I rode a 14 tonight

[JINKSTER]

It's a sports bike...  I would ride the wheels of the thing if someone would let me.  

I like seeing comparisons other that top speed.  I'm not going to do 200mph but I really enjoy stopping

 Question:  Why are the busas brakes and suspension so much different from the ZX14

 Aren't they using the same parts???

the only real true dif in the brakes dept. is the 14's front brakes are radially mounted and i believe they're using a rotary style mastercylinder...and that's all goodness but nothing that dramatic over a busa's front brakes with SS braided lines and EBC HH brake pad upgrades.

but suspension?....hands down that goes to the busa as while kaws monolyth frame is plenty stout enough the swingarm on the 14 is a spindley formed sheet metal/weldment affair that unlike the busa?...isn't even "Braced".

In top gear roll ons starting at about 60mph?...against a ZX14 my busa put 10-15 bike lengths on the 14 and did so in just the first few seconds....but roll-ons starting at 80-100mph saw my busa locked beside the 14 to the 120-140mph zone where the 14 would begin to baby crawl away from my busa...and from 140-160 on up?...the 14 would just walk awy from my busa...but here's the two rubs...

from 0-120 is where i'm normally having the majority of my fun...and the busa delivers...big time...and imho?...in that range has it all over the 14 in every way except "brakes" by a slight margin annnnd...

imho?...the 14 will go much the way of the old 12R..and in short order...like "Early Release '08 Hayabusa" kinda short order..meanwhile?...the beloved Mighty Hayabusa ruled the streets for 7 long years...amassing a strong following that places the hayabusa strongly in the "Icon Class Of Bikes" along side of legends such as Yami's V-Max and Kaws old ZX1100 Ninja..and now..."Hayabusa" is added to the list...a household name kinda bike....a legend..a feat and a status that many other.....uhem..."bikes"...will fail to accomplish.

L8R, Bill.

The front forks on the ZX-14 are the same used on the track inspired 2006 ZX-10. The Busa front forks are not in that same window in stock form. I assume you understand that hence you just ordered a bunch of parts for your front forks. I will not have to touch the brakes or front forks on the 14 except to dial them in. They are that good.


We will do the roll-on test with the flies out on the 14 and piped since no one rides a stock. If I remember correctly the guy you did the roll ons with Locoryder had a stock bike at the time or flies in. Under 6K its a flat bike and thats no secrete, Kawasaki said it was for safety I call it nuetured. We will reverse that process today and some.

I am not here to push the 14 just to provide an owners view. Busa's and 14's have been beaten by guys on 600's its the rider not the bike, so magazines, pictures, dreams and stats mean nothing if you can't get it done. We figured since DJ is a long time respected member here and I have done some tinkering with my Busa, a review from us would hold some water. Just let us report our thoughts then go race a 14 if you want and be happy.


I agree the 14 is not the prettiest thing, they said the same thing about the 1999 Hayabusa. If you like riding, like we do, the 14 is a serious riding machine. Things look blury at speed anyways. A surpize to me my wife likes the looks of the 14 over the very nicely modded Busa in my garage.."thor" just snickered at that. For the record, right now, today my Busa will spank my 14, 0 to 120 and in the twisties but its got a lot of weight saving mods and BST wheels. Thats today....who knows what tomorrow will bring

"The front forks on the ZX-14 are the same used on the The front forks on the ZX-14 are the same used on the track inspired 2006 ZX-10. The Busa front forks are not in that same window in stock form. I assume you understand that hence you just ordered a bunch of parts for your front forks. I will not have to touch the brakes or front forks on the 14 except to dial them in. They are that good. 2006 ZX-10. The Busa front forks are not in that same window in stock form. I assume you understand that hence you just ordered a bunch of parts for your front forks. I will not have to touch the brakes or front forks on the 14 except to dial them in. They are that good."

sorry GPW but...i gotta toss the BS card on that one...and in all fairness to you the part that's BS is more than likely the words of some sales propaganda as anytime i see the term "track inspired" (especially relating too suspension?) i hafta laugh as....these are mass produced bikes...and ragardless of them being...uhem..."track inspired"?.....the sellers still don't know if the owner is gonna wind up being and 7'8 Dude sufferiong from obesity or an anorexic midget! LOL!...hence?..they ALLLL toss in progressive rate springs (of some sort) and then?...in an effort to compensate for this whacked out compromise of "One Set Of Fork Springs Fits All" situation?...they toss is some super restrictive valving that restricts he11 out of the hydraulic cross-talk between the rebound and compression damping modes...so you can adjust the adjustable forks till the cows come home and you can definantly "Make It Better" but?..."track inspired" or not?...it's still just like the forks on all the other mass produced production sportbikes...shid...oh?..you can make it little less smelly by abusing the adjustments but...in the end?...as opposed to custom sprung and valved forks?...even the "track inspired" shid..is still...shid...and that's why i'm re-doing my front forks...that?...and?..with 3 years and 10+ K on the odo?...my front forks are due for a good cleaning and replacing of fork oil, seals and dust covers anyways...so i figured..as long as i'm in there?

