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So.. 12 days ago, I got myself a new toy. I've been going back and forth about getting my motorcycle license for at least a decade, and I finally pulled the trigger.
Started gathering gear (helmet, gloves, shoes, jacket, etc) over the summer to commit to the cause. Took the MSF course (that waived the DMV testing for the motorcycle endorsement) Sept 23-24, went to the DMV the 25th and got my license, then bought the bike Oct 5. Figured I'd make a build thread for her, since I can't own anything without messing with it.
October 5, 2023 - DAY 1 LEGGOOOOOOO
She's a 2023 Kawasaki Ninja 400 (yes, a 400, so I can learn the fundamentals of motorcycle riding and if I break stuff, parts will be cheaper). Got her new with 4 miles on the odometer. Paid MSRP + dealer costs and tax (just about 7k out the door), but I couldn't find crap for 400-500 CC bikes in my area that were "never dropped" but had giant drag marks on the fairings or otherwise a shady deal.
Yes she has a name, and this one more loosely follows the naming convention I used for Azumi (2002 Civic EX coupe) and Miyuki (current car, 2018 Civic Sport Hatch). Typically, the name would follow the manufacturer's country (so.. Japanese names for Japanese cars). This kinda follows the convention, but a little more unorthodox. So.. She's a small girl, still feisty. Black and white motif. She's got a bit more mass up top than down below (bc gas tank). Ladies and gents, meet Tifa (IYKYK):
yeah, yeah, kinda shitty pic, I know.. This color was hard as hell to get, and I was set on the white one ever since I saw it online. From the looks of it, it was the absolute last one in southern Nevada, and it seems like they're not bringing the 2024 Ninja 400 stateside (or many other markets except like.. the AU market). What's kinda cool are the factory livery on her, specifically the silver decals. You can kinda see the effect in the pic above, but on the website, it shows straight teal to pink. It's actually silver with an iridescent effect, and it's on the rim pinstriping, too. Had to go to a small, podunk town in the next county over, so my first ever (legal) solo ride on a bike was 50 miles home, then cruising around the city getting used to "real world" traffic and turns and stuff. Teeeeccchhhniiicaaallly dropped it already, but managed to limit the damage to a few superficial scratches on the exhaust heat shield (and emotional damage and a sore arm the next day from catching a 400lb bike by a single handlebar with one hand). That exhaust has got to go anyways, and I didn't find those scratches until the next day.
October 6, 2023 - [insert bad pun involving mounting or quad or fork or something. might update later] Parts installed: QuadLock fork stem mount, vibration dampener, and wireless charging head
Yeah, already adding crap to her. During the MSF course, I felt like my phone was going to yeet itself into oblivion in my back pocket, so I shoved it in my front pocket which felt.. wrong. I had already started prepping to add a QuadLock mount to whatever bike I was getting, but didn't buy the mount itself until I committed to a bike. I bought the case, wireless charging head, vibration damping mount, just not the part that attaches to the bike itself, until a week before I got the bike. So yeah, setup is as follows:
Fork stem mount (this thing was stupidly expensive at like $80 for what it is, but whatever)
Vibration dampener because I heard ppl's phone cameras were breaking from the vibrations of a bike
Wireless charging head
And to connect my phone to the apparatus, the magnetic quadlock case (because I do stick my phone to metal objects like.. when cooking to watch One Piece or YouTube or at the gym)
October 7, 2023 - GO GO POWER OUTLEEEETTTT *epic guitar noises* Parts installed: Kawasaki accessory relay, universal USB-C/USB-A outlet with voltmeter
Yep. adding more crap already. As you saw from the October 6 entry, I have a wireless charging head to mount my phone. Well, what good is a wireless charging head if there isn't any power to it? Enter the USB power outlet. The genuine Kawi one was something stupid like $120 for a single USB-A outlet, so I said screw that, got a universal one on Amazon that fit in the blank that the genuine one was designed for, and paid a whopping $15 for it. It has a USB-C port capable of 45W and an 18W USB-A port. Bonus is that it has a voltmeter, so I can see how ded the bike battery is (battery tender to come later). That, and it's allegedly water resistant, though no waterproof rating is listed on the Amazon listing. I also didn't like the bullet connectors on the factory harness, so I snipped those off, wired in a 20pin SAE connector, and plugged it all in using that. super factory look, much cleaner than the ***** Kawi did with the ghetto *** bullet connectors. Also needed to install this was the Kawasaki accessory relay, and there was already a connector and mount for the relay on the bike (makes you wonder why they didn't just install the $25 relay from the factory). To be completely fair, the only reason the phone mount and the relay/outlet wasn't installed the same day is because of shipping delays on the stuff needed for this install. Anyways, it was a super clean install, no drilling or cutting required (save for the connector mod I did), and I can now run Pandora all ride long with no worries about my phone dying.
Yeah, just look at the pic above for the outlet. I took the pic hella late. Do something. lol
October 10, 2023 For whom the bell tollssssssss... Part Installed: Guardian/Gremlin Bell
One of my buddies gave me a really cool gift that came from a good place in his heart. The moment I announced I bought a bike, he had a guardian/gremlin bell sent to my house. For those that don't know, they're more prevalent in the Harley world, but it's a little bell you hang on the bike to ward off any gremlins that would cause you to crash, protecting the rider. Apparently stemmed from WW2 bomber pilots. In any case, awesome gesture from my buddy, so of course I put it on the bike. One of the only good places to put it is under the tail on a bar that's meant for like.. tie downs, but the problem was that it was gonna slide back and forth. I've had a 3D printer for about a year, so I got to designing a clamp for that bar that the bell could hang on. Before you guys come at me with "Josh... normal 3D printing plastic/PLA is kinda **** when it comes to heat, and you live in Vegas...." I already thought of that. I have carbon fiber high temp PLA, and I already tested the stuff in high temp environments by printing a seat for Chewie that copilots Miyuki.
October 12, 2023 Stickers = horsepower, right? Part installed: Tifa sticker
Well, I need stickers on her to feed my inner rice rocket demon. What better way than to add a sticker of her namesake?
October 14, 2023 - Something something something sticky something something pad something dark side (man, I really have writers' block with my puns today...) Parts installed: Puig Performance Tank Pad, Carbon Look, Driven Racing Swingarm Spools
Welp, adding more stuff, and it's been less than 9 days of ownership. This one is more paint protection than anything, since I do wear a metal belt buckle everywhere. I needed a tank pad to protect the pearly white paint job on the gas tank, and I'm not one to buy cheap **** for the sake of buying parts. I mean, it was still cheap at $20, but it's from a quality brand, and it appealed to my inner riceboy bc carbon fiber look. If you don't know what a tank pad is and you haven't scrolled to the pic yet (or you're looking at this before I got off my *** and actually posted the picture), you know that weird decal thing you see on the aft end of gas tanks that almost every sport bike rider has? Yeah, that thing.
Oh, and another thing that was installed today, and it was both for looks and preparatory for DIY maintenance, I got me some Driven Racing swingarm spools. Now to get me a paddock stand so I can get the *** end off the ground to do maintenance. Tifa (the video game character after whom the bike was named) sports red gloves and boots, so it's only fitting that I do small bits of red accents on the bike. These normally sell for like $40, but I had some CycleGear money banked up and only spent like.. $25 on these. Sure, could've used it on something more expensive, but if I was gonna buy them anyways, then why the hell not?
October 21, 2023 sub update for the swingarm spools: I don't have a paddock stand just yet, but I found out that these swingarm spools are the perfect height for me to slip my jackstand underneath them to support the bike level instead of on the kickstand. Also gave me plenty of room to slip my oil pan underneath to give her her first oil change, 2 whole quarts of 20W-50 and an oil filter. Fun fact, Tifa and Miyuki share oil filter sizes, so that's nice.
