2016 - 2020 has the Balance Free Fork (BFF) and is a 11.0 NM stock

We have yet to find anything lighter than a 9.5 NM spring for the OEM cartridges. If you MUST go lighter than you generally have 3 options.

1. Pull the springs and have custom ones made.
2. Put in aftermarket cartridges and then you have any rate you want.
3. Install the Andreani piston conversion kit. This upgrades the pistons and valving, and moves the springs up to the top of the cartridge. The springs and caps are swapped out with Andreani cartridge springs so you can get whatever rate you want.

We had a street rider that went with option 3 and is about your size. He's had them for about a year now and is really happy with the results.

 

Super helpful, thank you!

 

It is correct that the stock spring rate is 11.0. Ridiculously stiff for riders under 180 lbs - even for the track.
I weigh 167 and I dropped by Race Tech on the way home from work (I live in Orange County and work in Ontario) and picked up a set of BPF 8.5 springs (yes, they fit) and used 1 standard spacer in each leg to match OEM spring length perfectly. I also changed the oil height from stock 168ml to 185 ml and the forks are now awesome. The dampening is now obviously useable and improved tremendously as well.
I have Ohlins cartridges on my R6 race bike and the BFF performance on my ‘16 zx10r is on par.
Call Race Tech or drop by if you live in So Cal and they will give you the proper springs and spacers. No disrespect to the prior poster - you do not need to buy the Adriani kit, unless you wish to upgrade the stock dampener valving.

 

I ended up dropping in KTech 9.5s with Öhlins oil. My suspension tuner had a hard time getting information from Kawasaki regarding the correct pressure to set things at.

Sag is dead on, with preload turned about 3 full turns from out. I've been messing with compression and rebound and had Jim from Catalyst do a "base" setting.

However, I cannot get used to the front of this bike. I don't know if it's me or what, but I did not have ANY confidence in the front. It feels weird; it has since day one. Vague and sloppy. It's a little unstable under braking, and in fast corners I don't get a good connected feel.

Even after the spring swap, which admittedly feels better... it's not where I want it to be. I'm going to look into lowering the front a bit.

I'm about 20mm from bottoming out the zip tie. This is after several hard sessions at Sonoma: I would expect maybe 10mm given the way it has been set up.

Any suggestions from racers or tuners will be appreciated.

 

The RR comes with a set of .95 or 10.75 due to the Forged Marchesini wheels

In Canada the 10r comes with the 11.75 or 1.20 springs.
So I switched to the 11.25 or 1.05 springs - much better contact patch while trail braking.

I'm 190lbs butt naked. Medium trackday expert pace. Hope that helps!

 

oh just to add to this... when I was shopping...
I spoke with David from fast bike industries.

We talked about an Andreani kit (it flips the fork internals right side up - and allows spring changes
at the track)
- he told me not to bother with that kit - as I am only a recreational trackrider not a racer...
pretty much "a set it and forget it rider" -well, except for minor adjustments during the day.

David said the stock showa internals are much better than the Andreani internals. Don't waste your money!

***If any of what I said is wrong - please correct me. 8 concussions - my hard drive skips these days!

Cheers

 

.95 is still way to stiff for 147lbs. You must be braking late like a MF if you are that close to bottoming with the springs. Otherwise, I really believe that you will notice a big difference by dropping to at least .85. With 185ml oil height, I am spot on with 32mm sag on the front (at 167lbs bodyweight).
It completely changed my Gen5's handling - including the front end vagueness that you are referencing. I'm taking it to Chuckwalla next weekend, as I have only tracked this bike at AutoClub thus far. I will report back if I find that I have undershot on spring weight.

 

.95 is still way to stiff for 147lbs. You must be braking late like a MF if you are that close to bottoming with the springs. Otherwise, I really believe that you will notice a big difference by dropping to at least .85. With 185ml oil height, I am spot on with 32mm sag on the front (at 167lbs bodyweight).
It completely changed my Gen5's handling - including the front end vagueness that you are referencing. I'm taking it to Chuckwalla next weekend, as I have only tracked this bike at AutoClub thus far. I will report back if I find that I have undershot on spring weight.

Haha - yes a lot of hard braking. TBH, I feel more comfortable with it after Dave Moss looked at it -- now my tire wear and fork travel seem to dead on. I would love more spring options but .95 seems to be the lowest available (see info earlier in thread).