Sixth Annual Service / 57 months Maintenance Update (~25,000 km up)
This time of the year is usually when I get the Ninja's annual service done. Well, usually I get it serviced in August every year, but considering there were a few monsoon rides coming up, I thought it is best to get the bike serviced a bit in advance.
The Ninja is ageing gracefully, and the bike has been completely trouble-free over the past ~5 years and performed flawlessly over multiple rides and trips. That said, there were a few wear-and-tear parts which needed periodic replacement due to age. I scheduled a service appointment with the Rideventur Kawasaki service centre, Jayanagar. Veteran service technician Radhakrishna (also called RK there) did a thorough check-up of whatever was required to be done, plus whatever minor complaints I had asked him to look into.
The Ninja 1000 waiting in queue for service on a weekday
The front brake pads were worn out after ~25,000km, so that needed replacement in 2 pairs. Each OE brake pads pair costs a hefty INR ~5600 plus labour. I prefer OE spares whenever possible, so I went ahead with the OE brake pads. The rear brake pads still have a lot of life left and were left intact. Along with this front brake pads change, the brake fluid was changed and brakes bled.
The front fork oil was changed, but the fork seals were still good to go for another year or so, that was skipped too.
Lately I was occasionally getting a subtle clunk feel on high speedbreakers, for which I suspected the cone set steering bearings. He checked it and saw one portion of it was getting worn more than other portions. The OE part was not in stock, but an equivalent aftermarket part from
All Balls Racing was available and I got that procured and installed too.
The rest of the service items were regular oil and air filter change and labour associated with general servicing. RK did a fab job and even helped to clean the throttle body, plus he adjusted and lubricated/tightened anything necessary among the cables and on the frame. As always, a wonderful experience getting the service done at Rideventur Kawasaki - no-nonsense service work done, timelines met as promised, quality of work and attention to detail 10/10.
The bike was ready on the next day at the promised time, with all the tasks carried out to perfection, plus extra adjustments done by themselves without me even prompting
The cone set bearings set was procured from another place called Race Nation and costed INR 4200
Service bill part 1 - Labour costed almost INR 11,000 this time, but this set of tasks is only done once in 4-5 years and I had to swallow the bitter pill
.
Service bill part 2 - Spare parts costed INR 18,000+ for this service. Front brake pads took up the lion's share of that number with more than INR 11,000+ contributing to the overall bill.
All put together, the service bill came to INR 33,000+, looks like a whopping high amount but it is actually only because of the 5-year age interval service needing more than the usual service tasks. I was jokingly referring to this as Kawasaki's Desmo service
.
The service timeline sheet is now updated with the 6th annual service details
The bike was given a thorough wash at Carzspa, HSR layout to flush out all the mountain soil I had carried back home over the past few rain-ridden trips.
The next expensive items for maintenance might be the chain and sprocket replacement, new battery and spark plugs, which can be done in the next year's service after clocking another 8000-10000 km of touring. That's all on the service front for now!
New Shoes for the Ninja 1000
The
Metzeler Sportec M9RR tyres that the Ninja is currently shod on, has completed 14,000+ km, which is actually excellent life for a supersport oriented tyre which sees almost 80% of usage on overnight trips with 2-up and luggage load and a multitude of weather and road conditions. I have never experienced tyres as grippy as the Metzeler M9RR! They grip like araldite adhesive no matter what the underlying road surface is like, sometimes even managing off-road situations also with equal aplomb during the last-mile parts of many trips.
The tyres are slowly squaring off and wearing out now and will probably last another short breakfast ride or two (going by the tyre wear indicator on the front and rear) before I will proceed to change them out. I wasn't able to source Metzeler M9RRs this time, so I went ahead and picked up a pair of
Michelin Road 6 tyres for the third set of shoes on the Ninja. They may not be as sticky as the M9RRs, but they should pack a mean punch in longevity for touring and their wet grip levels are supposed to be class-leading. Fingers crossed for a fantastic experience
The tyres were procured from Torque Block, and I have safely stashed them for now at home until next month when I change the tyres out and start munching miles on the new set. I'll post an update once I install the new set of tyres
A look at my Tyre usage patterns in retrospective, showing trip type splits for the past 2 sets of tyres
The Ninja just got back from another ride, this time with BHPian friends to a homestay near Chikmagalur. The recent service has enhanced the riding experience even more after all the maintenance and TLC. Almost 5 years completed and eagerly looking forward to the next stint of continued Sport touring.
Signing off with a picture of the Ninja doing what it does best - putting a smile on the face of the rider
That's all for now! Back to trip updates from the next post, thanks for reading!