October 17, 2023 Sliiiide to the left, take it back now, y'allPart installed: TST Industries frame sliders
First bike, right? I'm going to drop it eventually. I also don't wanna eff up the plastic, because that ish is expensive. Enter in the frame sliders from TST industries. By far the most expensive thing I've put on the bike, but small price to pay for some peace of mind. Did a lot of researching and these looked the cleanest while providing protection, and not costing a metric crap ton (I almost bought a $350 pair of half cage looking bitches, but decided this $145 was a more economical choice). One Reddit post I saw of these, guy had 'em on his bike, low-sided at 15 MPH, zero plastic damage. Good enough for me. I already learned how to take off the fairings from the USB port install, but while I had to take both fairings off as opposed to one side like the USB install, this wasn't a big job, and I had it buttoned up and torqued down inside of an hour.
October 25, 2023 sub update for the frame sliders: Well, my dumbass ended up putting these frame sliders to the test. Decided to do a work road trip to AZ with the bike (me and coworkers both did), and I strapped a bag to the tail. On the way home, the bag shifted forward and was pushing me in an odd posture, so I decided to pull off to a gas station to fix it. Well, fckin gas station was closed, and the smallest chain-link fence blocking it off. Managed to stop in time, but it was a weird road grade going into the gas station, and she tipped, again on her right side. Tried the same thing I did when I dropped her day 1, planted my foot and try to hold her up with the handlebar, but this time, she threw me off. More scratches on the exhaust, a small bit on the mirror, a small bit on the tip front brake lever, and some proof that the frame slider did its job since it has a few scuffs, too. I'm so glad I installed these before the road trip.
October 27, 2023 Flashing these bishesPart installed: Brake Light Flasher Unit Alright kids, Tifa wanted a fancy brake light flasher like Miyuki has, so I made a PnP one for her. Grabbed the flasher module off of AliExpress, and I'm pretty sure it's the same module Miyuki has (that I bought pre-made for like $40. I spent half that making my own ish for the bike). I just needed to buy the Kawi brake light connectors and make my own PnP version for her. Also, milestone, just passed 1100 miles on her after taking a 500-mile round trip road trip.
November 9, 2023 ♫ Put your stunna shades on *E40 grunt*♫Part installed: Puig Z Racing dark smoke windscreen
Welp, the modding continues. The OEM windscreen was... there. Functional enough, but there's always better out there, right? Enter the Puig Z-Racing windscreen. They claim 57% more upper body protection and 14% more helmet protection from the wind, and they included a printout of the virtual wind tunnel test they did on the design. I did want something darker to match the black/white motif, and I spent a good week going back and forth about dark or light smoke. I then realized I hardly ever look through the windscreen, so dark smoke it was. Had some cyclegear cash saved up and it stacked with a coupon code one of my chrome extension found, so I got it for like.. $80-some. It def looks better than stock, and it does sit a bit higher with some different cuts and curves in the shape, and literally 4 bolts holding it on (that double as bolts that hold the 2 mirrors down). Install took all of 10 minutes, 4 minutes was cleaning it off, and a few more minutes was hunting down my 4mm allen key. After install, this is what she looked like:
After install, there was only one thing to do: test it out, and that's exactly what I did, for just about 45 miles (72.5km).
There was a noticeable decrease in "turbulence" I felt in my chest and head, and that was sitting upright. In a tuck, wind seemed to go right over my head. Was kinda nice. In a tuck, at night, I wasn't phased at all by how dark the view through the screen was. The way the tank protrudes, my line of sight is still just over the top of the windscreen, despite it sitting probably 3cm higher than stock. The dark *** windscreen def makes her look a bit meaner, too, so more bonus points there
November 18, 2023 Tifa go *grumble grumble grumble*Part installed: LeoVince GP Corsa Evo slip on exhaust A bit of a late post, but F1 was on, so I had to watch that.
Today, Tifa got some go fast make loud goodness, because stock, she was far too quiet. Today's part comes from Leo Vince, specifically the GP Corsa Evo slip-on exhaust. This thing was hard as hell to find, but luckily, I found one for $220 shipped and without tax, stateside, and under the "sale" MSRP directly from LeoVince (that's been out of stock for months, to boot). I'm not gonna go full exhaust with her. I don't think, at least. I tried it with and without the "dB killer" installed, and if I could find something that was a happy medium between the two, it'd be great. She's loud as **** without the dB killer, and she's a hair on the quiet side with it in. I took her for a spin with it out, and she grumbles and pops. I love it. Neighbors might not, though, especially since I finished install at about 9:45, and got back from my first test ride with about 5 minutes to spare for the Vegas F1 race. I put the dB killer back in for now, and I'll take her for a spin tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I'll drill some holes in the cup portion to let a bit more sound through. I'll post a sound clip vid here eventually.
November 20, 2023 Mini Update - Sound clip of exhaust
As promised, sound clip:
If you want to be entertained at me being stupid af, subtitles on. Really though, sound comparison of with and without the silencer (dB killer, is what Leo Vince calls it).
December 9, 2023 [insert bad pegging joke here]Parts installed: Puig 9192R R-Fighter red footpegs, Puig 20319N/3838N 20mm offset rider adapters, Puig 6351N passenger footpeg adapters Because most of my mods are going to be cosmetic in nature, and keeping with the Tifa theme with the red foot and hand stuffs, she got red Puig R-Fighter footpegs for both rider and passenger. When I was shopping around, the bike-specific rider adapters were impossible to find (Puig p/n 8887N; the passenger ones were everywhere, so I grabbed those). Placed an order for them at cyclegear.com bc they said they were in stock, and, much to my dismay, they cancelled the order. Found later that Puig makes some adjustable footpegs, but they offset the peg position by 20mm, and you can clock them in 15 degree increments along the center of where the original footpegs sat. I didn't think 20mm would make such a difference, but they did, and one position was the perfect combo of comfortably shifting them up and back. I have me a perpetual passenger princess in the form of my 13 year old niece (12 at the time of the mod), so I had to get her footpegs changed to match mine. I can also clock each one individually to position the texture to accommodate my and my niece's feet positions for a more "customized" fit. Not really a huge difference in that adjustability though. Now to do something about that raw aluminum heelguard. Paint it black? Give into my riceboy ways and grab one made of carbon fiber? We'll see Rider footpegs. You can see the 20mm offset Passenger to match
December 24, 2023 Merry Christmas you filthy animals. Something something plug lights in or something something *bzzzt* Parts installed: Tecmate Optimate O-40s SAE panel mount, Optimate O-33 40" extension cable, Optimate O-11 battery lead Nothing big today. Moreso something to make my life easier if/when I have to put her up for the rest of the season due to weather. Because I'm from the desert, I can hardly stand anything below 50F, unless I'm snowboarding. Riding the bike in sub-50 temps, especially at highway speeds, definitely makes it feel a whole hell of a lot colder than that (thank you wind chill factors). In fact, damn near made myself hypothermic one night, and my internal body temp (yeah, I checked for kicks and giggles) was sitting at like 95F. Definitely might be about time to put her up for the winter, but I'm still riding during the day if it's 60-something out. I installed me a Tecmate Optimate SAE panel mount, so I don't have to go digging to hook up a battery tender. Also grabbed the ring terminal harness that comes with an in-line 10A fuse, and the extension harness that I properly zip tied out to existing wiring harness stuff for a clean install. Due to the orientation and how many water-resistant connectors there are, there's one disconnect point directly under the plug, one about midway through the frame, and, of course, disconnect at the battery. Installed it in a place that mirrored the factory USB port location, but on the right side of the bike. Basically made it so I have an SAE port that I don't have to take off seats to access, and, in a pinch, can use as an auxiliary power source, assuming the load isn't >10A. Kinda handy to have, if I do say so myself.
I do have some sequential LED turn signals in, but I promised the backpack I'd wait for her to install them.
