I just put down some money on my new 2009 Monster Edition 14. I should pick it up within the month (I bought it out of state and need time off work to go get it).

My plans are:

Remove the white Kawasaki stickers on the front fairings and remove the Monster stickers.

HotBodies (or similar) undertail

Puig or Zero Gravity smoked windscreen

Tsukigi (or other brand) 4-2-1 pipe - I like the conventional cannister look, and I'd like to go with a Ti pipe and a carbon cannister, but Tsukigi doesn't make a carbon can

PowerCommander V or Bazzazz EFI tuner - Probably go with the PowerCommander

BMC air filter

Eventually, I'd like to add some carbon fiber. I did see a post about some front fender brackets made by dubious to mount a ZX10 front fender, so I guess I'll go with that and a carbon front fender. This should keep me busy. I still have my ZRX1200R, and have been a member of the ZRXOA since 2005. Any tips you guys can offer would be appreciated.

Congratulations on your purchase ! Welcome to the forum, too !

Don't bother with the BMC air filter. A) there is no provable - on a dyno - difference with one installed, and B) the stock air filter works great for less money.

Carbon fiber is cool, I could never wave you off that idea. My entire 08 is clothed in carbon fiber. Upper, sides, lowers, tank cover, tail sides, front fender, hugger. Now all I have to do is save up the money for RacerRailz because I'd hate to tip it over and wipe out the carbon fiber.

I also dislike the graphics. I've been riding Kawasakis since the H1 Mach III first came out and on several of them I removed all the decals. In the case of my 08, I'm going to put kanji decals on the carbon fiber, in the same place generally as the stock graphics, just all in Japanese.

Just to piss off the guys I go on rides with who really don't like Japanese motorcycles. :)

Any hints on removing the Monster graphics without harming the paint?

I'm guessing I should do it in the sun, use a hair dryer to heat up the graphics, and use some type of plastic edge, such as a credit card.

Anyone out there actually do with good results?

^^I think you have the tricks down for removing decals. The ones on the gas tank (the 90+ octane recomendation) have some sort of plastic film over them and the decals come off much more cleanly if you do not peel the plastic up first. If you find any such film over the fairing stickers, I'd try to remove that along with the paper or you will have a lot more work to do. Sticker glue may be left behind so find a good product for removing that if necessary. I picked up a small bottle of something called Goo-Gone for removing decal glue. It worked but it was very mild and required many applications and a lot of rubbing and scraping with my thumb nail. There is probably a better product out there.

Before you go with a Bazzaz, find out how it hooks up to a ZX-14. The PC I have on my 14 was just 2 connectors and a ground wire. I have not yet installed my Bazzaz in my Suzuki but I am reading posts about trouble with "connecting pins" and it sounds like it is going to be delicate and challenging work. The only thing that will give you a prob with a PC is getting the stock main wiring harness apart because they often stick very firmly. Problems with Bazzaz are usually mentioned any time I read a topic. Go with the PC for your 14. It's more common and you will have no trouble finding maps or installing. The only reason I went Bazzaz on the busa was because it is capable of handling the extra injectors and that would have required 2 PCs.

* Last updated by: Rook on 1/21/2010 @ 10:50 AM *

Thanks for the info, Rook. I have been checking out Brock's and Schnitz's. Are there any other companies out there that do their own tuning with pipes and sell package deals with the PC already downloaded? I'd like to get a "package deal" from one aftermarket company, to include the pipe, air cleaner, fuel tuner with map already installed (I'll probably go with the PowerCommander), but I am not quite sold on any one pipe. I wish Tsukigi made a carbon fiber cannister just like their traditional race setup. I would buy that. I may just get the whole Ti pipe, but I'd rather have a carbon cannister.

As far as the Bazzazz goes, I already installed a Bazzazz fuel tuner and the self mapper on my 2006 R6 track bike. It was a bitch to install, and the most recent time I hooked up the laptop, I discovered that my throttle sensor is not connected. I have to tear the whole bike apart to get to the connection. I'm not quite sold on the Bazzazz system. I did like the fact that it tunes all 8 injectors on my R6, but I have heard that the 14 only has 4 injectors, so I guess that advantage does not apply to the 14.

Smokin (Lee) did some testing with different air filters on the dragstrip awhile back.
The only ETs that came close to the numbers when not running an air filter at all was with
a BMC race filter. The bike was slower with the oem filter, with a K&N and with a Pipercross.
It was consistently slower by a very small margin but slower nonetheless.
Everything makes a difference. If you keep overlooking little components will probably end up
with a not very good setup and not really faster than stock bike.

On the exhaust topic- Tsukigi is not one of the lightest or the better power making
exhaust for the 14. I'd suggest Akra or Leo Vince, maybe Brock's if you can put up with
LOUD. You could probably pick up a used Brock's on any of the forums and have some $$$ for
other mods.

Before you buy anything aftermarket- consider lightweight wheels.