"We will do the roll-on test with the flies out on the 14 and piped since no one rides a stock. If I remember correctly the guy you did the roll ons with Locoryder had a stock bike at the time or flies in. Under 6K its a flat bike and thats no secrete, Kawasaki said it was for safety I call it nuetured. We will reverse that process today and some."

Yes annnd...

"I am not here to push the 14 just to provide an owners view. Busa's and 14's have been beaten by guys on 600's its the rider not the bike, so magazines, pictures, dreams and stats mean nothing if you can't get it done. We figured since DJ is a long time respected member here and I have done some tinkering with my Busa, a review from us would hold some water. Just let us report our thoughts then go race a 14 if you want and be happy.


I agree the 14 is not the prettiest thing, they said the same thing about the 1999 Hayabusa. If you like riding, like we do, the 14 is a serious riding machine. Things look blury at speed anyways. A surpize to me my wife likes the looks of the 14 over the very nicely modded Busa in my garage.."thor" just snickered at that. For the record, right now, today my Busa will spank my 14, 0 to 120 and in the twisties but its got a lot of weight saving mods and BST wheels. Thats today....who knows what tomorrow will bring

"

Cool!

L8R, Bill.

 

[Max Speed]

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[bigoltool]

You going to give us a walkthrough on your fork mods Jinks?

 

[JINKSTER]

You going to give us a walkthrough on your fork mods Jinks?

yes sir...beyond a doubt.

 

[runeight]

I agree with others that it is great to have someone modding the 14 on this forum. Heck, I jump over to Greg's site more and more. Looking good by the way.

Now, let us wait and see what GPW does with this thing in the near future. Pros..cons..it will come out here. I still believe thor is Greg's first love.

runeight

 

[PDBusa]

How is the ergos on the 14? They look kinda crampy for a bigger guy 6'4"+? Looks like a more aggressive riding position.

 

[chevelle]

I for one,can't wait to hear the results of the mods/mapping,i hope it rips

And just like you (gpw) the looks of the 14 don't do to much for me,but the bike does,and that's what counts.

With a little luck,i will be adding a black 14 to my ''fleet'' in mid december.....now where am i going to hide the bottle  on that thing.  

 

[runeight]

I for one,can't wait to hear the results of the mods/mapping,i hope it rips

And just like you (gpw) the looks of the 14 don't do to much for me,but the bike does,and that's what counts.

With a little luck,i will be adding a black 14 to my ''fleet'' in mid december.....now where am i going to hide the bottle  on that thing.  

minor problem..

 

[1300hemibusa]

Glad to see a thread about the zx14 that does not include all the bashing and smack talk ..Well one guy and we know who he is will allways bash the zx14 ...I had two Busas and loved them but the zx14 is a cut above ( for now) I'm a drag racer so all that matters to me is the numbers on the strip...Mine so far stock with wheel base, pipe and no P/C, pump 89 octane has run 9.44 @ 148. I have to say i'm very happy...



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[Don Hardcastle]

I haven't ridden one, but I have a friend that has one. I have to believe that the Kawi engineers missed something. How can you have all that time to work on something and the only major improvement over your competition is the front brakes? I have nothing against the bike. It has its own unique look. I won't be buying one, not because I dislike it or anything. I just don't want another sport bike. Anyway, just my rambling.

Don

 

[The Big Red One]

Glad you found a buddy to let you ride it. I was very interested in buying one before buying my Busa. What turned me off was the fact that dealers were so proud of the things they would hardly let anyone sit on it let alone test ride it... then they insulted me with the marked up price... Pretty quickly I was telling them to have roasting burgers on those Foreman Grills while riding wheelies with a grin on my Busa

We have a choice of every color for the 14 in our area...and there's no waiting list, frenzy ect. I could get one for 11.5 out the door...less if I wait. I toyed with the idea till I rode one. Its a nice bike but its just too Kawasaki, meaning you gotta keep it wound up to get the business done. I'm a more laid back sport tourer type...and usually take my wife. The 14's too high strung for my kinda riding. I wanna be able to roll along at low revs, nice and smooth and relaxing, but still have plenty of power without having to bang gears. And my slightly modded Busa felt just as fast as the 14 up to the speeds I go. If the 14 had a more Busa like motor I would own one, but as is I'm gonna wait till the new Busa comes out to see how things shake down. I really do think the Busa has the perfect sport touring motor for us more "mature

" riders

 

[SportCommuter]

It's a sports bike...  I would ride the wheels of the thing if someone would let me.  