January 5, 2024 FIRST INSTALL OF THE NEW YEAR! Parts installed: TST industries sequential LED front and rear turn signals, Puig 5329N turn signal adapters, radiator grille, StompGrip clear tank grip
Well, well, well.. The backpack came over, and she was stoked about the new parts coming in, so we got to installing. As will all my vehicles, there are officially no incandescent lights on the bike now. I forgot to mention I swapped the license plate bulb with an LED 168 bulb, but it really didn't an update on its own.
First thing that got installed: sequential LED rear turn signals. Now, taking off the OEM signals left a giant gaping hole, so I needed to buy adapter plates to be able to screw these in place. Worried about quality and fit of Amazon/alibaba/etc flat pieces of metal, I found some adapters made by Puig. The downside to the Puig adapters is that the through-hole was 10mm, and the threaded stalk of the TST signals was 8mm. That said, my trust 3D printer came to the rescue, and I printed a couple of spacer/adapters with the carbon fiber high temp PLA I have. I was also worried about accuracy of the gap between the two plates, so I grabbed some neoprene washers that were crushable enough, but enough to make the two mating surfaces of the spacer/adapters sit pretty.
Next up were the front turn signals. Again, with the TST set, and again, sequential. I also opted to hook up the running light feature that has them on at 80% brightness, then switches to the sequential sweeping when the turn signal is turned on. Took a bit of work since I'm **** retentive about making the additional wiring clean as possible and you have to take off most of the front end just to swap the turn signals. Took about an hour and a half, but most of it was the **** retentive part. Man, these bitches are definitely bright, and they throw light on the ground even with just running lights going. Adds for visibility and what have you.
Finally, figured since I had the front end off, and I wanted to add a bit of protection. This one, a radiator cover, I did cheap out on and went with the $30 Amazon special, I did have to bend a small part of it so it sat pretty, and I really didn't trust the hardware it came with, but overall, it looks alright and does what it's supposed to do
Late add to this entry: I'm a dumbass and forgot I installed these the same day. I received clear tank grips (because factory graphics are kinda sick) from StompGrip. Do they stick the best? Nah. Do they provide the grip I want with my knees? Absolutely. Have they fallen off yet? Nope. That's all I need. lol
[pic to come later because I suck]
January 17th, 2024 - Lever Action Tifa Parts Installed: ASV F3 clutch and brake levers, anodized red, black adjustment dials
yeah, yeah, I'm posting this late again because work has been killing me lately. Seems like everything is getting bottlenecked to me again, but I digress.
I'm not one to turn down presents. I guess backpack has been working with roomie for a super belated b-day/Christmas thing for me, and I was asking her color opinions on these. Came in good time, too, because I dropped Tifa semi-violently while practicing u-turns on the MSF course range and these got delivered with my name on 'em like 2 days later. Had to bend the rear brake lever back into shape, and my front brake lever got a slight bow to it. What came in are ASV "unbreakable" F3 brake and clutch levers in anodized red with black adjustment dials. I kinda have short-ish fingers, and I've been wanting adjustable levers to pull them in just a little bit while maintaining factory adjustment of the lever travel itself. These have 180 points of adjustment, which equates to 4 inches worth (and I'm assuming that's the swing arc of the distal end of the lever.. doesn't make sense to me otherwise). These also fold forward if they get hit, and spring back into place, so the only thing that should happen to these under drop conditions is a bit of scuffing.
I received these the 15th, installed on the 17th (had to wait for backpack, as all things install-wise goes these days, regardless if it's the bike or the car). Brake lever was a straight 5 minute install, no further adjustments needed. Clutch was a bit more of a pain in the *** since the 10mm nut on the bottom is harder than isht to get a socket on. That, and since the clutch cable attaches to the lever itself, I had to look up the adjustment spec and re-adjust accordingly. My only beef is the anodizing is ever so slightly brighter than the Driven Racing grips I have, but what are you gonna do? It's close enough, and you'll only really notice it if you're really looking for it, and probably only under the right lighting conditions. Took her out for a ride yesterday (Jan 19th) and adjusted them to my liking. Clutch lever has to be a bit further out than I'd like because if I adjust it closer, the bike won't start in gear. Oh well. It's at about the factory distance, probably a hair closer, so I'm content with that.
February 25, 2024 - Cleaning up that bootyPart installed: 3D printed tail tidy
I did a thing that I didn't think I'd do: installed a fender eliminator (a.k.a. tail tidy) on Tifa. I didn't post up bc I figured I'd be reverting back to stock because, truth be told, I didn't mind the full fender look. Now that I got the tail tidy on there though, I kinda like it, and I think it's here to stay. I didn't feel like spending any money on something that seemed experimental, so I did what any sane person with a 3D printer would do: print that bitch. I haven't had good luck with PLA on external motorcycle stuff (even high temp carbon fiber PLA), but I had a roll of carbon fiber PETG that I literally just dialed in the settings for like a month prior. It's still kind of a pain to print with, but figured it'd be the best bet for this case. I didn't like a few of the things on the original file, so I botted up Fusion360 and modded the file, much like I do with a lot of the other STL and STEP files I grab off the internets. Like 8 hours later, 30 minutes of sanding, $5 worth of hardware, and about 30 minutes of disassembly, reassembly, and wire tucking, I got her installed, and it looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. The real test is going to see how it fares in the stupid hot temps we get here in Vegas. If it doesn't last, I'll pony up the money for a "real" one.
p.s. don't mind the chicken strips. They've gotten significantly smaller since this pic was taken back in February since I'm getting a lot more confident leaning the bike.
June 2, 2024 - Tifa's got some heels on herPart installed: Painted heel guards, titanium hardware
Welp, Josh's ADHD hamster brain took over (technically over the weekend). I'm moving soon, and I was cleaning/organizing the garage for ease of loading stuff into a UHaul. I then noticed the vinyl I slapped on Tifa's heel guards was peeling. I only tossed come vinyl on there because the raw aluminum look was way out of place amidst the sea of black and hints of silver colored bolts and added red on the foot pegs. So, where did hamster brain come into play? I was organizing my garage hazmat into a tote, and noticed my black spray paint. I also noticed the rattelcan of Dupli-Color 1K I bought for when I have enough free time to re-do my headlights bc the shitty clearcoat I put on is looking like absolute crap. Figured now was as good a time as any to test it out since I've never used it before, and always had "meh" luck with other rattlecan clearcoats you pick up at like.. Home Depot or similar.
That said, I took off the heel guards and laid down about 8 layers of black paint (overkill, I know, but I was trying to waste the remnants of the can of black so I had less crap to pack), waiting a good 10 minutes between each coat and rotating 90° on every coat. The next morning (Saturday), I did some high grit sanding to level the paint surface and remove any imperfections, washed with some dish soap and water, then flooded the surface with alcohol to remove any remaining water contaminants and what have you. Then I tossed it into my paint oven (free toaster oven thing my buddy gave me that I use for paint and 3d printing) and let it sit at 150F for like.. an hour. Let that cool down, then laid down 3 coats of the 1K clear, 15 minutes between coats, and let that bish air dry in my hot garage until I installed on Sunday while I was waiting for laundry to finish at like noon. Needless to say, this 1K stuff works pretty damn well. The clear coat had minimal signs of orange peel (but maybe attributed to my pre-clear sanding?), the coat feels far more substantial than any krylon or rustoleum I've ever sprayed. With no other finishing steps (sanding or polishing), I'd say the finish looks pretty damn good. Oh, I also couldn't toss the OE silver hardware back on her, so I picked up some titanium hardware off Amazon (same ones I used to do a front reflector delete), and now both heel guards use the same drive size (previously they were like.. 5 and 6mm hex for left and right side, respectively, now they're both T40 torx)
January 13, 2025 - ugh, my muse has evaded me for a witty title. Feeling cute, might delete laterPart installed: hard mounted garage door opener
It's been a while since I've been able to do, well, anything, really. Car, bike, yeah, no time bc work got stupid busy.