Vegetable oil works wonders on sticker glue!!!!And the hairdryer trick-yep-slow peel off(don't burn yer Plastics Bro!)Try to get those stickers off IN ONE PIECE.Oh,and

* Last updated by: blue07 on 1/21/2010 @ 5:04 PM *

Are there any other companies out there that do their own tuning with pipes and sell package deals with the PC already downloaded?

HPC. They sell Tsukigi and other brands but they di not sell Brock's. You can get a deal on a pipe PC and race filter from HPC. They will give you a map on CD to load into the PC yourself but you may be able to talk them into loading it for you.
I'm sure there are other companies that will sell you a package. Make sure they have a good tuning repitation though or they may just give you some mediocre dynojet map.

My Cannon (from High Performance Cycles) made a large improvement over stock. I did not dyno it but the improvement was quite obvious just by doing a test ride before and after the Cannon. HPC tested the Cannon against brock's shortmeg and a Yoshi and the Cannon came out on top according to that same day, same dyno, test using 3 G2 busas with same miles, same mods and all were tuned by HPC. The test was not perfect but it was about as close as anyone could get. I'm confident Tsukigi is at least close in hp to Brock's and perhaps a bit better. Tsukigi is not as popular of a choice as Brock's among those who seek the pinnacle of high performance. The 35 year old company is well regarded in Japan as Brock's is here in the US and Tsukigi seems to be becoming more common in the past couple years since it was introduced here. Does Tsukigi win races? We may never know for sure unless those systems become as common as Brock's. The Cannon is about 17 lbs for the whole system making it heavier than a Brock's but it is also stronger and much better crafted. The cost of Brock's lightweight systems is the extremely thin materials which cannot be welded as well as heavier gauge metal. I'm not knocking Brock for quality, just pointing out the trade off of performance for quality.

I have never had an opportunity to try a brock exhaust but my feeling is that you might as well go with a Brock's if you think you will be second guessing your choice. They are as light as 8 lbs for a full Brock's(the weight reduction alone is enough reason to change to any 4-2-1), they are dyno proven and most importantly, race proven. You will have no worries about finding a great map with Brock's. Brock's is the most popular among serious performance freaks and those are the people to follow if not having the best is going to mess with your head. It may cost you more but you you won't be wondering if you should have gone with the crowd pleaser in the first place.

If you're not one to suffer hp envy over a couple ponies or you find aesthetics a more important aspect of owning a bike, all these systems make pretty close to the same hp. The weight reduction is a bigger factor for all around street/sport riding so Brock wins there without a doubt.

* Last updated by: Rook on 1/21/2010 @ 7:22 PM *

I'm sorry, mass, but I don't know who Lee is. I know who Brocks is, though. They say the BMC regular filter makes no usable difference on the ZX14 over the stock air filter.

Besides, exactly how many of us drag race or run the top speed events?

My ZX14 with a stock air filter will run right besides yours with a BMC from 0 to the speed limiter. So why bother?

My ZX14 with a stock air filter will run right besides yours with a BMC from 0 to the speed limiter. So why bother?

I've always heard about a 1-2 hp advantage with a race filter. No big deal by itself but if you can do a few other small mods, you might get a combination that adds up to 6-7 hp.

Personally, I don't trust my BMC Race Filter for continuous use on the street. I haven't heard of anyone having problems though.

Sticker removal can be made a little easier by finding the best solvent that will soften/remove the adhesive and also using dental floss to sort of saw underneath the sticker. This and a little patience will get even the heaviest decals off in more or less one piece. I learned this years ago working at a body shop peeling woodgrain vinyl off of old Torinos and Vista Cruisers. I've used it ever since. As far as the ZX goes I took the Ninja stickers off of the fairing in about 5 minutes each with no cleanup other than a little solvent. Sometimes WD 40 even works alright on some adhesives, just be VERY CAREFUL choosing your solvents because the plastics and paint/clearcoat don't like some of them at all.

My ZX14 with a stock air filter will run right besides yours with a BMC from 0 to the speed limiter. So why bother?

Are you sure?

I'm sorry, mass, but I don't know who Lee is.

He's one of the fastest guys at the strip and has had a couple of 14s.
His bike didn't run the same times with different air filters-
what do you think gives? Smokin is a well reknown guy in the drag racing circles and not afiliated with any of these brands, he just shared the resulsts of his tests.

Thanks for all the input. I have been checking things out, and so far, I guess this pipe is the nicest pipe. Click link below:

http://prostores2.carrierzone.com/servlet/brockracing/-strse-2604/ZX14-%2806-dsh-09%29-CT-SERIES%E2%84%A2/Detail

Brock's sells this CT series single (4-2-1) with their Power Commander V that is supposed to have a great map. I just wish they would offer the entire cannister in carbon fiber, not just the end cap. Yeah, I'm a picky bastard.

I'll probably also go with a BMC street filter, smog block-off plates, and run it!

As far as asthetics, I'll probably go with a Puig or Zero Gravity smoke or dark smoke windscreen, a Hotbodies undertail, and eventually, after I rob a bank or three, some wheels from BST or Carrozzerria.

Mass, I love your front fender. I guess that is a ZX10 fender with fender brackets from dubious, huh?

Thanks again for the input.