You know what I like? I like it when I come to a hard corner where I have the right of way. I point my knee out, lean that baby over, accelerate into the turn right in front of the car that is stopped for me. Then I open that puppy up and wind er up to about 8000 rpm before I roll off. I know it's obnoxious but I also know it's mighty damned impressive and I love it. Some onlookers do too and I'm sure there are those that don't but I know I made an impression on everyone. I just want to assure any new owners, what you have stock is OH so good. I had as much money invested in race stuff on my Gen1 as what the bike cost me. I enjoyed that bike much more because of the mods. It became a very big part of my life, mostly because of the mods. I still have to tell you, a bone stock ZX-14 is 99% as good as one with all the basic mods, tuned, wheels, suspension, etc. This is strictly from my point of view but if you do the mods, it matters very little in the actual performance department unless you A) have the riding skill and B) go out and race. I've been riding these things for 16 years and I really don't have the stones to all out race another bike on the road. They're all so GD fast, it's too dangerous to push the competition on the road. Still, doesn't it sit so well with you to know you have everything you need to crush the competition? ....if you can actually use it? You folks that buy more bikes instead of improving your one machine, that is a very good path. It makes a lot of sense to me too. I would like to do that some day. For now, l need to know I have more than you and that's why I mod. I'm planning to mod BIG on this new Gen2. but it's so damned good stock, makes a lot of sense to buy another bike instead.

Completely agree Rook.

While I am no where near as experienced and knowledgable as some legends here, ultimately I don't believe any mod (except a turbo, nitrous, or a Cblast flash ) makes the bike ridiculously better.
Yes, lose the weight by replacing the pumpkin shooter cans, throw on a quick shifter for laziness, heated grips for comfort, and Bob's your uncle.
Look at my mods at the bottom of this post.
There are a few and what I wanted, but really not that necessary.
The one thing I will say is any changes/mods we do add makes the bike individual and our own.
And I guess there's a lot to be said for that.

Easily the best bike I have owned bar none...

* Last updated by: yannih on 9/14/2024 @ 10:32 PM *

Any exhaust that you can hear all the time makes the riding experience 300% better if you ask me. A +4 rear sprocket makes a palpable difference. A well set up quick shifter is a kick in the pants but I'm told you can do almost the same thing without. For all of the thought and money I put into weight loss, I really have to say, a stock 14 corners just about as well. Dropping 85 lbs will give you an edge in technical corners but it's not even close to night and day if you ask me. I'm still going to do all of that stuff on my Gen2. Now that turbo you mentioned yannih.....now there's something that I expect will bring the riding experience to a whole new level and I'm doing it. I just have to know what it can do and if it's too much for the street, there the bike will sit in my museum of bikes. I'll buy less powerful ones but this bike will be the powerhouse.

On the topic of sprockets. I've tried just about every sprocket combo running a 190/55 rear tire for street riding..... 16/17 front sprocket and 39-47 rear sprockets, and the best balanced setup of them all for me is 17/46. The +4 rear is perfect for street riding and low rpm pulls all while maintaining a decent top speed if you ever need it. I highly recommend it for anyone running SWB on the street.

I was afraid a +4 was going to loop the bike but it was quite manageable. It pulls harder in the lower rpms, and revs out quicker. I was shifting more with the +4 rear and 6th gear became something I used a lot more often. For highway cruising speed, the bike ran about 500 rpm higher than normal. I'm sure it used more gas for that reason too but I enjoyed it. The bike could still do 180 mph or maybe a couple more with the +4 rear sprocket and a 190/55 tire. The bigger sprocket looks cooler too.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/15/2024 @ 5:42 PM *

Yes I’m digging the big sprocket.

Another vote for Cblast "creamy torque" flash.

Rook, I'm glad you're enjoying your new 14R. They are awesome bikes.
Now, about the Cblast flash. I had him flash my ecu, too, way back when he was always on this forum.
All of a sudden he just disappeared. It turns out that he was working for Nels at 2wheeldynoworks before he started coming on this forum. He quit working for Nels and stole all of his files on ecu flashing. That's when he ended up here. Plus, he was charging around $100 more for a flash than 2wheeldynoworks. Someone here called him out on his flash, maybe victhing, I can't remember for sure. He never posted on here again.
Nels is the one that told me Cblast worked for him and he told me the story of what he did.
I then sent my ecu to 2wheeldynoworks and had them reflash it. It gained 7 hp on a dyno. Nels said there were some things in my ecu that Cblast didn't even look at, although he said it was a fairly decent flash.
When I saw Cblast mentioned above it brought back memories.
So much for that.
Enjoy the bike which I know you will.