ANYWAYS... I've been itching to do something, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money (lots of nieces and nephews to spoil for Christmas, and I perpetually spoil the **** out of my pseudo daughter feral girlchild, and she just turned 14.
But, to what y'all came here for. What did Josh do to the bike? Whaaaallleeee... I wanted to have a hard-mounted garage door opener. Previously, I've been reaching in a pocket for my keychain remote, blindly fumbling for it when it's carabinered onto my belt loop, or using my phone (unlocking, then opening the app, etc) to open my garage door. I'm also impatient and usually do it while on the move. Not really a good idea when you're balancing a 400lb bike with one hand, at slow speeds, while trying to keep momentum, blah de blah de blah. That, and I wanted to tinker with ish.
Step 1: figure out how to do it. I wanted to have it hardwired to the bike so the remote I was harvesting had constant power to it, but only when the bike was keyed on. I have a phone charger that has power when the bike is on, so easy peasy, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. First challenge was not frying the damn module by applying too much voltage. Easy. Get an adjustable buck converter to adjust 12VDC down to 2.9-3.3VDC, solder the bitch together, call it a day. Oh how wrong I was. This damn remote (Chamberlin 956EV) didn't play nice with that at all. When I had a multimeter on it and temporary "hold some wires together to test it," it played all day. The moment I soldered the thing together. Nope. No dice. Ended up frying one remote, made up some sob story at [insert store here] that it worked long enough for me to program it and stopped working, even if I put in a fresh battery, blah blah blah, and got a new one. Yeah, I usually have more integrity than that, but I ran out of f's to give. lol. Well.. Tried it again. Had it stable. Had it working. Soldered it together and had it working. Until it stopped working. And I noticed the IC got hot as **** while 12VDC was applied. IC fried again. Same sob story, different location of store chain, got a new one. lol. Conceded to the electrical gremlins and left it battery powered. Boo.
Step 2: Figure out how I wanted to do it. I made me an xBox series S looking desktop air purifier and used a 12mm "angel eye" pushbutton switch to turn the thing on and off. I really liked the look of it, but wanted something bigger (for ease of operation with motorcycle gloves on). Well, I found a 19mm version of it on the Bezos site. This time, opted for a momentary version of it and bigger diameter, and still IP65 water-resistant rating (allegedly). Also opted for a red halo version to fit the red accent motif Tifa has going on. We'll call this her summon materia (IYKYK). Used a multimeter to figure out which pins to tap, carefully soldered some wires to it and called it a day.
Step 3: Well, I can't just have it in the original remote housing. I want this to be somewhat reversible, in case I move to a place where that remote doesn't work or something. Welp, luckily I have a 3D printer, some digital calipers, and a good amount of experience with Fusion360, so I got to measuring and designing.
Exhibit A: the final design. Slip on case for security and mounting, mockup of the PCB, lid (with O-ring groove), and base with wire protrusions that work with some terminal sets I got on the Bezos site a while back for another project. The lid kinda snaps in place, and the tabs on the case have little indentations that hug the far side of the housing. The secondary function of the case is to "squeeze" the lid onto the housing a bit more for a bit more waterproof assurance. The little divot on the side is if I want to drill it out, since that's where the program button sits.
Final iteration, the housing bottom (where the PCB sits) is made from Proto-Pasta carbon fiber high temp PLA (CFHTPLA). I love printing this stuff, and it holds up really well. It's just really brittle, but it's pretty strong. The housing lid and case was printed with IEMAI carbon fiber PETG. Stuff sucks to print with because it's so... gooey.. but it holds up to extreme temperatures really well, has the carbon fiber for added rigidity, but still retains much more ductility/flexibility when compared to the CFHTPLA. I needed the flexibility for the long-side tabs on the lid (so they would snap into the base) and the ears on the case (so the housing assembly could squeeze past them, but they would also lock the housing into place once fully inserted). My tail tidy, if you recall, was printed with the same stuff, and it's held up for almost a year now, even through the super hot summer we had.
Step 3: Now that it was all designed, I went to work on the circuit building. I had already given up on the hardwire power source from the bike, but the next challenge was to set up the button the way I wanted, at least with regards to illumination. My original want was to have the angel eye normally off, but illuminate upon button press. Problem though. The remote works on a 3V circuit and the switch works off a 12V circuit. In order to have that lighting setup, I'd have to connect the switch LED positive to the load (remote momentary switch) positive, and have it all share a common ground. Honestly, that whole part of the testing is where I fried the PCBs. Nevertheless, this was the 2nd time I would concede to the electrical gremlins. The configuration I got to work was the switch perpetually illuminated with the two contacts on the switch connected to 2 of the contacts on the remote's switch. Pushbutton bypasses the switch, activating garage door opener signal, switch LED light perpetually on. Small concession. I'll take the L there.
Step 4: Where. The fuhhh.. was this going to be. Well. I hated the previous method of garage door opening where I had to take my hand off the throttle to do it. This slowed me down even more, making the bike more unstable, more potential to tip. Problem solved, put it on the left side. But where? Welp, lots of plastic around the handlebars, let's just do that, and that's exactly what I did. Positioned it in such a manner where I take my clutch hand off the handlebars, move it a bit back push a button, and back on the grips. The range on this remote is pretty damn good, too, so I won't be in any danger of having to decide to loop around or fumble to grab the clutch for a full stop. There's also literally nothing below that plastic where I'd have any issues mounting the switch or potential for damaging when drilling through, so that was the optimum place to put it.
Step 5: Where to tap the power source for the switch, since that works off a 12V source? Like I said before, I have a phone charger connected to a factory accessory bullet connector (that I converted to SAE connector). Grab an SAE splitter off the interwebs, and just do that.
Power source(s): Check
Wiring: Check
Mounting location: Check
Ain't nothing left to do but to do the damn thing.
Here's the prototype housing and case, printed out of PLA
and how it fits into the case
The remote PCB, with wires soldered to one of the switches, and waterproof connector attached
Button mount, key off and key on
Housing plugged in with how much slack I have (to disconnect, remove from bike, replace battery, etc). Bonus, I have a magnetic light on one of the forks, and you can kinda tell that everything is tucked away nicely.
All in all:
Remote: $35
Switch: $12, only bc I'm a fancy bitch. I could have spent $8 on a 12 pack of momentary NO switches, but it wouldn't have been as cool. lol
3D printer filament: already on hand ($35/kg for the CF-PETG, $35/500g for the CFHTPLA, and this was all collectively 33g worth of material used)
Terminals: already on hand, but $9 for a 10-pack of terminals (male and female pairs with pins and seals)
SAE splitter: $12 bucks bc I splurged for the ones with rubber seals for the connectors.
$60 bucks in total, we'll say? And more than scratched that mod/fabrication itch
___________________________________________ To be continued...
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; Jan 13, 2025 at 10:16 PM.
Alright kids, Tifa wanted a fancy brake light flasher like Miyuki has, so I made a PnP one for her. Grabbed the flasher module off of AliExpress, and I'm pretty sure it's the same module Miyuki has (that I bought pre-made for like $40. I spent half that making my own ish for the bike). I just needed to buy the Kawi brake light connectors and make my own PnP version for her. Also, milestone, just passed 1100 miles on her after taking a 500-mile round trip road trip.
Welp, the modding continues. The OEM windscreen was... there. Functional enough, but there's always better out there, right? Enter the Puig Z-Racing windscreen. They claim 57% more upper body protection and 14% more helmet protection from the wind, and they included a printout of the virtual wind tunnel test they did on the design. I did want something darker to match the black/white motif, and I spent a good week going back and forth about dark or light smoke. I then realized I hardly ever look through the windscreen, so dark smoke it was. Had some cyclegear cash saved up and it stacked with a coupon code one of my chrome extension found, so I got it for like.. $80-some. It def looks better than stock, and it does sit a bit higher with some different cuts and curves in the shape, and literally 4 bolts holding it on (that double as bolts that hold the 2 mirrors down). Install took all of 10 minutes, 4 minutes was cleaning it off, and a few more minutes was hunting down my 4mm allen key. After install, this is what she looked like:
After install, there was only one thing to do: test it out, and that's exactly what I did, for just about 45 miles (72.5km).
