Kawasaki Ninja Owners Manual: Shifting Gears

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:

Crankshaft Side Clearance Inspection
Insert a thickness gauge [A] between the thrust washer [B] on the crankcase and the crank web [C] at the #3 main journal to determine clearance. If the clearance exceeds the service limit, replace the thrust washers as a set and check the width of the crankshaft #3 main journal. Cra ...

Hub Bearing Inspection
Since the hub bearings are made to extremely close tolerances, the clearance can not normally be measured. NOTE Do not remove any bearings for inspection. If any bearings are removed, they will need to be replaced with new ones. Turn each bearing in the hub back and forth [A] while checki ...

Front and Rear Brakes
Disc and disc pad wear is automatically compensated for and has no effect on the brake lever or pedal action. So there are no parts that require adjustment on the front and rear brakes. WARNINGAir in the brake lines diminish braking performance and can cause an accident resulting ...