Thanks hagrid and mokaw.

I missed out on the Cblast flash. I had already started down the modules rout. I might have picked up a few pointers from that one guy who tuned over the phone though. Jeffo, remember him? Too bad he didn't stick around a little longer.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/16/2024 @ 6:27 PM *

I jest, of course. I wouldn't Cblast my scooter unless I wanted to spin the #3 rod bearing.

NOT RECOMMENDED!

...nor would I tune over phone...not after hearing about that transformed the bike into a flame thrower! Actually, I think there are some very general adjustments that could be suggested without tuning but that guy was kind of like the Jonny Carson swami!

So Rook, I hope you got one of the Gen 2 14's where you can go minus on the countershaft sprocket and plus on the rear sprocket without the horrible stuttering some have. I have one that stutters. Some do, some don't. Mine - 2012.
Stock sprockets on the Gen 2 is 17 and 42. Last week I put a 44 tooth on my bike and it stuttered and jerked so bad it was almost unrideable in 1st and 2nd between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm's. It was also very embarrassing riding around town. Over 3,000 rpm's it worked perfect.
I went back in time and looked at some of the posts on Bikeland when people were having the stuttering problem with the Gen 2 after changing sprockets. Like I said, not all Gen 2's would do this, only some. Why I don't know. I guess the problem is in the ECU.
If you do have the stuttering problem, I found out from reading the old posts that several people went to minus 1 on the countershaft sprocket (16t) and plus one on the rear sprocket (43t). No more stuttering.
On Friday I put that combination on my bike. When I took it for a ride, I was hesitant, not knowing what to expect.
It worked perfect! So smooth! What a relief.
I've done lots of roll on racing with my bike, all with the stock gearing. Second gear at 40 mph and hit it.
I tried this yesterday with the new gearing. It took off great and about 60 mph the rear tire broke loose. That could have something to do with my weight of course (147 lbs.) and it was only 57 degrees, so the road and tire was cool.
Anyway, I'm glad I found the right gearing combination to eliminate the horrible stuttering. If you ever change your sprockets, I hope you never have this problem.

* Last updated by: mokaw on 9/22/2024 @ 3:43 PM *

If you do have the stuttering problem, I found out from reading the old posts that several people went to minus 1 on the countershaft sprocket (16t) and plus one on the rear sprocket (43t). No more stuttering....I tried this yesterday with the new gearing. It took off great and about 60 mph the rear tire broke loose. That could have something to do with my weight of course (147 lbs.) and it was only 57 degrees, so the road and tire was cool

I remember reading about that problem on here years back. I thought there was a fix for it, thanks for the reminder. I'll be trying 17/45 just like I did with my Gen1. If that doesn't work, I'll try 16/43. I'll miss the look of the larger rear sprocket but it will be more of a weight reduction. Maybe there's some way to flash away the sprocket gearing restriction by now. I have a hunch it has to do with the speed sensor that reads the engine sprocket and traction control which probably reads the wheel speed. If that's the case, I'd think that turning TC off would solve the problem.

You're right. It's the speed sensor. I contacted Brocks, 2wheeldynoworks, and Moore Mafia (Chris Moore).
It's in the ecu on some of these bikes that do it.
Like Moore Mafia said - "We're well aware of this problem. Unfortunately, We have no fix for it".
Nobody else does either.
I wish it was as simple as turning the TC off. Mine is always on 0.

Heads up on the 17/45 setup on the Gen II....on my 2012 and 2023 14R I experienced stuttering but only at a very low RPM range 2000-2500 and it's sporadic in nature and not like the 43/44 where it happens all the time. That was my goto setup as well until I discovered that it sputtered off of idle, like when pulling away from a stop. However, it's not as obvious as the 17/43, 17/44 stutter. That's why I ended up going with 17/46 because it's the first setup where I discovered that no stutter occurred at all. Of course if you drop a tooth in the front(16)there's no stutter at all if you go up teeth in the rear...but just dropping one tooth in the front alone(16/42) will also introduce stutter.

Rook you mentioned that you ran a 17/45 setup on your Gen I which equates to 4 teeth up from the stock 41, so if you want to maintain the same ration with your Gen II, wouldn't you want to go 4 teeth on the rear also from the stock 42 tooth to a 17/46 setup. If you go that route you can rest assure that you'll only have to buy 1 sprocket and not go through the experiment that I went through to finally find a decent sprocket combo without having to change the counter sprocket. I just couldn't handle the whining noise that the 16 tooth counter sprocket made, so I decided to only change the rear sprocket and stay stock in the front.