There was a noticeable decrease in "turbulence" I felt in my chest and head, and that was sitting upright. In a tuck, wind seemed to go right over my head. Was kinda nice. In a tuck, at night, I wasn't phased at all by how dark the view through the screen was. The way the tank protrudes, my line of sight is still just over the top of the windscreen, despite it sitting probably 3cm higher than stock. The dark *** windscreen def makes her look a bit meaner, too, so more bonus points there
The old VFR I had came with a Puig windscreen and it went straight into my face (I don't tuck really ever so it wasn't going to work. Ended up switching to Zero Gravity and it was a lot better. Was more into my chest but there was no turbulence. The VFR I have now has a Givi touring screen and there's almost no wind at all anymore, even with the bar risers.
A bit of a late post, but F1 was on, so I had to watch that.
Today, Tifa got some go fast make loud goodness, because stock, she was far too quiet. Today's part comes from Leo Vince, specifically the GP Corsa Evo slip-on exhaust. This thing was hard as hell to find, but luckily, I found one for $220 shipped and without tax, stateside, and under the "sale" MSRP directly from LeoVince (that's been out of stock for months, to boot). I'm not gonna go full exhaust with her. I don't think, at least. I tried it with and without the "dB killer" installed, and if I could find something that was a happy medium between the two, it'd be great. She's loud as **** without the dB killer, and she's a hair on the quiet side with it in. I took her for a spin with it out, and she grumbles and pops. I love it. Neighbors might not, though, especially since I finished install at about 9:45, and got back from my first test ride with about 5 minutes to spare for the Vegas F1 race. I put the dB killer back in for now, and I'll take her for a spin tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I'll drill some holes in the cup portion to let a bit more sound through. I'll post a sound clip vid here eventually.
While the exhaust does sound really fckin good, I'm tinkering around with 3D printed (carbon fiber high temp PLA plastic) dB killers with larger inner pipe diameters. I went for a 30 minute ride and when I got home, tail pipe read 260F at most (310 at the manifold, 290 post-cat), and the CF-HTPLA I use, I anneal at 250-275F. I've popped it in during cold starts and revved, and a 1.25" OD "pipe" on the DB killer sounds pretty good. Maybe I'll buy another dB killer (or sacrifice the original one) and have a machine shop or exhaust shop remove the 22mm pipe and replace it with something bigger so it's not "I'm gonna **** off my neighbors loud" without it, or "is that really aftermarket" with it in.
I showed my housemate's brother with the dB killer in, then took it out to see his reaction. His eyes went wide as hell and said, "JESUS CHRIST! IT'S LIKE A WHOLE DIFFERENT BIKE!"
A cosmetic(ish) mod today. Okay, it was done for cosmetic reasons, but the grip of the rubber part does feel better than OEM. Normally something like $65, got these on sale for about $50. Tried every trick under the sun to get the old ones off, and ended up cutting them off. They were ugly anyways. For those that don't know, Tifa, in FFVII, is a straight up hand-to-hand combat player, and thus, her weapon upgrades are all gloves. Well, her original gloves (not in the remake, or Advent Children, or anything else like that) are red. See figure 1 figure 1
That said, I've committed to making hand and foot control mods (grips, pegs, levers, etc) some form of red. Without further ado, peekchore.
Because most of my mods are going to be cosmetic in nature, and keeping with the Tifa theme with the red foot and hand stuffs, she got red Puig R-Fighter footpegs for both rider and passenger. When I was shopping around, the bike-specific rider adapters were impossible to find (Puig p/n 8887N; the passenger ones were everywhere, so I grabbed those). Placed an order for them at cyclegear.com bc they said they were in stock, and, much to my dismay, they cancelled the order. Found later that Puig makes some adjustable footpegs, but they offset the peg position by 20mm, and you can clock them in 15 degree increments along the center of where the original footpegs sat. I didn't think 20mm would make such a difference, but they did, and one position was the perfect combo of comfortably shifting them up and back. I have me a perpetual passenger princess in the form of my 13 year old niece (12 at the time of the mod), so I had to get her footpegs changed to match mine. I can also clock each one individually to position the texture to accommodate my and my niece's feet positions for a more "customized" fit. Not really a huge difference in that adjustability though.
Now to do something about that raw aluminum heelguard. Paint it black? Give into my riceboy ways and grab one made of carbon fiber? We'll see Rider footpegs. You can see the 20mm offset Passenger to match
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; Dec 30, 2023 at 02:09 PM.
Nothing big today. Moreso something to make my life easier if/when I have to put her up for the rest of the season due to weather. Because I'm from the desert, I can hardly stand anything below 50F, unless I'm snowboarding. Riding the bike in sub-50 temps, especially at highway speeds, definitely makes it feel a whole hell of a lot colder than that (thank you wind chill factors). In fact, damn near made myself hypothermic one night, and my internal body temp (yeah, I checked for kicks and giggles) was sitting at like 95F. Definitely might be about time to put her up for the winter, but I'm still riding during the day if it's 60-something out. I installed me a Tecmate Optimate SAE panel mount, so I don't have to go digging to hook up a battery tender. Also grabbed the ring terminal harness that comes with an in-line 10A fuse, and the extension harness that I properly zip tied out to existing wiring harness stuff for a clean install. Due to the orientation and how many water-resistant connectors there are, there's one disconnect point directly under the plug, one about midway through the frame, and, of course, disconnect at the battery. Installed it in a place that mirrored the factory USB port location, but on the right side of the bike. Basically made it so I have an SAE port that I don't have to take off seats to access, and, in a pinch, can use as an auxiliary power source, assuming the load isn't >10A. Kinda handy to have, if I do say so myself.
I do have some sequential LED turn signals in, but I promised the backpack I'd wait for her to install them.
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; Dec 30, 2023 at 02:15 PM.
Well, well, well.. The backpack came over, and she was stoked about the new parts coming in, so we got to installing. As will all my vehicles, there are officially no incandescent lights on the bike now. I forgot to mention I swapped the license plate bulb with an LED 168 bulb, but it really didn't an update on its own.
First thing that got installed: sequential LED rear turn signals. Now, taking off the OEM signals left a giant gaping hole, so I needed to buy adapter plates to be able to screw these in place. Worried about quality and fit of Amazon/alibaba/etc flat pieces of metal, I found some adapters made by Puig. The downside to the Puig adapters is that the through-hole was 10mm, and the threaded stalk of the TST signals was 8mm. That said, my trust 3D printer came to the rescue, and I printed a couple of spacer/adapters with the carbon fiber high temp PLA I have. I was also worried about accuracy of the gap between the two plates, so I grabbed some neoprene washers that were crushable enough, but enough to make the two mating surfaces of the spacer/adapters sit pretty.
Next up were the front turn signals. Again, with the TST set, and again, sequential. I also opted to hook up the running light feature that has them on at 80% brightness, then switches to the sequential sweeping when the turn signal is turned on. Took a bit of work since I'm **** retentive about making the additional wiring clean as possible and you have to take off most of the front end just to swap the turn signals. Took about an hour and a half, but most of it was the **** retentive part. Man, these bitches are definitely bright, and they throw light on the ground even with just running lights going. Adds for visibility and what have you.
