This is a very cool, and inexpensive mod. Murph has bearings for the shift lever.
Why? go to your shift lever and see how much play it has. Murph has a bearing that you press in the lever. It will eliminate the play. Not in the linkage, obviously, but the lever.
When you order, just tell him its for the ninja 1000. He has this ready to go. He used my shift lever for the design, and I have kit number 00000000001. The page shows the concours 14 set-up, but the ninja is a different size.
This is especially nice once the plastic sleeve in the lever wears away. Do it before it takes metal off the inside of the lever.
Shifting will be much more exact, and it reduces the play in the assembly by about 75%. You'll still have some in the link itself, but not much. Easy install, or send him your lever and he'll do it.
This bearing in the shift lever has always been offered in high dollar rearsets. Heres a chnace to feel the same thing for under 25.00 bucks.
I was doing some cleaning on the bike last night and while getting the slung chain lube from under my shifter linkage off thought to myself WOW I had installed the Bearinged up kit early summer and had pretty much forgotten about it. How do you almost forget about something you really like??? So in searching for a thread where we had talked about it back then I came across this one so I'm knocking the dust off ( ALL 3 1/2 LAYERS) and commenting here cause I cant remember what topic the other is in and this is the first up in the search. Forgive me...LOL
Now if not thinking about something in 3 months or 4000 miles is an expression of satisfaction in a product then I've proved its worth already but to put it in words then yes-still very pleased with and glad I purchased and installed the kit as the shift is much smother and simply takes less effort. Now I wouldn't say its so smooth and effortless that you cant tell when your shifting but it is so smooth that when shifting its not only lighter you feel little resistance change during the movement in the lever. Honestly must say at first when getting used to it I thought I had missed a shift or two cause it was simply too easy, but after letting out on the clutch realized it was in gear and now no longer think about the effort needed anymore. So yes even when getting that lazy foot and not giving 100% it was enough to engage the gear and motor on down the road obviously clueless of how happy I was. Even when throwing a pair of thin running shoes on to ride the 1/2 mile to DQ for a Saturday afternoon Sunday there is no feeling of discomfort on the top of the toes due to the amount of pressure it takes to shift now. The best way I can describe it is "this to me after the install of the Bearinged up kit is how a motorcycle shifter should feel".
The difficulty factor for the install if you have a buddy and access to a good socket set to use as a knock out for the stock brass bushing is about a 2 out of 5 and can be completed in less than 2 hours for most and less than an hour for some.
So If your looking for one of those winter projects or a fairly inexpensive Christmas gift for someone to get you that you think you might would like but hate spending money for something that's not broke then here you go. Plus beats the heck out of a tie, wallet or that 14.99 grill utensil set from Lowes cause they think that's a guy thing or a bubble bath salt set that smells just like the one you received last year that's still under the sink for the lady's....... right?
So I picked one of these kits up for my '16 per this thread. What a royal pain in the ***. Once I got the lever off (cake obviously) I realized I had no plastic sleeve but a bolt with a kind of built in bushing near the head that fit inside the lever. But I figured I'd go ahead and install since I had bought the part. And then there's the bushing inside the lever. I couldn't for the life of me get the f'ing thing out. Used a 1/2" bolt per the instructions and it got stuck inside the bushing and thus the lever. Dicked around with trying to get it (the bushing) and the bolt out for over an hour. I was about ready to throw in the towel and figured my bike would be down until I ordered a new shifter. Finally got the damn thing out by bashing the bolt on the concrete floor. Then finished the install. For me, on my '16 with the different sleeve configuration I noticed damn near 0 difference. Two hours of my life and a lot of swearing wasted. If you've got a '16 don't bother. Not worth the time and definitely the frustration.
I appreciate the share though. Thought it'd be a fun lil project. Turned out to be a **** show.
You highlighted the problem with what you found. All the shift levers are slightly different, and tolerances are poor. It sounds like yours was pretty tight, right from the start and you wont get much change , under those conditions.
Mine was bad enough that the bearings had to be lock-tighted in place. Otherwise, they would fall right through. My bushing took finger pressure to remove, as well.
Probably worth looking at and seeing just how much play you have to start with before ordering....
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