[Paavan Shetty]

Originally Posted by Legal_Eagle

I change my bikes frequently, this is my 14th bike in 19 years of motorcycling, have owned almost everything under 500cc available in our market, but never a Ninja 300 or R3.

Wow, you remind me of my brother in law who changes phones (purchases second hand) every one year to experience newer/different technologies/features.

You will be having loads of experience with different bikes then. Did you experiment with different tyres too?

I was never confident of doing anything above 100kmph on the Int650 even on empty stretches. It lacked the front end feel, lacked braking capabilities, was not so comfortable for touring, fouling foot pegs when pushing the bike, weight. When I say weight, it means a lot of weight (215kgs wet), the last straw was when I twisted my ankle on a slight incline when taking the bike out in reverse from my apartment parking. That is when I realized, you need to build proper muscles before handling such bikes and I am now planning to join gym.

Did your Int650 have Pirelli or CEAT tyres? In the reviews I had heard the brakes are good enough?

What you felt with the 215kgs is true to me too. I had taken a test drive of the Int650 when it was launched just to check it out as there was a huge buzz around it. I felt the weight while taking it from the side stand and while putting it on center stand! My immediate reaction was that this bike is not for me atleast when going at slow speed or while pushing it around. I feel the Ninja's weight (179kgs) too sometimes when in a tricky situations (Courtesy to this I have fallen down 3 times in parking itself!), prompting me to think about increasing my physical strength if I have to own bikes of higher class as they will be further more in weight by atleast 20-30Kgs to say the least. I have an ever increasing lust for higher speeds and accelerations, but want to go step by step with power levels (As it is said famously "with more power comes more responsibilities") and the desire is to explore all (most if not all!) different engine and vehicle body types to get to know and feel them!

[AKSO]

Super thread and love to see the passion you have showered on the N300. I have owned and ridden the N300 for 95000 kms having used the bike 95% for highway riding. A brilliantly smooth, fast and nimble bike with little frills is what the N300 is all about. The engine is almost bullet proof and really lasts.
These are a few things that I observed about this motorcycle.

• Center of Gravity (CG) is low. It is what it is, just live with it. The oil drain bolt is a weak point and will be the first place to scrape over a nasty speed breaker. Always keep a spare bolt in your toolkit as also a spare chain link.
• RPM sweet spot for me was 8000 rpm. A great place for gear shifts and to cruise all day at around 115 to 117 kmph in top gear whilst the eco flasher remains lit.
• The brakes are decent but could be better, so invest in quality sintered brake pads and steel braided brake line to get a noticeable bump in braking performance.
• The bike is a canyon carver and loves the twisties. For most of my N300 ownership period, I was riding with bikes much bigger, like the Triumph Thruxton R 1200 and Ducati Multistrada 950 S. On long hauls there was no problem keeping pace as well as in the twisties. The stock windscreen is really good and does a phenomenal job of deflecting the wind off the rider.
• In the beginning, I did experiment with a few other tyres and they were disastrous experiences. I finally stuck to the MRF Revz F 110/70 and R 150/60 and never had a problem. I always had a puncture sealant treatment done for both tyres as soon as they were changed and I cannot tell you what a boon this was. Yes, the R 150/60 did lower the CG by 10mm to the stock, but I gained huge in terms of riding comfort with absolutely no stress on the wrists, shoulders and neck. I was able to comfortably pull 10-to-12-hour rides without being stressed out. The handling characteristics of the bike in the twisties was superb and confident inspiring. I had to give up a little on top speed though, but not by much.
• Performance upgrades included a PiperCross air filter and Leo Vince Exhaust Slip on with db killer.
• Other add ons were a seat cowl, gel seat for those long outstation rides. The stock seat as anyone will tell you is a plank of wood, spring-loaded frame sliders and tail tidy.
• Some tips: Sprocket and Chain kit from Kawasaki is around 12k and around 10k from Rolon who supply the same kit to Kawasaki. This kit lasts around 17k after which it requires a change. Use a Avenger chain kit (drop one link) available for Rs.1600/-, use the chain and ditch the sprockets. Buy aftermarket sprockets from the market and you could get this job done for 5k to 6k.
• KTM LED indicators look really snazzy on the N300.
• Use only synthetic oil. Motul 10W40 is the recommended grade and I always stuck to that and changed oil every 8000km.

