My new 04 ZX12R

[Ticketyman]

Pictures to follow, now let the fettling begin. As it stands PC 111 with Yoshi Can and mid pipe, Stock gearing, stock suspension. I have already stiffened the whole thing up a bit for my riding style and weight. Questions, when going to a 17 front sprocket do you need to purchase one with the rubber damper or solid steel will do, is there extra noise vibration ? Question, obviously you sit more in this bike than on a 10R, the arse end feels low, any benefit in raising and what's everyone done. Question, do you guys run steering dampers? What sort ?

I know there's a few of you guys on here that have set these puppies up well, any and all info would be great.

Cheers

[MAXUMIS]

Hi mate,i run a straight steel front sprocket and "to me" feel no difference at all with the vib area,i run a 190/55 rear tire (taller than the standed) and have droped my front end 6mm's..the bike steer's a lot sharper than standed,i don't run a steering damper but i do have lighter than standed wheels on her.

[Ticketyman]

6mm showing through the top clamp ?

[Ticketyman]

6mm showing through the top clamp ?

[MAXUMIS]

6mm's of gold showing through the top clap,not including the srew on/silver bit,i will try find a pic.

[MAXUMIS]

Please excuse the bolt missing.

[Gosling1]

great purchase mate !

I can't recall if my front sprocket has a rubber damper or not - don't think it makes SFA difference either way though. 17t front does give you a better take-off.

Just some advice about *stiffening up the whole thing for your riding style/weight*......don't.

I did the same thing to mine - 110kg and I like corners - and basically it was exactly the *wrong* thing to do. Nearly every ZX12R pilot does the same thing - and it actually makes them handle pretty poorly compared to what you can achieve by doing it properly.

Our local suspension bloke Laurie Smith - Suspensionsmith - sorted my 12 out with stiffer springs front and rear, and re-valved and re-oiled both ends. The result is outstanding - the ride is actually plusher at low speeds, but works really well at high speeds. The bike never gets out of shape even at warp-speed over bumpy shitty back-roads. Stiffer springs don't mean harsh - all the other settings which had been wound right up - were wound right back. The stock spring rates in the 12 - front and rear - are just too soft for anyone >80kg. That is the main problem with the stock springs. So everyone winds up the settings to compensate........

I had wound up everything - pre-load, damping etc - in the belief that this was the right thing to do. It made the suspenion response harsh and uncompromising. But at the time I thought it was great.............until Laurie sorted it.

Find out who your local suspension guru is - and take the bike to them to get sorted. Will be the best money you ever spend on it, by far.

If you like instant throttle response - take out the secondary butterflies. This will give you instant acceleration when passing B-doubles on the highway without dropping a gear . TRE is also a good idea, you get better response in the first 3 gears. Braided lines, Nissin calipers and a 19mm radial m/c are also highly recommended. This fixes the brakes right up . I also knocked up my own Heli-bar conversion to get the bars up 40mm. This makes the bike far more comfortable around town....

Sensational motorcycles in every way. You won't ever regret buying this bike.

[Ticketyman]

Beautiful, thanks fellas. Appreciated. Now where can I buy a smart tre from ?

[MAXUMIS]

I don't have a tre at all as they didn't make them for an 04 and up 12 (witch were all the same 04 to 06)the only thing i have is a speedo healer in that area "for the gearing side of things"and it rids the 300kph/186mph limiter if needed..theses bike have no restrictions in any gears as far as i have studied + to top it off i cannot give my bike near half throttle in first without ending up on my back!!

[Gosling1]

I had a Nikko Racing TRE fitted to my '05 ZX12R ? It worked fine until the big prang in 2010 - but they definitely sold TRE's for the B-model 12's.

[MAXUMIS]

I had a Nikko Racing TRE fitted to my '05 ZX12R ? It worked fine until the big prang in 2010 - but they definitely sold TRE's for the B-model 12's.

The Nikko Gpack is just a speed release,it gets to 298 kph then kill's the speedo witch controls the top speed limiter..
PS every TRE i have seen say's it doesn't work with 04 and up?

[Gosling1]

It was about 7 years ago when I bought it - could have been Rated R parts on ebay ? It was a Nikko G-Pack though - sure it was sold as a TRE ? Its been toast for a couple of years now

[Jonno]

I didn't thing a tre was ever made for the B4-B6 12R afaik otherwise I would have one, the 2003 B3 model had a different ecu and you can get a tre for that I think so there may lay the confusion.

I eagerly watched that thread about it on zx12r.org for years, no successful outcome was achieved (again I may be mistaken)for de-restricting the lower gears on the 2004 -2006 for a many reasons, many tried and failed although one guy got close but it messed with the ecu signals and fried a few too, screwed up dash display, FI faults etc and other undesirable side effects, it proved extremely difficult to bypass. Anyway, everyone gave up just before the end of 12R production.

The thing is fast enough for the road

[Gosling1]

yes it sure is.......

I put 6 months sticker on the MFP12 the other day, its good to ride the big old girl around again.......even bunged on some new bodywork. When the tank gets painted to match - will post some photos......

For all the bad-news stories about Chinese fairings not fitting or fitting poorly or whatever - well that's not what I found. The fairing panels all match up nicely, everything fitted as it should......for <$500 delivered, I reckon they are good value.

[Phil]

The recovery from the "big crash" of the Guns & Bruises Tour continues