Kawasaki Ninja Owners Manual: Shifting Gears

Kawasaki Ninja Owners Manual / How to ride the motorcycle / Shifting Gears

WARNING

Downshifting to a lower gear at high speed causes engine rpm to increase excessively, potentially damaging the engine and it may also cause the rear wheel to skid and cause an accident.

Vehicle speed when shifting


NOTE

The transmission is equipped with a positive neutral finder. When the motorcycle is standing still, the transmission cannot be shifted past neutral from 1st gear. To use the positive neutral finder, shift down to 1st gear, then lift up on the shift pedal while standing still. The transmission will shift only into neutral.

Moving Off
Check that the side stand is up. Pull in the clutch lever. Shift into 1st gear. Open the throttle a little, and start to let out the clutch lever very slowly. As the clutch starts to enga ...

Braking
Close the throttle completely, leaving the clutch engaged (except when shifting gears) so that the engine will help slow down the motorcycle. Shift down one gear at a time so that you are ...

Other materials:

Brake Line Bleeding
The brake fluid has a very low compression coefficient so that almost all the movement of the brake lever or pedal is transmitted directly to the caliper for braking action. Air, however, is easily compressed. When air enters the brake lines, brake lever or pedal movement will be partially used ...

Check 2-1: Speedometer Inspection
Using the suitable stand, raise the rear wheel off the ground. Rotate the rear wheel by hand or start the engine. Check that the display changes speedometer. If the display function does not work, check the following parts. Rear Wheel Rotation Sensor (see Wheel Rotation Sensor Inspe ...

Swingarm Bearing, Sleeve Inspection
NOTICE Do not remove the bearings for inspection. Removal may damage them. Inspect the needle bearings [A] and ball bearing installed in the swingarm. The rollers and ball in a bearing normally wear very little, and wear is difficult to measure. Instead of measuring, visually inspec ...