Look after your bike and she will look after you. I wish you lots of happy miles on your bike and do check out my channel for a glimpse into my experience with the N300

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_0...hIUqIObEtz6jMA

[ads295]

Hey, kudos to you for taking care of the bike - she seems to have taken care of you in return!

Could you elaborate on any maintenance done except the regular oil changes? E.g. throttle body balancing.

Also, may I know from where you bought that rear tyre hugger? I don't think they sold those with the bikes.

Your post is timely as I am close to finalising a purchase for a pre-owned Ninja - one is a 2019 300 selling for ₹2L and the other is a 2018 650 selling for ₹3.5L. If you have any inputs to offer, I would be grateful. I don't want to be left lacking for power with the 300 that's all. But the nimbleness and lower weight are big plusses for me (I've owned an ER-6n before and it was very heavy).

[Paavan Shetty]

Originally Posted by ads295

Could you elaborate on any maintenance done except the regular oil changes? E.g. throttle body balancing.

Also, may I know from where you bought that rear tyre hugger? I don't think they sold those with the bikes.

Your post is timely as I am close to finalising a purchase for a pre-owned Ninja - one is a 2019 300 selling for ₹2L and the other is a 2018 650 selling for ₹3.5L. If you have any inputs to offer, I would be grateful. I don't want to be left lacking for power with the 300 that's all. But the nimbleness and lower weight are big plusses for me (I've owned an ER-6n before and it was very heavy).

Since my bike has just been an year old with 11K running, I didn't have to do any other maintenance other than the timely 6 month interval servicing and chain lube for every 600Kms (I use Kawasaki Ceramic Chain lube which doesn't drip off)

Tyre hugger I got from amazon (https://www.amazon.in/PA-Hugger-Blac...ki%3ANINJA+300). There are mixed reviews about this tyre hugger. Some owners who drive on bad roads frequently had these getting broken off. I personally didn't face any issue till now.

Between the N300 and N650 there is a 16kgs difference on paper. As per specs of steering rake angle, the N650 seems to have advantage with lower steering angle at 24 degrees compared to N300's 27degrees (26degree with the 162mm GC linkage that I have designed) while the trail is lower in N300 (which will further lower with the modified linkages, with only disadvantage being the relatively slight aggressive posture and suspension stiffness) than the N650. So looking at all this it will be close call between these two in the "NIMBLENESS" factor. Also wheelbase of these two are very close, which tells me that the two will be close by in handling too.

I had driven the ER-6N and N300 back to back on an open drag strip. The ER-6N distinctly felt quicker than the N300 (and sounded better too), there is no hiding that fact, so I'm sure that the N650 will be way quicker than the N300. On the ER-6N I felt very uncomfortable after 160kmph when the wind blast was way too much for me to hold onto the handlebar with confidence and the steering also felt a bit light; this shouldn't be the case with N650 due to it's extensive fairing.

I think given a choice and no restrictions on budget the N650 will be a better bet, but would suggest you to ride both the bikes back to back to be clear in your head and heart!

[zorori47]

I applaud your efforts in fixing the ground clearance issue and making a product for the same, but some of that issue was self created from what is evident

You changed the stock tyres with a profile of 140/70 to a 150/60 (that's what Alpha H1s are available in). Which means you lowered the rear by roughly 7mm. Now the impact of this on break over angle would be the reduction you saw of 3mm. Sure the bike would scrape even at 140mm if you're not careful or loaded, but that's not the point

I would be very wrong however, if, you measured 137mm at the factory spec

Changing the rear to a 150/70 and front to a 120/70 will take that break over angle to ~146mm or more, sounds better than 137 right? Almost a centimeter gained, wow! Dialing the preload to 4/5 instead of the stock at 2 will also help

[Paavan Shetty]

Originally Posted by zorori47

You changed the stock tyres with a profile of 140/70 to a 150/60 (that's what Alpha H1s are available in). Which means you lowered the rear by roughly 7mm. Now the impact of this on break over angle would be the reduction you saw of 3mm. Sure the bike would scrape even at 140mm if you're not careful or loaded, but that's not the point

Hi Zorori47. Let me explain the tyre stuffs in detail.

