I had some work done on the Ninja on Saturday. A bunch of years ago on a less modern bike, I would have done it myself, but these days I couldn’t even get the fairing off.
The cooling system header tank has been getting more discoloured as the year has worn on, so I found a mechanic who could ‘do the job’ as effectively and more cheaper than a Kawasaki dealer.
I arrived at the workshop at 11.00 and we had a brew whilst waiting for the bike to cool down.
Within a couple of minutes he had the first layer of the fairings off (see what I mean?).
About 20 minutes afterwards he had the second layer off.
Then he removed the header tank, cleaned it out, removed the drain plug, let all the coolant run out.
Then he flushed the cooling jacket and pipes with an alcohol compound, replaced the drain plug, scrubbed out the header tank, refitted it and filled the system with new coolant.
Then it was time to jenga the fairing components back into place. Then I paid the guy and came home. Two hours work for less than half price I would have been changed by a dealer.
A good job all round.
Yes, modern bikes (and cars) are almost impossible for the lay rider (and driver) to work on nowadays – unlike that beautiful Z1000 that Henry and Alan are restoring on The Motorbike Show.
I haven’t seen that. I might look it out on iPlayer or whatever.