Kawasaki Ninja 1000 Forum banner

New member from Bangkok, Thailand

3K views 16 replies 8 participants last post by  PeteBKK 
#1 ·
Hi all.

New to the forum and pretty new to team green. Not new to riding. I've always been a Honda rider, see my signature below. But when I met the Z800 in 2013 I loved it. This year I went looking for a sport touring bike, and Honda really don't have anything interesting. The VFR 800 and 1200 just don't do it for me. Then I saw the Ninja 1000, test rode it and within a week was putting down the money. Only had it a few days so far but I'm really enjoying the ride. Comfortable, powerful and remarkably easy to ride. Trying desperately not to modify it other than a few tweaks. I've ordered a Healtech gear indicator, an Evotech radiator guard and will probably get a Puig smoked screen. Other than that it looks good already. This one probably won't get a tail tidy, as I really want to be able to stop the mud splatter on this bike. The blade and the Z are not passenger friendly :)



The other 2:



Cheers,
Pete.
 
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#2 ·
You have a nice collection! I'm jealous! I see most people not doing major mods to their N1K's. Just little things with rim tape, seats, windshield, frame sliders, etc. But nothing like I see other bikes have done to them. I agree. There is nothing I want to change about the ride or performance. The only thing I really dislike about this bike that needs to get fixed is the headlights. They are awful. Kawasaki needs to fix this on future models. There is a mod a few people have done with halo's and HID projectors. I am going to do that at some point. Other than a few little things that add to functionality like my GPS stand, rim tape, sliders, I can't think of much I want to do to it.
 
#3 ·
Welcome

Daddy likey the Z800. Unfortunately it isn't available in the US. I think the Ninja 300 is assembled in Thailand.

I'm sure in the metropolitan area there are many scooters but besides that, what types of bikes are popular in Thailand.

Love the food.
 
#4 ·
Hi trublupsu94, thanks. The lights don't seem much worse than on other bikes. They are all pretty lousy to be honest. I'll probably just buy better bulbs if these aren't good enough. I tried the whole halos/projectors setup on my 2006 CBR. Never again, didn't like having to deal with the additional wiring, the ballasts, the control boxes, etc. Forgot about the GPS stand, thanks for the reminder :)

Hi Tony. Yeah, the Z800 is a really fun bike. Nakeds aren't very practical for anything more than roaming the city and nearby areas, but they are a blast to ride. That's my thug bike :) Thailand used to have a serious divide between little bikes (150 and below) and big bikes. Very few big bikes were seen and they were all grey import market. Now things are seriously changing and there are many people on bikes in the 250 - 650cc range, mostly Honda and Kawasaki. Above 650cc is still pretty rare, and the people that go above 650cc are usually rich and go for ducatis. Not many of my types of bike around, which is fine by me! :)
 
#6 ·
Haha, it's not one of the old racers that you're thinking of, the Thai NSR 150 was a little street bike. Mine was this color, but in better condition. Great first bike.

 
#7 ·
Welcome Pete,
I have never ben to Thailand but I understand what you mean about mostly just having small bikes in your country. My wife is from the Philippines and I went there last year for 3 weeks and all I saw was mostly scooters and few Honda 250's and sometimes a 650cc or two, but mostly just the police rode the big bikes.
Cheers,
Den
 
#8 ·
Hi Den. Yeah, you feel like a bit of a rock star rolling up on a 1000cc bike :) We've just setup a business development office in Manila, so I'll be over there to review the setup next month.
 
#10 ·
Welcome aboard Pete... love your bike collection and glad you're finding the N1k to be a worthy addition. Looking forward to your posts.
Cheers. Yeah, I've been pretty lucky in life to get this collection together. Riding the n1k home from work yesterday I hit some rain and the bike is really very stable on the slippery roads we have here. And it will get it's first wash on Sunday, the best way to look over all the little details of ya bike :)
 
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#11 ·
Completed my first short (300km) round trip. What a lovely bike in general, so well behaved. Got hit by rain, selected full traction control and low power and quite happily kept riding.

A couple of points:

1. The headlights do indeed suck at night, I'll swap out the bulbs asap.

2. The seat isn't too comfy, but I'll give it a couple of thousand km to break in before considering a swap, unless people agree it won't get any better?

3. The standard windscreen isn't bad, but I've put in an order for the puig.

 
#15 ·
Love the black! Most people give up on that wretched seat Pete, but if you aren't doing multi-day trips you may be OK.
Oh well, I'll start looking at what seats are available as I am looking to do multi-day trips in the cool season (October - February). In the meantime I'll see if the standard seat wears in any. Thanks for the heads up.
 
#16 ·
Welcome Pete. As much as I love the N1K in Candy Lime Green I like your color scheme more. Congrats on the great bike stable.
Thanks. I'm not a fan of green, but a little highlight here or there is fine. Took all the green accents off of my Z800 very quickly, except for the Z800 sticker on the gas tank and the green Ninja sticker on the gas tank of the N1K is gonna have to stay too. Why is the gas tank sticker the only one that gets clear coated?!
 
#17 ·
Getting to know the bike :) Pretty easy to take apart, but I'm coming from a Honda CBR 1000rr so ANYTHING is easy compared to that nightmare... Fitted a Healtech gipro DS, an Evotech radiator guard and some new bulbs.



 
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