First of all we are not talking of break over angle here. We are talking about ground clearance value whose unit for measurement is mm which we are debating between 137,140, 146.etc. Break over angle is measured in degrees as shown in below image.


Coming on the topic of tyres, there is a concept called Static Loaded Radius of tyres. Now this static loaded radius is the actual radius of the tyre at the contact patch (and not the one calculated by Diameter/2) which eventually decides your ground clearance measurement. Static loaded radius is totally dependent on your tyre compound (soft/hard), construction(Radial/Bias-Ply) and geometry(Aspect ratio of tyre or what everyone calls the tyre side wall height and profile of tyre - Round/Flat).

So the conclusion of 7mm difference between MRF and Apollo tyres is wrong; which I'm guessing you calculated by (tyre width x Aspect ratio)140x0.7 - 150x0.6 = 8mm. Let me prove this by a simple example as shown below.


In above image check the static loaded radius of the two tyres. The difference comes to be 5mm. But going by the method of 130x0.7 - 120x0.7 = 7mm. So even between the tyres provided by same manufacturer with same model having same tyre compound and construction, there is an offset of 2mm. Why? That is because of the aspect ratio! Compound is same, but the 130/70 tyre compresses a bit more owning stiffness lost due to increase in diameter (basic principle of stiffness - anything larger in size with same design and material will have lesser stiffness.).

So I hope you get the logic behind the 137mm(with apollo alpha h1 tyres) and 140mm(with stock mrf tyres) ground clearance numbers we are talking about. Adding to this, not always your tyre pressures remain constant. Especially during winter cold mornings the tyre pressures go down by 2-3 PSIs, at which point your ground clearance goes down further.

Originally Posted by zorori47

Changing the rear to a 150/70 and front to a 120/70 will take that break over angle to ~146mm or more, sounds better than 137 right? Almost a centimeter gained, wow! Dialing the preload to 4/5 instead of the stock at 2 will also help

On this topic, again as I said it is not a 1:1 relation between your static loaded radius and your tyre spec; so saying that those spec of tyres will give you more than 1cm ground clearance is wrong. We need to check it in real.

Also I checked that Rear 150/70 and Front 120/70 tyre spec for 17" wheels is only given by Vredestein, which are far more costlier than the Apollo's (which are in my opinion the best cost/performance tyres in this category along side the TVS Eurogrip Protorq Extreme HR; thus being offered on the new Triumph Speed 400 and Aprillia RS 457 respectively).

On the topic of preload. Increase in preload never increases your ground clearance number, it just stiffens the shock so that it doesn't bottom out or compress much if your take a speed bump at more than expected speed or break hard just before the speed breaker thus compressing your springs. Yes with load also the springs will compress further lesser due to higher preload setting. But the underlining fact remains that your ground clearance is low; so if you encounter a speed breaker which is really tall or accidently go into a pothole which is deep, the low ground clearance number is bound to take a hit. Adding to all this is the discomfort of the extremely stiff suspension setting.

On the other hand the linkages do not increase stiffness as much as the preload, but notably increase the crucial Ground Clearance value.

I hope my explanation was clear and informative. If you find any of it incorrect or didn't understand the same, please feel free to debate futher!

[zorori47]

Originally Posted by Paavan Shetty

So I hope you get the logic behind the 137mm(with apollo alpha h1 tyres) and 140mm(with stock mrf tyres) ground clearance numbers we are talking about.

Hello Mr. Shetty. Thank you for the detailed explanation on break over angle and static loaded radius, I appreciate it. Yes it was my mistake to refer it as the break over angle ; I simply meant the centre point of the wheelbase to be exact (from where the break over angle is also calculated as you have shown in the attached image)

My only contention was that 137mm measurement is seen only because of non spec tyres. Therefore, what you said here in the original post, "...(and not 140mm as marketed by Kawasaki)...", appears to be an oversight?

