[Silaxe]

Hi Bastien,
Before I proceed with the airbox removal (and once confinement is over so maybe early ... May ?) I intend to get the bike dynoed standard and with the filters on. I checked 3 places around Paris that can do it and cost is 70 euros. Assuming I do not lose much performance, I will not put a power commander or rapide bike evo as I would like to keep things simple.
Will report back once it's done. I just have to be patient ?.

 

[Silaxe]

I finally reunited with my NineT!!
I had turned the alarm off before leaving and after two and half months, there was still juice in the battery.
Charged it up and it is all good.

So finally got to actually doing some mods and started light last night, changing the mirrors to Unit Garage ones as well as replacing the clamps using the ones from the Racer model.
My little touch is on the bar ends where I used the classic's ones painted matt black.
Very happy with the look!!

More to come later!!

 

[Silaxe]

Next @Florian Gounaud actually came round my place and delivered the gas tank cap he has developed.
Installation was swiftly done in 10mn literally and the result is awesome.
I went for the silver anodised version and the colour match as well as the finishing is perfect.
You can find more info at Soli Parts.

I also got round to removing the charcoal canister and the result is definitely much cleaner.
I have rerouted the big relay in the underseat tray but still need to trim the alarm module to make room for the relay.
Tomorrow I will hopefully install the rear and maybe change the cylinder heads to black ones.

 

[Florian Gounaud]

Next @Florian Gounaud actually came round my place and delivered the gas tank cap he has developed.
Installation was swiftly done in 10mn literally and the result is awesome.
I went for the silver anodised version and the colour match as well as the finishing is perfect.
You can find more info at Soli Parts.

View attachment 132692

View attachment 132693

I also got round to removing the charcoal canister and the result is definitely much cleaner.
I have rerouted the big relay in the underseat tray but still need to trim the alarm module to make room for the relay.
Tomorrow I will hopefully install the rear and maybe change the cylinder heads to black ones.

Thx Silaxe ! It was a pleasure meeting you.

 

[Silaxe]

Thx Silaxe ! It was a pleasure meeting you.

Thank you and congrats again on an awesome design.
Really happy with it.

 

[Silaxe]

The week end was quite busy and I finally got round to putting all the bits and pieces on the bike (well most of them).

First I installed the tail tidy I built. The aim was to have something plug and play and it worked!!
It is also reasonably clean from underneath with rubber plugs to blank unneeded holes.
I also installed the tubes for the Wunderlich saddle bag rack in the process.
The clearance between the bag and the indicator is just right.

Next I installed the mudguard and the plate light cable along the swingarm.
I find it always tricky to have cables just the right length but finally the cable is about right. I also used adhoc OEM cable clips to keep the electric cable attached to the brake pipe.

It was then time to change the front indicators. I also used Kellermann's. They have position light and hence come with three cables with one of them connecting to the positive from the canbus plug to the left of the tank.
I was quite happy to find nice black anodised aluminium blanking plates.
I did not quite document that phase but have taken a couple of pics to share.

I finally changed the cylinder heads to black and that was it for the WE!!!
This is what the bike now looks like.

 

[Silaxe]

So, first I feel withdrawal syndrome with nothing to do immediately on the bike and no fiddling with parts...

And then I sill have these parts ready to go 😁.
But I want to do a bench test before and I also wonder if I am brave enough to go through the surgery.
Decisions, decisions...

 

[8ball]

Ha! Withdrawal symptoms. I understand completely.
Looking really good! I'm a big fan of the Unit Garage bar end mirrors. The black head covers look really good as well.

 

[Silaxe]

Thanks @8ball, I actually reaaaaally like the head covers you ave chosen but they are pricey indeed!!

I was looking to add a thermometer ie air temp gauge and finally got the parts so I guess I can still fiddle around a bit until I decide to remove the airbox.
The parts need a bit of trimming here and there and I'll report back when it is ready to mount.

 

[GuillaumeFrom France]

Congrats for all the job done on your bike, your Nine T is awesome !
Love also the tank cap

 

[Silaxe]

Congrats for all the job done on your bike, your Nine T is awesome !
Love also the tank cap

Hi Guillaume,
Nice to hear - Thanks.
For the tank cap all credit goes to @Florian Gounaud
It really adds a nice touch.

 

[Silaxe]

Have been working a bit on the housing for the thermometer as chrome was not really my thing.
I like the rougher look of the raw aluminium.
Next pic when installed on the bike.

 

[Silaxe]

And voila! Thermometer in.
I put some shrink tube on the aluminium inserts and it slipped right in with little play so really well centred.
I was not too sure how it would turn out but I like. It is discreet enough.
You cannot really see the dial when you ride however but I do not see this as an issue.

