While we're on the subject of 750 upgrades, I have a question for you. If you only had $1,000 to spend on upgrades to the 750, what would you say are the most important? I have a dedicated track bike now, but I might track my 750 someday too so I wanted your opinion. I've put spiegler lines on the front and would change the brake pads too, but what else do you think is important and best bang for the buck?
Suspension. No question. If you can't feel what is going on, then all the motor and flash and lightweight in the world won't help you. i take all the money I would spend on a motor and put it to suspension. BTW, Joe Kraft knows a thing or two about suspension.
I know some might not agree, but being totally honest, if the bike was BONE stock, I would put on an exhaust, SS brake lines, a PCV, and a set of good tires. I say that because that is what i did when i had my 750. I bought it, rode it on the street for a week or two, then took it to the track with the aforementioned add-ons (for tires I used a set of my own race take-offs). The OEM suspension on modern bikes is much better than what people give it credit for. OEM suspension is more than capable enough to allow you to run at the front of the Advanced group. While suspension is really important, truth be told very few people will actually "over work" an OEM suspension and/or can truly feel what is going on enough to notice any discrepancies. I had already been racing for 2 years and had earned my Expert license before i could honestly say that i could feel the bike/suspension working and knew what was going on and where some tweaks could be made. Suspension should be higher on your priority list than motor work, that is for sure. But aftermarket suspension isn't an absolutely necessity for track days. .02
I thought that's why they added the neon under-lighting...to offset the weight of all the bling, you need to "lighten" the bike somehow. Ba-dump-dump...I'll be here all night folks.
I don't disagree with this part totally, the OEM stuff has def gotten better over the years & as you said you can run the hell out of them. On the zx6r when you put an aftermarket full system on like say a hindle or a leo vince, you literally drop 20+ pounds, i believe mine weighed in at 32 lbs for stock and the leo weighs in at 8.9lbs that will def make the bike move around a little easier. but i think it would be hard for me to choose to be honest, between a rear shock & a full exhaust would be a head scratcher.
Anymore with a lot of the bikes you don't have a choice on the exhaust if you want to run race bodywork. With the catalytic converters on some of them you will see warnings on the bodywork site that you must change the exhaust. I've seen people try it anyway and burn right through their new paint job as soon as the cat heats up.
Well, I'm glad to hear that. As you said, suspension is important, but I may never be riding to the level that I will overwork the OEM suspension. I have been happy with the OEM suspension on my ZX6R and the 750 (although I haven't tracked the 750 yet). It also makes sense to try and lighten the bike as more of a priority since the 750 is a bit more to throw around in the corners even though it's close to the 600. I've already replaced the tires. As far as electronics are concerned I was eyeing the Bazzaz system that combines a Fuel Module / TC / and Quick Shifter all in one for $725. That seems like good bang for the buck. What exhaust would you recommend?
Have you had the geometry setup? How it changes directions is directly affected by geometry, moreso than weight. Of course lighter doesn't hurt anything, but the Gixxers have some critical geometry flaws off the showroom floor and fixing those will make it change directions much better. To be completely honest, I wouldnt go with the Bazzaz unit. The fuel control is good, but the QS is not as robust as the Dynojet model. The contact pin in the shift module is weak and bends easily. Once it does, the bike won't shift as well...if at all. And you will find yourself trying to finish a race using clutchless upshifts. Been there. Livengood says he changes many of those Bazzaz shift sensors every year. With DJ you can install it and forget about it. Their fuel controller is good, no issues with it. But the TC is a primitive change-of-rate system. It is reactive, rather than proactive. The OEM TC systems on bikes like the RSV4 and Panigale can actually predict a scenario that would lead to a loss of traction and help prevent it (key word is "help", even MotoGP riders still highside with their high dollar units). There are algorithms built in for speed vs lean angle vs geometry vs throttle input and based upon those calcuations they can help prevent a situation of traction loss, before it occurs (hence the "proactive"). The Bazzaz unit simply reacts to a traction loss. Not to mention it isnt just "plug and play" traction control. It is a "living component" that has to be dialed in for every gear, every RPM and even every track. When I first put the system on the 675 I spent a full weekend at Roebling dialing it in with my builder at the time. I would turn a few laps, come to hot pit, he would plug in and make adjustments, then i would go back out. The sad part is that I ultimately just turned it off because it was killing my drive too much. Even the lowest setting was too intrusive. IMO, you would be better off with a PCV and a Dynojet QS. As far as the exhaust, Yosh is obviously the company closely affiliated with Gixxers. If not Yosh, then I would go with Akra, M4, Leo Vince, Arrow, Graves or Termignoni (in no particular order). I dont stray from those brands, regardless of the of bike. Of course all of this is just my opinion.
I agree on the bazzaz tc, I only turn it on when it's cold and I'm trying to find out of the tc will kick in to give me an idea of how greedy I can be on the gas I've had extremely good luck on my qs stuff, I like the sensors and I've watched my bike kart wheel 3 times and that thing has gone on without a hitch. Bazzaz customer service is awesome as well, I've had less than desirable customer service with d/j and haven't given them a dime since then. Maybe others have had different but I won't give them another shot after being called a liar among other things. I called bazzaz with a recent problem and they clearly wanted to help out and did, even warranting out a unit that was more than a year out of warranty because they genuinely care, guarantee if that was d/j they'd tell me tough shit, pay up.
While i can't speak for your experience, there are two things to point out. 1. You can't fault an entire organization because of some attitude one guy had. It would be like me saying WalMart sucks ass because my cashier was an asshole. I have dealt with DJ on a few occasions and they were great to work with. Even put in a bunch of effort to get me a shift module overnighted Friday afternoon so i would have it Saturday morning before my first race. 2. Customer service has to be good when your product isn't the best (Bazzaz). Similar to how people say GPR has great customer service because they will rebuild your leaking damper free of charge. Well, when your damper is a big shitbox, you BETTER have good customer service. Im not saying Bazzaz units are shitboxes, im just saying that instead of having great customer service, i would rather have a product that didnt fail so i wouldnt have to bother with customer service. Livengood explained it better but the Bazzaz QS operates completely opposite of DJ and that is why it fails more often. When you engage a DJ QS, you are actually separating the mechanism, which is very reliable. On the Bazzaz, when you engage it you are stabbing a small pin into a hole. It is fine as long as everything is ok. But if it gets out of alignment and you try to shift anyway (which you would, because you dont know it isnt aligned perfectly), you can bend that shift pin. Once you do that, upshifts (or rather ignition kills) will be hit or miss. It isnt THAT common. I raced the 675 for 2 years with 0 issues. But in the past 2 years i have had to replace that module twice. And this last new one messed up again after just 2 sessions. The 675 is going back to Livengood again and we are going to get rid of it and swap it for a DJ. But we will keep the Bazzaz fuel controller.
Walmart does suck ass!! I know others have had no prob with them, but three different guys treated me the same way, even offered to pay for their travel to see that I wasn't full of it, they obviously declined. Good info on the shift sensors, I think a big part of why I've had no issues is I don't let the shift rod sit near the end of the threads
Another thing to keep an eye on is play in your rearsets. The shift lever (that you actually use your foot on) and basically everything that is involved with shifting. If there is any slack/play/sideways motion in any of it, it can cause the pin in that module to get bent.