Finally, figured since I had the front end off, and I wanted to add a bit of protection. This one, a radiator cover, I did cheap out on and went with the $30 Amazon special, I did have to bend a small part of it so it sat pretty, and I really didn't trust the hardware it came with, but overall, it looks alright and does what it's supposed to do
Edit: I'm a dumbass and forgot I installed these the same day. I received clear tank grips (because factory graphics are kinda sick) from StompGrip. Do they stick the best? Nah. Do they provide the grip I want with my knees? Absolutely. Have they fallen off yet? Nope. That's all I need. lol [pic to come later because I suck]
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; Jan 20, 2024 at 12:57 PM.
yeah, yeah, I'm posting this late again because work has been killing me lately. Seems like everything is getting bottlenecked to me again, but I digress.
I'm not one to turn down presents. I guess backpack has been working with roomie for a super belated b-day/Christmas thing for me, and I was asking her color opinions on these. Came in good time, too, because I dropped Tifa semi-violently while practicing u-turns on the MSF course range and these got delivered with my name on 'em like 2 days later. Had to bend the rear brake lever back into shape, and my front brake lever got a slight bow to it. What came in are ASV "unbreakable" F3 brake and clutch levers in anodized red with black adjustment dials. I kinda have short-ish fingers, and I've been wanting adjustable levers to pull them in just a little bit while maintaining factory adjustment of the lever travel itself. These have 180 points of adjustment, which equates to 4 inches worth (and I'm assuming that's the swing arc of the distal end of the lever.. doesn't make sense to me otherwise). These also fold forward if they get hit, and spring back into place, so the only thing that should happen to these under drop conditions is a bit of scuffing.
I received these the 15th, installed on the 17th (had to wait for backpack, as all things install-wise goes these days, regardless if it's the bike or the car). Brake lever was a straight 5 minute install, no further adjustments needed. Clutch was a bit more of a pain in the *** since the 10mm nut on the bottom is harder than isht to get a socket on. That, and since the clutch cable attaches to the lever itself, I had to look up the adjustment spec and re-adjust accordingly. My only beef is the anodizing is ever so slightly brighter than the Driven Racing grips I have, but what are you gonna do? It's close enough, and you'll only really notice it if you're really looking for it, and probably only under the right lighting conditions. Took her out for a ride yesterday (Jan 19th) and adjusted them to my liking. Clutch lever has to be a bit further out than I'd like because if I adjust it closer, the bike won't start in gear. Oh well. It's at about the factory distance, probably a hair closer, so I'm content with that.
I did a thing that I didn't think I'd do: installed a fender eliminator (a.k.a. tail tidy) on Tifa. I didn't post up bc I figured I'd be reverting back to stock because, truth be told, I didn't mind the full fender look. Now that I got the tail tidy on there though, I kinda like it, and I think it's here to stay. I didn't feel like spending any money on something that seemed experimental, so I did what any sane person with a 3D printer would do: print that bitch. I haven't had good luck with PLA on external motorcycle stuff (even high temp carbon fiber PLA), but I had a roll of carbon fiber PETG that I literally just dialed in the settings for like a month prior. It's still kind of a pain to print with, but figured it'd be the best bet for this case. I didn't like a few of the things on the original file, so I botted up Fusion360 and modded the file, much like I do with a lot of the other STL and STEP files I grab off the internets. Like 8 hours later, 30 minutes of sanding, $5 worth of hardware, and about 30 minutes of disassembly, reassembly, and wire tucking, I got her installed, and it looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. The real test is going to see how it fares in the stupid hot temps we get here in Vegas. If it doesn't last, I'll pony up the money for a "real" one.
p.s. don't mind the chicken strips. They've gotten significantly smaller since this pic was taken back in February since I'm getting a lot more confident leaning the bike.
Welp, Josh's ADHD hamster brain took over (technically over the weekend). I'm moving soon, and I was cleaning/organizing the garage for ease of loading stuff into a UHaul. I then noticed the vinyl I slapped on Tifa's heel guards was peeling. I only tossed come vinyl on there because the raw aluminum look was way out of place amidst the sea of black and hints of silver colored bolts and added red on the foot pegs. So, where did hamster brain come into play? I was organizing my garage hazmat into a tote, and noticed my black spray paint. I also noticed the rattelcan of Dupli-Color 1K I bought for when I have enough free time to re-do my headlights bc the shitty clearcoat I put on is looking like absolute crap. Figured now was as good a time as any to test it out since I've never used it before, and always had "meh" luck with other rattlecan clearcoats you pick up at like.. Home Depot or similar.
That said, I took off the heel guards and laid down about 8 layers of black paint (overkill, I know, but I was trying to waste the remnants of the can of black so I had less crap to pack), waiting a good 10 minutes between each coat and rotating 90° on every coat. The next morning (Saturday), I did some high grit sanding to level the paint surface and remove any imperfections, washed with some dish soap and water, then flooded the surface with alcohol to remove any remaining water contaminants and what have you. Then I tossed it into my paint oven (free toaster oven thing my buddy gave me that I use for paint and 3d printing) and let it sit at 150F for like.. an hour. Let that cool down, then laid down 3 coats of the 1K clear, 15 minutes between coats, and let that bish air dry in my hot garage until I installed on Sunday while I was waiting for laundry to finish at like noon. Needless to say, this 1K stuff works pretty damn well. The clear coat had minimal signs of orange peel (but maybe attributed to my pre-clear sanding?), the coat feels far more substantial than any krylon or rustoleum I've ever sprayed. With no other finishing steps (sanding or polishing), I'd say the finish looks pretty damn good. Oh, I also couldn't toss the OE silver hardware back on her, so I picked up some titanium hardware off Amazon (same ones I used to do a front reflector delete), and now both heel guards use the same drive size (previously they were like.. 5 and 6mm hex for left and right side, respectively, now they're both T40 torx)
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; Jun 3, 2024 at 10:56 PM.
It's been a while since I've been able to do, well, anything, really. Car, bike, yeah, no time bc work got stupid busy.
ANYWAYS... I've been itching to do something, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money (lots of nieces and nephews to spoil for Christmas, and I perpetually spoil the **** out of my pseudo daughter feral girlchild, and she just turned 14.
But, to what y'all came here for. What did Josh do to the bike? Whaaaallleeee... I wanted to have a hard-mounted garage door opener. Previously, I've been reaching in a pocket for my keychain remote, blindly fumbling for it when it's carabinered onto my belt loop, or using my phone (unlocking, then opening the app, etc) to open my garage door. I'm also impatient and usually do it while on the move. Not really a good idea when you're balancing a 400lb bike with one hand, at slow speeds, while trying to keep momentum, blah de blah de blah. That, and I wanted to tinker with ish.
Step 1: figure out how to do it. I wanted to have it hardwired to the bike so the remote I was harvesting had constant power to it, but only when the bike was keyed on. I have a phone charger that has power when the bike is on, so easy peasy, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. First challenge was not frying the damn module by applying too much voltage. Easy. Get an adjustable buck converter to adjust 12VDC down to 2.9-3.3VDC, solder the bitch together, call it a day. Oh how wrong I was. This damn remote (Chamberlin 956EV) didn't play nice with that at all. When I had a multimeter on it and temporary "hold some wires together to test it," it played all day. The moment I soldered the thing together. Nope. No dice. Ended up frying one remote, made up some sob story at [insert store here] that it worked long enough for me to program it and stopped working, even if I put in a fresh battery, blah blah blah, and got a new one. Yeah, I usually have more integrity than that, but I ran out of f's to give. lol. Well.. Tried it again. Had it stable. Had it working. Soldered it together and had it working. Until it stopped working. And I noticed the IC got hot as **** while 12VDC was applied. IC fried again. Same sob story, different location of store chain, got a new one. lol. Conceded to the electrical gremlins and left it battery powered. Boo.
Step 2: Figure out how I wanted to do it. I made me an xBox series S looking desktop air purifier and used a 12mm "angel eye" pushbutton switch to turn the thing on and off. I really liked the look of it, but wanted something bigger (for ease of operation with motorcycle gloves on). Well, I found a 19mm version of it on the Bezos site. This time, opted for a momentary version of it and bigger diameter, and still IP65 water-resistant rating (allegedly). Also opted for a red halo version to fit the red accent motif Tifa has going on. We'll call this her summon materia (IYKYK). Used a multimeter to figure out which pins to tap, carefully soldered some wires to it and called it a day.