 

[Parkblu]

Great job, Silaxe – compliments.

Where did you source the thermometer please?

 

[Silaxe]

Hi @Parkblu,
The thermometer is from Louis Moto.
You can find it at Thermometer - Steel, Black Dial

The reviews are quite poor but so far so good, it is working fine.

You will also need the following if you want to install it on the steering column:
Housing
Steering Head Mount
1 M8 x 60mm countersunk head bolt (and you will need to make the countersink in the base of the housing)

 

[Silaxe]

Finally managed to get my bike to the test bench!!
Did 4 passes - 2 with the bike standard and 2 with K&N pod filters on the air intakes.
The graph below shows the best of each.
The bold red line is with the pod filters on.

What can be seen is that with the filters:
- There is a bit more torque between 2800 and 3600 rpm (about 0.4 kg-m max)
- There is less torque between 4600 and 5200 rpm (about 0.8 kg-m max)
- There is less torque between 5600 and 7000 rpm (about 0.5 kg-m max)
- Torque is then higher until the rev limit near 8200 tpm

In short it is a bit more torquey in lower revs and less so in higher revs apart from the very top.
With regards to power, there is a gain of about 5 hp at the top and a loss of about the same at the same rpms where the torque is lower.
Note that the hp number is given at the wheel (as opposed to the crank).

Finally, you can also see the air to fuel ratio which is vert similar in both cases, the bike running actually a little less lean in really low rpms - contrary to what I would have thought.

I rode there (about 30km of city streets and highway) in standard and returned with the filters on. 60km total.
The but bench - as some call it - did not detect much difference if any apart from indeed a lower engine break when you release the throttle. I wondered before trying it whether I would like it and actually I do.

The only thing I was a bit surprised with (and did not like) was that when I got back into the city and stopped at traffic lights I smelt and saw some smoke coming out of the filters (a little). Not sure if it smelt like burnt oil or escape gases but it was a clear difference with the normal air intakes.
I wonder if it is because it just got out of service and they have filled it with quite a bit of oil?! Although there should not be oil there, no?

Did I read it right? What do the experts think?
Thanks for the comments.

 

[TiM81]

That's pretty interesting results, thanks for sharing! I wonder why the A/F-ratio didn't change much in low rpm and it especially why it's infact little bit richer 🤔. I think it might have something to do with the fact that you have the original air box still in place and it may have restrict the air flow to the K&N filters. When I made this modification to my bike I could definitely notice the difference in low rpm's, which was considerably worse running and kind of jerky to drive slowly. I got that fixed pretty nicely with the Powercommander and the basic tune downloaded from the Dynojet's webpage, but after the real tuning in dyno it got much better. I like the comparable results you have now, it doesn't make much of a difference in power, as was expected, but I always wanted to do it just because of the look of the filter pod's. Have you decided are you going to keep the air box or remove it and go with the K&N's?

I think the light smoke coming from the filters is normal, with the original air box in place you just don't detect it. I haven't really notice anything while riding, even in traffic.

One thing that I've seen now that the air box is removed is that the crankcase breather filter should be fitted even higher, because there's now little bit of oil on top of the swing arm and starter motor. I'll try to get some kind of fix for it, but maybe just after this riding season.

 

[Ian_H]

Coincedentally , a well known youtuber Lamb Chop Rides just got his Kawasaki remapped recently.
This is useful to watch as the tuner describes the fact you can "ignore" the low down A/F numbers at the bottom of the rev range when they examine the dyno traces. Some useful descriptions about interpreting dyno graphs.
Watch here (I've jumped towards the end for the relevant comments)

 

[Parkblu]

Hi @Parkblu,
The thermometer is from Louis Moto.
You can find it at Thermometer - Steel, Black Dial

The reviews are quite poor but so far so good, it is working fine.

You will also need the following if you want to install it on the steering column:
Housing
Steering Head Mount
1 M8 x 60mm countersunk head bolt (and you will need to make the countersink in the base of the housing)

Many thanks! Next time I'll be home (Munich) I might order the parts – there's so much more available in EU than here in the US. E.g., my two favourite exhausts come from either France or somewhere in the Foret Noir – only haven't figured out how to transport a can and pipe stateside ;-) Well, right now finding a flight is an issue in an any case.

 

[Silaxe]

Many thanks! Next time I'll be home (Munich) I might order the parts – there's so much more available in EU than here in the US. E.g., my two favourite exhausts come from either France or somewhere in the Foret Noir – only haven't figured out how to transport a can and pipe stateside ;-) Well, right now finding a flight is an issue in an any case.

Good luck with your quest.