New Ride...

Hey, so the itch has been killing me so I went out and bought an 07 500R in Silver yesterday for $4999 OTD.

It's been great and following some different break-in procedures, I'm beginning to love the new found power.

Now I'm doing all this research about what kind of filters to use, motor oil, and frequency of the initial oil change. I've read that I should change it after the first 20 miles of breaking it in to get all the metal scrap out. I'm thinking of getting regular motorcycle oil that's 10w-40.

I'm still trying to figure out where the drain bolt is in this figure.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h195/rubix777/oilfilter.gif

I'm thinking for my oil change I just need to buy 16097 (oil filter) and the 92150 (drain bolt?). Is the drain bolt reuseable? For my car I've reused the same drain bolt for the last 10 oil changes. Also, in regards to torque specs--how closely do you guys follow them? Or can I just torque it lightly.

I figured 2 pictures should be enough. We all know what a new 500R looks like. :)

Seems too hard to be true that you must load and unload the engine in order to break it in "properly".

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h195/rubix777/P1011037.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h195/rubix777/P1011039.jpg

yeah the bolt is re-usable.

go a mineral oil for the first change and till the first service.

i was told not to rev mine out during break in BUT... funny story.

as an apprentice we had two new utes. one was thrashed from day one while the other was run in as per manufacturer. the thrashed one always went harder. the other was a dog to drive.

an guy i know bought a CBR1000RR and never went over half redline. its still tight near redline where mine revs freely up to redline.

so as you can probably tell i didn't exactly go too easy all the time. most of the time but i needed to thrill myself with the new purchase

I think Kawasaki put that sticker about keeping the revs low to prevent people from redlining with a cold engine.

To break it in, I hit maybe 8-9k a few times, but only when the engine was warm, after I've rode maybe 2 miles and the temp guage is out of the cold zone.

congrats on the new purchase...they're nimble little bikes man...

I was at the dealership today to get a small scratch fixed, which was already on the bike when I purchased it. There was a car parked next to me so instead of backing out all the way before going forward, I tried to do a sharp turn.

Little did I know I was in second gear. When I accelerated, it kinda bogged, so to prevent from laying it down, I gave it some throttle.:shakehead I think I did a 360 donut with my left foot planted before it stalled and it landed on the left side. :banghead: I lifted it up and the left barend has some light scuffs, and the left exhaust, where it starts turning from black to silver, bending up, has a small scuff. The fairings are clean and untouched.

I'm so mad now. I should've just slowly backed it out. Looking at the road where I did the donut, there are some small pebbles from the worn driveway.

I think this was a result of new tires, not having as good grip as my 250 did. The 250 had 2k on the tires already. These new tires on the 500 only had 40 miles.:banghead:

That being said, is there a way I can polish the light scratch off of the exhaust to make it smooth again?

tell tale signs of a drop are new bar ends, aftermarket exhaust, and scuffed footrests.

buy OEM bar ends so no one knows and you'll probably end up buying aftermarket exhaust anyway.

this is why we (all the long standing forum members) advise cheap second hand bike to learn on. its not a matter of 'if you drop" but "when".

my dad dropped his brand new CB900 3 times in three months before he realised he couldn't control the weight bias. now he has a Z750 and has never had a problem.

be proud of the battle scars..... they're proof your trying

I agree with Aussie on the battle scars. Make up a believable story that's a little more exciting than what actually happended. That way you can wear the scratches with honor until you're ready for an aftermarket pipe. Nothing sucks worse than dropping your new baby. On the scratches, if they're not really deep, Mother's for aluminum or Turtle wax for chrome are the two best polishes I've used. My Fatboy has acres of chrome and I live on a dirt road, so I speak from experience. That's a sweet looking bike by the way...ENJOY!!

I'll see if I can get some chrome polish from a carshop to try to get the scratches out of the exhaust.

I see some cheap aftermarket barends that look like stock ones on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KAWASAKI-BLACK-BAR-END-ENDS-NINJA-250-500-650R-ER-6-ZX6_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35580QQihZ020QQitem Z300071772576QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

Do tires have a break in period before I can do some cornering? I heard that new tires have a slippery coating that needs to be rubbed off before it is safe to corner with them.

You've got a pic of the oil pump drive and related parts. The drainbolt is not pictured.

you don't need a new drainbolt.

92150 holds 32033 (pickup bypass?) in place. That's all inside the motor, except for the filter. You won't see any of that.