Step 3: Well, I can't just have it in the original remote housing. I want this to be somewhat reversible, in case I move to a place where that remote doesn't work or something. Welp, luckily I have a 3D printer, some digital calipers, and a good amount of experience with Fusion360, so I got to measuring and designing.
Exhibit A: the final design. Slip on case for security and mounting, mockup of the PCB, lid (with O-ring groove), and base with wire protrusions that work with some terminal sets I got on the Bezos site a while back for another project. The lid kinda snaps in place, and the tabs on the case have little indentations that hug the far side of the housing. The secondary function of the case is to "squeeze" the lid onto the housing a bit more for a bit more waterproof assurance. The little divot on the side is if I want to drill it out, since that's where the program button sits.
Final iteration, the housing bottom (where the PCB sits) is made from Proto-Pasta carbon fiber high temp PLA (CFHTPLA). I love printing this stuff, and it holds up really well. It's just really brittle, but it's pretty strong. The housing lid and case was printed with IEMAI carbon fiber PETG. Stuff sucks to print with because it's so... gooey.. but it holds up to extreme temperatures really well, has the carbon fiber for added rigidity, but still retains much more ductility/flexibility when compared to the CFHTPLA. I needed the flexibility for the long-side tabs on the lid (so they would snap into the base) and the ears on the case (so the housing assembly could squeeze past them, but they would also lock the housing into place once fully inserted). My tail tidy, if you recall, was printed with the same stuff, and it's held up for almost a year now, even through the super hot summer we had.
Step 3: Now that it was all designed, I went to work on the circuit building. I had already given up on the hardwire power source from the bike, but the next challenge was to set up the button the way I wanted, at least with regards to illumination. My original want was to have the angel eye normally off, but illuminate upon button press. Problem though. The remote works on a 3V circuit and the switch works off a 12V circuit. In order to have that lighting setup, I'd have to connect the switch LED positive to the load (remote momentary switch) positive, and have it all share a common ground. Honestly, that whole part of the testing is where I fried the PCBs. Nevertheless, this was the 2nd time I would concede to the electrical gremlins. The configuration I got to work was the switch perpetually illuminated with the two contacts on the switch connected to 2 of the contacts on the remote's switch. Pushbutton bypasses the switch, activating garage door opener signal, switch LED light perpetually on. Small concession. I'll take the L there.
Step 4: Where. The fuhhh.. was this going to be. Well. I hated the previous method of garage door opening where I had to take my hand off the throttle to do it. This slowed me down even more, making the bike more unstable, more potential to tip. Problem solved, put it on the left side. But where? Welp, lots of plastic around the handlebars, let's just do that, and that's exactly what I did. Positioned it in such a manner where I take my clutch hand off the handlebars, move it a bit back push a button, and back on the grips. The range on this remote is pretty damn good, too, so I won't be in any danger of having to decide to loop around or fumble to grab the clutch for a full stop. There's also literally nothing below that plastic where I'd have any issues mounting the switch or potential for damaging when drilling through, so that was the optimum place to put it.
Step 5: Where to tap the power source for the switch, since that works off a 12V source? Like I said before, I have a phone charger connected to a factory accessory bullet connector (that I converted to SAE connector). Grab an SAE splitter off the interwebs, and just do that.
Power source(s): Check
Wiring: Check
Mounting location: Check
Ain't nothing left to do but to do the damn thing.
Here's the prototype housing and case, printed out of PLA
and how it fits into the case
The remote PCB, with wires soldered to one of the switches, and waterproof connector attached
Button mount, key off and key on
Housing plugged in with how much slack I have (to disconnect, remove from bike, replace battery, etc). Bonus, I have a magnetic light on one of the forks, and you can kinda tell that everything is tucked away nicely.
All in all:
Remote: $35
Switch: $12, only bc I'm a fancy bitch. I could have spent $8 on a 12 pack of momentary NO switches, but it wouldn't have been as cool. lol
3D printer filament: already on hand ($35/kg for the CF-PETG, $35/500g for the CFHTPLA, and this was all collectively 33g worth of material used)
Terminals: already on hand, but $9 for a 10-pack of terminals (male and female pairs with pins and seals)
SAE splitter: $12 bucks bc I splurged for the ones with rubber seals for the connectors.
$60 bucks in total, we'll say? And more than scratched that mod/fabrication itch
So... I took Tifa out for a ride, and Tifa said, "eh.. I don't know if I like this setup." I immediately knew she was talking about the garage door opener. After I got home from the ride, I started tinkering and pondering the setup. I knew 2 things: 1) while I liked the "accidental" setup of the switch light being on all the time, I didn't 100% like it since I didn't have positive indication of a circuit-completing button press and 2) I wanted a bit more security with the setup, since regardless of key position, the garage door opener button would work. The question was, "how tf do I get around this...?" then it occurred to me: add a damn relay. Simple enough solution for both of the issues.
So, I knew I needed a relay, but how in the sweet hell would I make it happen? Well, Amazon to the rescue, yet again. 5 pack of 12VDC/30A relays with sockets for <$10. Good deal. What I didn't realize until I bench tested is the fact that adding the relay would 100% allow me to wire the switch how I initially wanted it. Previously, without the relay, if I sent voltage through the switch, it would 100% fry the garage door opener PCB, since a single 2032 battery operates at 3VDC, and the switch needed 12VDC to illuminate (it was designed for automotive use). The original setup separated the LED power and switch circuit, so I didn't have to worry about frying the remote PCB. Operating with a relay, the electromagnet took the spot in the circuit as the load, thereby separating the circuit completing switch there. Now, I'm naturally an indecisive person when it comes to decisions that have no major consequence. This led to the "how tf do I want the switch light to operate" conundrum. Always on and it turns off upon button activation (which was not listed in the switch's instructions)? Always off and turns off upon button activation? Well, I didn't know which one I wanted, and I still don't know which one I want. So, a solution to self-made problem: add another switch. I had a SPDT latching pushbutton switch laying around from another project I had years back (was a 2-pack of switches for $10, and I only used one back then). This one was a 12mm switch vs the 19mm I used to the original setup. So, I printed a mount for that and double-sided taped it to the underside of some plastic, and I made sure it was accessible while riding.
Now, the previous setup, I didn't take anything apart to make it work. I soldered wires together and hoped for the best. That resulted in some wires being kinda long, and me having to stuff them so they were tucked away. This time around, I took off the left side fairing so I could make the wires appropriate lengths, and everything zip-tied away all nice and pretty. I also had to mod the "case" portion a bit so the relay was mounted nicely, leading me to create this:
I later modded the case to make it ~10% slimmer (2.2mm). Another thing I did was make it so that I could disconnect and remove any part of this system, leading me to add 5 total deutsch connectors in the entire thing. You can see 3 of them in this pic, one mounted on the case, one for the 12VDC source for the entire thing, and one for the "mode" switch (the only 3-pin I used in this setup). Not pictured: the 4-pin coming from the switch and a 2-pin that feeds into the 3-pin from the switch (the 3rd that fed into the 3-pin was a red wire from the 4-pin. I clearly didn't plan that out beforehand and had to improvise). If I had planned it beforehand, it would have been two 3-pin connectors coming out of the switch.
Everything buttoned up, I tested it out (obviously, the remote is unplugged in these pics so I didn't open and close my garage to test out the lighting sitch:
Default/Mode 1: On, off when button is pressed
Mode 2: Off, on with button press (figured this would be useful to minimize a single point light source on a night ride with little to no ambient light):
Sauuuurrrrr... Today's update was a complete impulse buy, and I'm still not 100% certain it'll be a permanent one. It's on a trial period at the moment.
