life and someone had to ruin it for me.


For now I'm going to take the brake lever off the gen 4 until I can find a place that has the right brake lever. I've got to upload some pictures later for now I'm going to try and get this sprocket done and ride it before the rain comes in. My best pass on the 4th gen was a 9.39 with a 1.51 60, with a 120 lb rider the bike had been 8.80's. I want to break 8.99 on this bike. So tooooo be continued
 

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#3 ·
So I've been lacking on updating this, I've owned the bike a month now, I've raced it a total of three time, first time I went out 2nd round, second time (two weeks ago) I made it to my first finals. Then this past weekend I won my very first race! Only took 16 years of bracket racing to finally get that off my shoulders lol.


So one of the guys I've raced with the past couple years with bikes owns a shop and got me a killer deal with Brock's for parts. I got a brand new black alien head 3/4 system for 550 and a power commander with a street tune with from Brock's in it for 275 all brand new in the box. My fiancé picked everything up today while I was at work, so now I'm at home patiently waiting on her to get home LOL.


I put a call into Evil Swingarms the other day to find out if my gen 4 swing arm will bolt up to my gen 4 and he said it was exactly the same. So that's sweet because now I can save 800 bucks. It's still a sore subject with the gen 4 but atleast I can salvage some of my money by taking what I need off of it. Which I'll be able to use my arm, chain, and sprocket.

I'm hustling to get ready for a huge race with NHDRO here the first week of august. I know I'll have the pipe and pc5 on tomorrow, I've just got to figure out a way to get the arm swapped over on the new bike. I really want to get my ecu flashed before then but I don't want to try and push it to much before then. I'm debating about swapping my chrome wheels over on it as I saw a guy on here sells what I need to switch the disc onto the gen 4 wheels. The looked killer on on 4th gen.

I can definitely see that this bike even in stock for is a lot more powerful the what the gen 4 was. Hopefully here this weekend I'll crack it into the 9's without the flash.
 

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#4 ·
Last night I got the power commander and Alien Head installed. It's sounds damn good! Looks killer too with my bike being lowered. I had to get some new strap mounts as the ones I swapped over from the gen 4 bit the ghost and stress cracked, luckily I caught it last night so I swung down to Dayton today and got a new set of Brock's strap mounts on the bike so I'm excited to see what the bike is going to do tomorrow.
 

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#9 ·
Looks good!

I know Cody aka Flashed by Sik did a black gen 5 with a stretch and sidewinder and theres a pretty badass gen 5 down in FL that has a small stretch that was tune by ACE Performance and that thing boogies. Be curious how that badboy runs once you got it all dialed in!
 
#11 ·
Oh I'm excited for test and tune tomorrow. The bike flat out still hooks with the stretch. I was worried about the stock shock being an issue but I can literally almost throw the clutch now launching. Here's a better picture of it with arm on.

You know what else is impressive? Everyone I know smack talks the battleax tire, but whatever version they put on from the factory is what I've got and I haven't even checked the tire pressure on it since I've bought it and it still hooked hard on the street.

For sure happy to see other stretched gen 5's!
 

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#12 · (Edited)
So Battleax is just a generic name Bridgestone slaps on all their tires. The tire that came stock on your ZX10R is a RS10. Which is a tire that is barley DOT legal. It is a tire designed for road racing type track days first and street riding second (so is your motorcycle btw). Glad to hear to performs well for drag racing as well. When road racing, tire pressure is eminently important, I guess that is not the case for straight line racing. It is a very sticky tire for a DOT tire. Is a zx10 any faster in the 1/4 than a zx14?
 
#13 ·
Tire pressure is really important with drag racing also, but for some reason this bike just flat out hooks. I checked the pressure last night it's at 32 psi. A lot of it too is I'm just -1 in the front and still stock in the back. I'm about to throw my 43 tooth on which I know will cause an issue with traction.

It's all relevant to what's done to the bike. There are some 14's slower then 10's and vice versa mod for mod there is no replacement for displacement.
 
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