You can do the calculations better but since, if by lowering the rear by 5mm reduces the effective clearance by 3mm. Raising by 5mm will give a gain of 3mm, roughly speaking. And we will also raise the front by some margin since 120/70 on the stock wheel (2.75in?) is a tight fit, so it will be bent more (more static loaded radius?) than with a recommended 3-3.5in wheel. In effect, from factory spec we can expect to see a gain of 3-5mm overall which when added to the loss of 3mm with the 150/60 tyres, is something to consider in my opinion. What would be your thoughts on this approach? There are lots of approximations on my part, but I am sure you would agree that the ground clearance increase will be palpable

The pre load, yes it does not increase clearance per se, but can prevent some excessive vertical movement when loaded with pillion

And you raised a very good point about tyre pressures. Increase them when loaded, for sure, at least to offset the sidewall flex, if not to gain on height

[Paavan Shetty]

I'm back!!! (From the dead I guess!)

I was trying hard to find time for this one as usual, but finally did when I'm down on bed due to a recent crash on my beloved R15 V2. Was pushing a bit too much on the Michelin Pilot Street 2 tyres and lost the rear end while cornering on my favorite turn in the entire Bangalore City (on the way to Egipura signal to Indiranagar, near Embassy Golf Links IT park and obviously I was pushing on a weekend early morning ensuring there was not much crowd to get disturbed by my speed)! The crash has ended up my 6+ long years of relationship with my R15 (me choosing not to repair it further as it has taken too many hits and thus a lot of resource wastage due to my hard riding style!) and left me with physical (just bruising on both hands and legs) and mental pain.

It's been few months post my detailed post on my Ninja 300 and the modifications I have done on the same. Time for some updates.

The Journey continues....

As stated in the earlier post that I was working on Handlebar Risers, here are some pics of the final product and it been installed on the bike.


The designed and manufacturer Handlebar Risers with the said extrusion on top to lock the clip-on's.


Riser as installed on the bike.


The only modification required on the bike was to reroute the clutch cable.

Some of the highlights being:
1. Billet aluminium machined weighing at 365grams for both sides along with the zinc coated fasteners (for better life).
2. Raises Handlebar Height by 16mm.
3. Perfectly engineered with suspension fork tube mimicking extrusion which locks the clip-ons for that added safety during minor falls thus protecting the triple clamp bolting threads.

The reason behind the 16mm odd ball number is the design constraint involved. During the proto testing understood that I can't raise the handlebar height beyond 15mm (used 3 5mm required profile laser cut plates staked one above the other to find the same), as the brake hose and clutch cable slackness allow only that much of rise, while being in the safe operating condition. During final designing had to increase the base height by 1 mill to accommodate the fork tube length (in the bore of the riser) that protrudes over the triple clamp surface.

The results of the raised handlebar were quite satisfactory with it providing the required comfort for the palms, hands and shoulders which were a bit compromised with the 170mm GC linkages installed on the bike for those long trips with a pillion. The risers were put to thorough test in a trip I took to Valparai with my pillion. The bike was fully loaded with saddlebags, tank bag and two riders; with a run up and down the beautiful Valparai ghat and scenic sections ensuring the risers saw max operating loads (only worse than those being the one's which would come when the bike tips over/crashes!)


A pic during the Valparai trip.

During the Valparai trip my single sided rear tyre hugger (ordered from amazon long back) gave up due to the intense vibrations while going over some of the long stretches of bad patches of road (the design of the hugger was nothing to speak of at the first place). I definitely didn't want to purchase another one as I knew it's design related limitations and was scouting for a better one. Finally after searching for long identified the one's of Yamaha (I wanted an OEM designed hugger as the design would be durable and aesthetically pleasing too, to start with) FZ-25 to be a perfect fit for my bike considering the mounting location feasibility on the Ninja 300. Immediately ordered one from Yamaha Service Center for 1.1K and designed and manufactured below shown mounting brackets for the same.


Self designed and manufactured chain adjustment indicator cum hugger mount bracket (removed the stock chain adjustment indicator bracket and replaced those with these!).


The result!


Looks like a stock part; isn't it?


Now no worries of the pillion complaining of the rear tyre splash or any durability concerns for the coming years!