I've never really liked the look of the bug antenna mirrors, but they serve their purpose beautifully. I have a buddy that just got a Ninja 500, and he's been asking me bike mod questions left and right as of late, and, at some point, said f- it and ordered some winglet mirrors off of amazon. So far, I really dig the look, but I took her out for a test ride just now, and I'm not sure if I'm sold on these. Sure, I can see enough left and right (once I got them adjusted to my liking), and if I need to look behind me, lean a bit to the side and chicken wing my arm, but idk man. If they were way more convex, they'd be solid.
Anywho, install pic. The left one is in sport mode (folded down) and the right one (closer) is in view mode.
Forgot to update. I took them off after a couple days and returned them. Feral girlchild gave me the stank face when she saw them and said some Gen Z/A (she's a generational cusp kid) slang involving skibidi and ohio. I think there was a toilet somewhere in there. I don't fckin know what she said.
Last edited by xRiCeBoYx; Feb 26, 2025 at 01:06 AM.
Tifa's about to get her first "real" performance mod, and it comes in the form of suspension. For reference, the stock Ninja 400 suspension only has preload adjustment, and it's something like 6 different settings, and the ohlins price tag made me want to puke
If Tifa was going to be a dedicated track bike, maybe. There were some other options out there, but Ohlins is probably the brand that car enthusiasts would be familiar with. That, and the other brands were either the same price range or quite a bit higher (bitubo, for instance, is up and over $1k for just a rear shock). So, what options are there for us budget minded folk that want a quick and easy upgrade? Well, Tifa's about to start to identify as a gixxer bro.
Josh.. wtf do you mean...?
I'm glad you asked. The 2011+ GSXR600/750/1000 rear shock is a direct bolt on to the Ninja 400, and the spring rates are pretty comparable to that of the Ninja 400. The OEM N400 rear shock spring rate is 96N/mm, the GSXR600 is 101N/mm, 750 is 91N/mm, and the liter is 105N/mm (yes, the 750 has the softest spring rate). I'm 170-175lbs, and eventually want to try and drop back down to 160ish (but because I've gotten older, weight loss has been harder to come by compared to when I used to hit the gym 3-5 times a week and run a 5k every night). That said, Norton motorsports has a chart that has rider weight (not including gear) vs the recommended rear shock spring rates. For my weight, here's what they said:
140-170lb: 90N
155-185: 90N
175-205: 95N
and, for kicks and giggles, the weight range above that,
190-220: 100N
That said, I went searching for a GSXR750 rear shock for that 91N spring rate. Sure, I went on the lighter side, so the ride will probably be a little bouncier when feral girlchild backpacks. Now... why swap an OEM for OEM? Well, the GSXR shock not only has preload adjustment (in the form of a coilover-style locking collar as opposed to the N400 collar that has 6 or so defined settings), but it also has compression and rebound dampening adjustment. Bonus point, it has a built in shock reservoir, unlike the OE N400 rear shock. Now, to source the rear shock, I paid a visit to eBay (haven't bought car parts off eBay since the early 2000s) to sift through all the ***** that's out there to find one in decent condition, and boy, did I find one in good condition. Thing looked damn near new. The one I found came off a 2024 GSXR750 and it had just over 4500 miles on it. For reference, Tifa has just under 8500 miles on her. Snagged it for $60 shipped, and I got it in a couple days.
Now, the downside. The GSXR rear shock is 5mm shorter than the OEM rear shock, and that would change suspension geometry. Luckily, Spears Racing (oddly enough, based out of the little podunk town in CA's central valley -- Manteca -- where I went to elementary school, and my sister went to high school) that sells a ride height adjuster adapter mount for the Ninja 400/500 that gives the option to raise the rear suspension either +5mm or +10mm. Naturally, I'm going to keep the rear geometry the same and offset the GSXR rear shock's -5mm with the +5mm setting on the Spears adapters. The Spears adapters, which are literally 5mm thick CNC'd metal plates that are no bigger than 2"x2.5", were more expensive than the shock itself at $100. I texted a non-mechanically inclined buddy of mine and asked him to make it make sense. lol.
Another downside, and it's my fault for not paying that close attention to the ebay listing. The lower mount of the shock was missing the inner race of the lower mount bearing, and when I got it, some of the bearing rollers fell out when I was unwrapping my new toy. I also failed to look hard enough to see that it was missing some of the bearing rollers in the pics. Partzilla wanted $40 for the bearing and another $18 for the inner race. I decided to overnight parts from Japan buy them off of Webike (based out of Tokyo) and it came out to $32 shipped with 5-day shipping. I could have opted for 2-day shipping, but I'm in no real rush. I have a buddy that manages a shop and has access to a bearing press, so I'm going to pay him a visit to swap the bearing out.
"Downside" number 3: the lower mount is ever so slightly narrower than the N400 lower rear shock mount. The fix: 2 M10 washers. Not really a downside since I had plenty of random washers laying around, a couple of which I found just so happened to be M10
Anyways, enough talk, here are pics. For the lower mount, I 3D printed a "bearing inner race" just to keep all the rollers together. In the Spears mount, I 3D printed a spacer so I could sorta mock up the assembly
First things first, not my pic, but here's a comparison of the GSXR rear shock vs the N400 rear shock
And now, the pics I took of the one Tifa's gonna rock:
Like I said, this bish clean clean. Sure, I did a quick wipedown with a paper towel with a bit of simple green on it, but it was literally just a wipedown. No scrubbing, wire brushing, etc. Aside from a bit of dirt that was on it, the bump stop was in great condition. For those of you that have dealt with older suspensions, you know those bump stops look like dookie after even like.. 5k miles.
The bolts are just some M10 bolts I had laying around
And here, I showcased the comp/rebound adjustment screw. If you look closely enough, you can see the M10 washers under the bolt head that I have staged for the actual install.
Tifa should be rocking this in the next couple weeks
SAUR.... I made another eBay grab because Tifa liked to smash my nuts into the gas tank. Common "issue" with the N400 due to the shape of the rider saddle. I'm also a member on a Ninja 400 forum, and with the discontinuation and subsequent release of the Ninja 500, that community has grown to learn that the N500 rider saddle was flattened out a bit and fits the N400, albeit with some small "gaps." Additionally, about 3 weeks ago, my buddy got a Ninja 500 and he came over so I could sell him a spare exhaust I accidentally ordered (because the N400 and N500 are similar enough). I took his seat and put it on Tifa to see how bad the fitment was and how it felt on the bum bum. Needless to say, it solidified my want for one. As I was surfing the depth of eBay for a suitable gixxer rear shock, I also incorporated a search for a suitable N500 seat. I found one, I put it on, and we'll rate it 1 through 10 and funny enough, it, too, was more expensive than the gixxer rear shock. For those that don't feel like scrolling, I nabbed the gixxer shock for $60. The N500 seat I nabbed for $110. It came in the other day, and I slapped her on and took Tifa out for a test ride with her new butt support. The new seat is definitely more firm than my OEM seat, but that's a bit to be expected, considering the N400 seat had 8900 riding miles on it. I need to put more farts miles into this one and she'll break in just fine. I also got the bearing that was overnighted ordered from Japan, paid a visit to my buddy, and had him press it in. He eyeballed the positioning of the bearing, and I had to give him **** because he missed center by 0.08mm. Told him his work was completely shoddy and unacceptable.
Anywho, back to the seat. It is a different material than the OEM seat, and now my backpack seat and rider seat don't match. It's enough to make my ****-retentive side twitch an eye, but not enough to act on it... yet.. There's a company called Luimoto that sells seat cover replacements, and I might go that route eventually. It'll cost me like $200 for both rider and passenger seats, so..... we'll see.
Anyways, feet seat pics
And a pic of the "gap." It covers all the vitals just fine. Just doesn't 100% line up with factory body lines, and this is the extent of how bad it is.