* Last updated by: siroht on 9/22/2024 @ 7:36 PM *

You're right. It's the speed sensor. I contacted Brocks, 2wheeldynoworks, and Moore Mafia (Chris Moore).
It's in the ecu on some of these bikes that do it.
Like Moore Mafia said - "We're well aware of this problem. Unfortunately, We have no fix for it".
Nobody else does either.
I wish it was as simple as turning the TC off. Mine is always on 0.

Still glad I got the Gen2, still very intrigued but FCOFL, this is a drag racing and LSR bike! How in THEE hell could they make it unable to tolerate sprocket changes? Are they smoking crack?

Rook you mentioned that you ran a 17/45 setup on your Gen I which equates to 4 teeth up from the stock 41, so if you want to maintain the same ration with your Gen II, wouldn't you want to go 4 teeth on the rear also from the stock 42 tooth to a 17/46 setup. If you go that route you can rest assure that you'll only have to buy 1 sprocket and not go through the experiment that I went through to finally find a decent sprocket combo without having to change the counter sprocket. I just couldn't handle the whining noise that the 16 tooth counter sprocket made, so I decided to only change the rear sprocket and stay stock in the front.

I suppose I will go with the 46T rear but as far as maintaining the ratio I had with my Gen1, we now have another 100 ccs in the engine which correlates to another 8 ft/lb of torque. I can easily feel the 2 ft/lb difference in torque between my Gen2 busa and my Gen1 ZX-14. Eight.......? That raises the hairs on the back of my neck just thinking about it with a +4 rear sprocket! Still, the Gen1 was perfectly manageable with +4 on the rear. It wasn't going to take you by surprise at low rpm. I'll go with a 46T rear first and enjoy the look of a little bigger sprocket. I'm really curious if this 2024 bike will tolerate other ratios though. It all depends on the chain length that will accommodate different sprocket sizes but I'll try as many as I can. It will be groundbreaking if Kaw fixed this problem with the newer bikes. FCOL it's been 12 years, youd think they would have by now. Sprocket gearing is so basic. Thanks for the tip. I'll try 17/46 first but the bike better do 180 mph or they kind of screwed up....not nearly as bad as Suzuki did but still a flaw. Thanks for the input siroht.

I purchased a 130 link chain and removed 8 links and after the initial stretch and adjustment, the rear axle hash mark is sitting right under the 3rd mark. With a 122 link chain I can run rear sprockets from 17/42 all the way up to 17/47.

Speaking on the stutter issue. I observed that as I increased the rear sprocket size, the stutter occurred at a lower RPM. Say with the 17/43 sprocket combo the stutter was noticeable in the 3500-4000 RPM range, and the 44T stutter @3000RPM, 45T @2000-2500 RPM and finally when I went to a 46T the stutter was no more. I've been running the 46T for some time now and it runs just as good as stock,17/42, with no sporadic anomalies that I experienced with the 17/45 combo.

That's all the info I need. Thanks siroht! It might be a while before I need to replace the chain and sprockets but maybe I'll try changing in a 43T with the stock chain just to see what happens.

Does anyone know if the same problem occurs when the rear sprocket size is reduced from 42T?

I have a 40 and 41 that were installed way back, and no issues with going down…only up in the rear.

Ah, ok that makes a little sense from a racing standpoint. Stock sprocket gearing is probably best for drag racing and I can't think of any reason to do anything but go to a smaller rear sprocket for LSR.

If the low rpm stuttering problem is solved by going down a tooth in the front or going with a 46T on the rear, do we know for certain it's solved in every gear at every rpm? I'd be a little hesitant to try to top the bike out with a larger rear sprocket after discussing this. What if the stutter comes back at 10,500 rpm in 6th gear and you're doing 180 mph?

I’ve tested the 46T in the upper RPMs when I do roll ons against by friends and when I was tuning my top end AFR, and no issues to report. The stutter for sprockets 43-45 only occurs at lower RPMs, performing as should once pass 3500 RPMs.

I'm reassured to hear that. Thanks siroht!

Besides the Spacely Sprockets to play with, I like the Healtech iQ quick shifter. Most fun mod on my bike. I did have rearsets on when I installed but was easy to install and I never touched any of the time dwell settings.

I really liked the quickshifter I had on my Gen1 but it seemed to need a longer kill time, like 90 mls. At WOT, that produced a small jerk as the upshift engaged. I went for shorter kill times. That eliminated the jerk but it sometimes missed the shift. I find a foot shifter a lot more fun for sport riding but I may go with an air shifter on this one. I'm seeing it more of straightline top speed bike. If I get the old 14 back in working condition, I'd try a foot shifter with auto blip downshifting.