Kawasaki Ninja Owners Manual: Shifting Gears

Kawasaki Ninja Owners Manual / How to ride the motorcycle / Shifting Gears

WARNING

Downshifting to a lower gear at high speed causes engine rpm to increase excessively, potentially damaging the engine and it may also cause the rear wheel to skid and cause an accident.

Vehicle speed when shifting


NOTE

The transmission is equipped with a positive neutral finder. When the motorcycle is standing still, the transmission cannot be shifted past neutral from 1st gear. To use the positive neutral finder, shift down to 1st gear, then lift up on the shift pedal while standing still. The transmission will shift only into neutral.

Moving Off
Check that the side stand is up. Pull in the clutch lever. Shift into 1st gear. Open the throttle a little, and start to let out the clutch lever very slowly. As the clutch starts to enga ...

Braking
Close the throttle completely, leaving the clutch engaged (except when shifting gears) so that the engine will help slow down the motorcycle. Shift down one gear at a time so that you are ...

Other materials:

Ignition Switch/Steering Lock
This is a three-position, key-operated switch. The key can be removed from the switch when it is in the OFF or LOCK position. A. Ignition Switch/Steering Lock B. ON position C. OFF position D. LOCK position NOTE The tail, city and license plate lights are on whenever the ignition key i ...

Before Servicing
Before starting to perform an inspection service or carry out a disassembly and reassembly operation on a motorcycle, read the precautions given below. To facilitate actual operations, notes, illustrations, photographs, cautions, and detailed descriptions have been included in each chapter w ...

Brake Lever Adjuster
There is an adjuster on the brake lever. The adjuster has 6 positions so that the released lever position can be adjusted to suit the operator’s hands. Push the lever forward and turn the adjuster to align the number with the mark on the lever holder. The distance from the grip to the rel ...