The bike has thus far completed 15K kms and I did the third service immediately after coming from the Valaparai trip. No issues were reported. Had changed tyres (second set of Apollo Alpha H1’s) and front brake pads (second set of Vesrah Ceramic Brake Pads) just before the trip to ensure maximum handling confidence in one of the best motoring roads in India. Will have to change the chain sprocket set in next service though.

Prior to the handlebar risers, had purchased a universal exhaust slider from Amazon and Frame Sliders from Retro Cross (via Riders Junction).

Found design flaws in both of them. The exhaust slider was majorly flawed by design due to threads given on the plastic part (Delrin material) and no provision on it for tightening (just hand tighten it and leave it)! The plastic threads gave up in just a week's time of usage, as the pillion foot touches and rolls over the sliders frequently.


The exhaust slider (flawed design!) purchased from amazon.

The frame slider design error is even more serious in my opinion. The Delrin Bush holding aluminium cylindrical part didn’t have any anti-rotation feature on it. So when one tightens the Bush beyond a limit, the aluminium cylindrical part rotates along with the offset plate thus rotating the slider from it’s intended position! This will be definitely a concern (shouldn’t be an issue in static falling condition) in a situation where the bike falls over in running condition. A simple anti-rotation locking feature was missed in the design, thus increasing my stress even after spending 10K on these. Will rectify this in near future.


The Retro Cross Frame Sliders (Flawed design).


The Frame Slider installed on the bike.

Had to reengineer the exhaust slider by adding a aluminium part between the plastic and the base aluminium mount as shown in below assembly (the silver ring seen is the part designed and manufactured by me).


Modified exhaust slider assembly.

The design of the middle aluminium part was done with following things in mind.
1. It should not be too strong and should rather have a weak section where it would bend, thus absorbing all the energy of the fall along with the delrin plastic extension.
2. It should have provision for spanner for effective tightening with the base mount and proper mounting/fastening provision for the delrin plastic extension.


The aluminium part designed for the exhaust slider assembly.

Removed the threaded portion of the delrin extension and gave it a double diameter bore (one for inserting it over the aluminium part I designed and other for the fastener through it) and it was done. Proper Computer based analysis of the designed part is still pending (cannot afford to drop the bike and test the part in real life).

The Experiments continue….

Looking at what was achieved with the Ninja 300, quite a few Ninja 650 owners started enquiring for similar rear suspension linkages to increase their bike ride height to tackle bad roads. The Ground Clearance number of Ninja 650 being another 10mm lesser than Ninja 300, definitely felt like a challenge to be accepted and worked on. So here comes a Ninja 650 owner who was willing to lend his bike to me for experimenting with designs for the linkages to increase his bike ride height. Quite generous for a total stranger to believe on an engineer, just on the basis of a team bhp post (shows the credibility of TeamBhp!) and few reviews on YouTube and Instagram; to give his 8 lakh rupees proposition for experimenting.
But as it is said, luck favours the brave, I took on this challenge and am currently working on the Ninja 650. The bike being a heavy one at 196+ kgs, had to buy a front wheel lock to secure the bike while lifting the chassis off the ground for changing the linkages. The wheel lock definitely proved worth investing.


The mighty Ninja 650 locked onto the front wheel lock before the linkage change begins.

With few design and assembly (it requires the entire exhaust system to be dismounted to access the linkages) experiments, got upto the final prototype of the linkages as seen below. The gain in GC is about 20mm taking the tally to 150mm at the bottom most part and 160 at the muffler. With the 150mm GC number, atleast the bike doesn't scrap with the heaviest of the riders onboard.


The final prototype linkages on the Ninja 650 (2019 MY).

Now it was time to do endurance and performance testing of the bike. Again the owner of the bike was generous enough to change the tyres to newer (and nicer) one's; the EUROGRIP ROADHOUND, before I went to test the gains of the linkages in terms of handling.


Brand new rear tyre - EUROGRIP ROADHOUND 180/60 R17.


Brand new front tyre - EUROGRIP ROADHOUND 120/70 R17.


Enroute Bangalore > Chennai > Bangalore for a much needed performance and endurance testing.