I like seeing comparisons other that top speed.  I'm not going to do 200mph but I really enjoy stopping

 Question:  Why are the busas brakes and suspension so much different from the ZX14

 Aren't they using the same parts???

the only real true dif in the brakes dept. is the 14's front brakes are radially mounted and i believe they're using a rotary style mastercylinder...and that's all goodness but nothing that dramatic over a busa's front brakes with SS braided lines and EBC HH brake pad upgrades.

but suspension?....hands down that goes to the busa as while kaws monolyth frame is plenty stout enough the swingarm on the 14 is a spindley formed sheet metal/weldment affair that unlike the busa?...isn't even "Braced".

In top gear roll ons starting at about 60mph?...against a ZX14 my busa put 10-15 bike lengths on the 14 and did so in just the first few seconds....but roll-ons starting at 80-100mph saw my busa locked beside the 14 to the 120-140mph zone where the 14 would begin to baby crawl away from my busa...and from 140-160 on up?...the 14 would just walk awy from my busa...but here's the two rubs...

from 0-120 is where i'm normally having the majority of my fun...and the busa delivers...big time...and imho?...in that range has it all over the 14 in every way except "brakes" by a slight margin annnnd...

imho?...the 14 will go much the way of the old 12R..and in short order...like "Early Release '08 Hayabusa" kinda short order..meanwhile?...the beloved Mighty Hayabusa ruled the streets for 7 long years...amassing a strong following that places the hayabusa strongly in the "Icon Class Of Bikes" along side of legends such as Yami's V-Max and Kaws old ZX1100 Ninja..and now..."Hayabusa" is added to the list...a household name kinda bike....a legend..a feat and a status that many other.....uhem..."bikes"...will fail to accomplish.

L8R, Bill.

You nailed it my friend - spot on!

 

[schroetf]

Busa is King-just look at it-beautiful-and fast----

 

[BigBSBusa]

TTT

 

[GPW]

My project 14 is coming along got some paint work done yesterday. Ordered some Galespeed type "R" (Gun Metal) wheels for it today along with a Titanium Gold chain and Tr-Metal rear sprocket. The chain is two pounds lighter than stock. All dyno tuned, piped with a full Tsukigi Racing System, secondaries are out, air filter mod, Royal Purple "Max Cycle" and Water Wetter for coolant, broken in on the dyno at 150 miles. My project Busa in the background. They are getting along pretty well.  

 

 

[BigBSBusa]

My eyes! My eyes! The reflectors are scarring the retinas!

How'd the dyno numbers turn out?

 

[Sloto200]

After seeing what you did to your busa i cant wait to see what you do with the 14.

 

[GPW]

(BigBSBusa @ Sep. 06 2006,18:12) My eyes!  My eyes!  The reflectors are scarring the retinas!

 How'd the dyno numbers turn out?

Yeah I know that front refector could save my butt at an intersection so I am not sure yet, adding some new graphics tomorrow so it might come off. I already clipped the under tail.

The dyno work took about five hours. We started with 166 stock. We pulled the secondaries (biggest change we could have made unleashed the lower end) we also pulled a very restrictive metal screen off of the air filter, we added a full Tsukigi Racing 4 into 1 and switched the oil the Royal Purple's "Max Cycle".  Also activated the accelerator function on the PCIII with settings of 92% - 25 engine rev. and 15% of fuel. The map is outstanding, perfect fuel air ratio.

Our final result was 186.9 SAE @ 106 ft pounds of torque. DJ "Sageronin" was there for the entire tuning period. With the flies out it was tough getting the bike dialed in but we did. 12.3 to 1 is the sweet spot a/f for the 14 like 13.1 to 1 is for the Busa. The bike now is completly unreal from a stop. Lots more work to do. Just info not picking a Busa/14 fight here by any means.

 

[BigBSBusa]

Cool! What's happening with the grills?

 

[GPW]

(BigBSBusa @ Sep. 06 2006,18:25) Cool!  What's happening with the grills?

I was going to sand them off, big issue the plastic from the opposite side of the grills is pushed through to make the grill so if you sand them away there is a hole on the line. Looking for Carbon Fiber sections to replace that piece as we speak. It will be pricey but it should look sharp with the Gale Speed gun metal finish wheels.