2005 Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R Brake Upgrade

Recently I warped a brake disc. Turns out that even a VERY minor warping of one of those front discs causes significant wobble and shake while braking - I knew this in principle, but not having ever actually experienced it, I didn't have a full understanding. Within about 50 miles, I went from everything being perfectly fine and normal to being afraid to use my front brakes - and nothing odd happened to cause this as far as I know...it just happened.

My garage buddy for the day :)

So, I looked around at the options for buying new and used rotors and wasn't at all happy with what it was going to cost. I was going to be spending hundreds on new rotors and at least a hundred on used ones as well. So I went to my usual online stomping grounds, zx6r.com, to see if anyone had any other ideas for me. And sure enough, someone did :)

So, thanks to PowerGroove from zx6r.com for selling me a full brake system off a 2012, I decided to resell the master cylinder I had previously purchased and planned on swapping to (from a 2007 ZX6R) and just put on the the whole 2012 setup since I had to pull the discs off anyway.

This is not really a how-to since the whole process is INCREDIBLY easy. I'm more writing this to let people know that this is a really quite easy project to improve an 05/06 ZX6R and that it is a direct swap of ALL parts! I literally just unbolted the old stuff and bolted on the new stuff. The only old parts I kept were the bracket for the reservoir and the stainless steel brake lines that I already had on my 2005. So, all told, I swapped over the master cylinder, the reservoir and rubber hose to the MC, the calipers, and the rotors.

It took me about a week and a half to actually get it done, but that was due to some extra steps I put in and because I only have a bit of time here and there while the baby is napping (actually, work was more of the problem than the kid...). I also had new tires put on after I took the wheels off and swapped the rotors, so that took a couple days as well. Seriously though, I'd bet that even with the extra time I put in that most people wouldn't, I probably only spent about 3-4 hours on this.

Since I was pulling the front wheel anyway, I also decided to get new tires put on...a rear was BADLY needed ----->





So, for new rubber, I went with Bridgestone Battlax S21s based on some recommendations and hoping I like them...I guess we'll see:

I know some will disagree with this, but the other steps I mentioned above were related to the color of the brakes. I know many other owners don't, but I really love the gold accents that came stock on my bike and didn't want to lose that on the front brakes, so I decided to make it happen with the replacements as well. I used a high temp chemical resistant engine enamel on them so I hope it holds up long term...if not, I guess I'll have to figure something else out:

I forgot to take a picture completely before I started painting...

I did a silver base coat before putting on the gold

Caliper (and color) comparison:

Having just gone out for about an hour ride and I'm super happy with how everything feels. The tires are absolutely spectacular - felt like the bike was glued to the road!

As for the brakes, well, I'm glad I wasn't expecting to be shocked by the difference. They are certainly better than they were, but they aren't THAT much better. I don't feel like there is any noticeable difference in stopping power while max braking, but that's a little hard to compare 2 weeks apart, so maybe there is and I'm just not noticing it. Honestly, I don't really care about that, though, because my previous brakes had enough overall braking power to lock up the front if I used them wrong...I don't really need more than that, do I?

Anyway, the lever feel, on the other hand, is a huge improvement. It is so much more linear and predictable than it was previously. I don't know how to expand on it more than that, but the brakes feel great!

Overall, if you've got an 05/06, I'd say it's worth the relatively modest price to upgrade the brakes

PetSafe Ultrasonic Bark Collar (PBC00-13925) Review

This collar is exactly as manufacturer describe it, so I can't fault them too much on that. However, I found it to be FAR too sensitive to be useful.

To elaborate a bit on that, this collar definitely went off every time my dog barked, so I guess that is a good thing. Unfortunately, it also went off every time my kid made a loud noise, every time my dog jumped off the couch and landed on the wood floor (not that loud), every time the doorbell went off, etc. It went off and "punished" my dog for things that were not barking and not what it should have been responding to.

The only place I found this device to be useful was placing it next to my dog's crate at night when there weren't other noises that would make it go off. It did seem to help a small amount in keeping her from barking at night while she was in her crate, but after a while she seemed to just get used to the noise and simply ignored it.

If you are looking for a device that will bother your dog every time there is a loud noise in your home (or outside), then this is a great product for you. If, however, you are looking for a device that will help you control your dog's barking by creating an association barking and a disturbing ultrasonic noise, then this is the wrong product for you. Your dog won't learn anything about barking by wearing this, he/she will simply learn to hate all loud noises because they are immediately followed by an ultrasonic tone...