The results were awesome with the handling gains for the Ninja 650 outweighing the one's of the Ninja 300. This drastic difference in handling performance was observed because the Ninja 650 in it's stock form has very soft rear shock absorbers (Non-Adjustable) which even though good for city and cruising comfort (and mildly bad patches of roads), are not at all confidence inspiring for handling as the bike squats heavily (thus unloading the front) under hard acceleration robbing off confidence especially in mid corner or swipping high speed corners (the bike understeers a lot in stock form). With the modified linkages the stiffness is increased just to the level where this squatting behavior is almost removed giving the bike very flat ride and loads of confidence in the corners. All this doesn't come at the expense of the ride quality as seen in the Ninja 300 linkage modifications, making these modifications absolutely perfect for the Ninja 650 (The only downside might be the ever so slightly tilted rider's seat towards the front due to the raised rear, leading to movement of the rider towards front under braking scenarios.)

Overall I have been quite busy with all these modifications leading to my Ninja 300 being neglected a bit at times! Nevertheless it's all fun working on so many modifications keeping myself engaged on weekends.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the long read and got to learn something more today! Have a great day!

[hikozaru]

Originally Posted by Paavan Shetty

I'm back!!! (From the dead I guess!)

I was trying hard to find time for this one as usual, but finally did when I'm down on bed due to a recent crash on my beloved R15 V2. Was pushing a bit too much on the Michelin Pilot Street 2 tyres and lost the rear end while cornering on my favorite turn in the entire Bangalore City (on the way to Egipura signal to Indiranagar, near Embassy Golf Links IT park and obviously I was pushing on a weekend early morning ensuring there was not much crowd to get disturbed by my speed)! The crash has ended up my 6+ long years of relationship with my R15 (me choosing not to repair it further as it has taken too many hits and thus a lot of resource wastage due to my hard riding style!) and left me with physical (just bruising on both hands and legs) and mental pain.

Hope you are doing well mate. That road is an excellent place to test bike suspension in straights and turns. That is where I learnt (on an R15v4!) suspension is not just about rider comfort but also about keeping the rubber pinned on the ground over undulations. That and the HAL airport road past domlur heading towards richmond circle is why I always prefer taking test rides from Indiranagar showrooms.

[Dark_Rider]

Hey Paavan, so nice to see you on T-bhp. Excellent write-up about mods you have executed yourself and Congrats on Owning Ninja 300.

I suggest you to write Travellogs also regarding your past trips, specially Chennai - Pune and Kerala ones.

[Sabertooth93]

Originally Posted by Paavan Shetty

I'm back!!! (From the dead I guess!)

The bike has thus far completed 15K kms and I did the third service immediately after coming from the Valaparai trip. No issues were reported. Had changed tyres (second set of Apollo Alpha H1’s) and front brake pads (second set of Vesrah Ceramic Brake Pads) just before the trip to ensure maximum handling confidence in one of the best motoring roads in India. Will have to change the chain sprocket set in next service though.

Hi Paavan,
I recently purchased the Vesrah ceramic brakes for my ninja. I installed them myself but after that the brakes became very spongy. So, I took it to kawasaki showroom and the guy there inspected and said that they are not the right fit. I am not sure whether he is correct or not. I am attaching few images for reference. Please let me know if these are the correct ones or not. Also, how's the braking performance with the Vesrah's?

[Paavan Shetty]

Hi Sabertooth93,

Yes these are the correct one's which I have been using too.

So I have used two sets of these till now. I do like the bite they offer compared to the stock one's (ABS also kicks in a bit earlier compared to stock one's), but I must mention that they wear down a bit too fast, needing a replacement sooner than expected. My first set ran for some 3-4K kms and were reduced to half their thickness by then. At that point the lever travel became very similar to stock pads like experience which is not so good even if the bite is better (this is partially due to the poor endurance sourced master cylinder too). So before the Valparai trip, changed the pads to newer set to get maximum confidence (in terms of lever travel) in the ghat sections. To my surprise the fade was very heavy after driving aggressively up an down the ghat sections and in just that 1100Kms of Valparai trip the lever travel was back to the state before the change of pads.

I investigated and found heavy brake dust formation at the pads, which tells that these pads do wear out at alarming rate if driven aggressively (brake fade due to heat i guess when driving aggressively). Also I observed that in both 1st and 2nd sets, the piston side pad was wearing at the double the rate of the pad on the outside. Showed the caliper assembly to the service center during the service done just after the Valparai trip (I think I forgot to mention this issue in the post) and the service person said that the caliper sliding assembly was not working smoothly leading to piston side pad pushing over the disc more than the other side, causing one sided wear. He properly cleaned and greased the calipers. So one needs to keep a check on the caliper body smooth functioning especially in case of the floating piston calipers.

Since I had two sets of pads with one side pad with relatively higher thickness, I inverted that pad from one set and used it with the other pad of the other set together to give me good bite once again (both pads with similar thickness once again! Wealth out of waste almost!). So it's like I'm using 2 sets of brake pads 3 times thanks to this uneven wear characteristics. So the underlining fact is that u can invert one side pad to work on the other side too because the pads are symmetric about their centerline and are primarily held by the two pins (which are again symmetric in the pad geometry) unlike many other two piston floating calipers which have only one holding pin. Below is the reference of Ninja 300 and CBR 250R respectively.


Here you can see 2 pins for holding the pads that are exactly at the center of pad geometry thus giving you the freedom to invert and use on other side too!


Here you can see only 1 pin holding the pads and the pin is on one side of the pad, thus having no chance of inverting and using.

So, for example front caliper (I don't use these ceramic pads on rear caliper as the bite requirement is not high on rear brakes, so using stock one's is economical and logical too imho) right side pad will wear down faster than the left side one (as piston is on right side only). So after 2nd set lost it's lever feel, I inverted and used the left side pad of 1st set with the left side pad of 2nd set.

Hope all this information helps you.

[Sabertooth93]

Originally Posted by Paavan Shetty

Hi Sabertooth93,

Since I had two sets of pads with one side pad with relatively higher thickness, I inverted that pad from one set and used it with the other pad of the other set together to give me good bite once again (both pads with similar thickness once again! Wealth out of waste almost!). So it's like I'm using 2 sets of brake pads 3 times thanks to this uneven wear characteristics. So the underlining fact is that u can invert one side pad to work on the other side too because the pads are symmetric about their centerline and are primarily held by the two pins (which are again symmetric in the pad geometry) unlike many other two piston floating calipers which have only one holding pin. Below is the reference of Ninja 300 and CBR 250R respectively.

Attachment 2571254
Here you can see 2 pins for holding the pads that are exactly at the center of pad geometry thus giving you the freedom to invert and use on other side too!

Attachment 2571253
Here you can see only 1 pin holding the pads and the pin is on one side of the pad, thus having no chance of inverting and using.

So, for example front caliper (I don't use these ceramic pads on rear caliper as the bite requirement is not high on rear brakes, so using stock one's is economical and logical too imho) right side pad will wear down faster than the left side one (as piston is on right side only). So after 2nd set lost it's lever feel, I inverted and used the left side pad of 1st set with the left side pad of 2nd set.

Hope all this information helps you.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I have a doubt though. If I remember it correctly the piston was on the left side i guess.

Also, when you say you inverted the other side, how would it fit in the caliper with that notch/shape. Wouldn't it obstruct?

[Paavan Shetty]

Originally Posted by Sabertooth93

If I remember it correctly the piston was on the left side i guess.

No, check it out carefully, both front and rear caliper being same (apart from the mounting), both have piston on the right side and the floating pad on the left side.

Originally Posted by Sabertooth93

Also, when you say you inverted the other side, how would it fit in the caliper with that notch/shape. Wouldn't it obstruct?

So actually I had cut the notch shape before installing, but understood later that the cutting was not required as pointed out by the service center guy himself. In short it doesn't obstruct. You can check it out yourself. It's an easy assembly anyways.

[Sabertooth93]

Originally Posted by Paavan Shetty

No, check it out carefully, both front and rear caliper being same (apart from the mounting), both have piston on the right side and the floating pad on the left side.



So actually I had cut the notch shape before installing, but understood later that the cutting was not required as pointed out by the service center guy himself. In short it doesn't obstruct. You can check it out yourself. It's an easy assembly anyways.

I am going to get the stock brake pads changed to these ceramic ones tomorrow. So, I will definitely check for this.