Blue, try a Vortex. They are really easy to get. With the amount of maintenance you do, Vortex will be trouble free

Hey Romans-how are ya!I probably would go with a Vortex-BUT.....the aluminum factor kinda puts me off.You know,once those teeth start wearin...front sprocket gets affected,as well as the chain-even a new one.I've had real good results so far with steel.Front sprocket's held up really well,and the chain has lasted a good many miles-aggressive miles.One of these times I'm gonna get a new chain.This one here is my second-I guess not bad for an 07? with 29,000 miles.I've switched out rear and front sprockets "a few" times-so I kinda have a couple of "fairly new" setups I can go with.Have a new 17,and a 16.Five rears--two 42's,two 41's-and one 43 that I just put back on-virtually new condition.I'll hang with this setup 16/43 for the beginning of the next season.Gonna be fun with my present mods which I didn't have before when I used the 16/43.Maybe go up again to the 17 some time.It's all good.My bike is a blast...best I ever owned!If I do change again-it'll be the 17/45.But it's just SO close in performance to my 16/43-It's hard to justify spending a bit over 300 clams for the chain and sprockets.We'll see what lies ahead.I appreciate all your info with this-great help!Thanks Romans.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/17/2009 @ 11:48 PM *

10-4 Blue, The Two guys I ride with are running 16/43(my old sprockets lol)so I know your set up and how much fun it can be. When you decide to play some more(and You will) I do hope you give the 17/45 a try. If your like me the curiosity will drive you nuts. You will be glad you did. Cheers.

Okay-now ya got me goin-you HAD the 16/43 setup.So we pretty much both know what that's like.You're saying the 17/45 is an even greater mod?How much more?16/43 can be pretty radical.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/18/2009 @ 6:41 PM *

You're saying the 17/45 is an even greater mod?How much more?16/43 can be pretty radical.

No, I'm not saying more radical, if anything it's less radical. SMOOTHER, with a tiny hair more top end than 16/43. Less jumpy in and out of the corners, you know, just feels right. Please don't misunderstand, but it's a safe bet you will like it. Seems to be her sweet spot. Not a touring gear by any means, lots of fun though. My Fav. This has been my longest running gear ratio to date. I can't run any more gear without a extension. I'm still screwing up my WOT first to second shifts, so this is where she will stay for awhile.

WOT 1st to 2nd shifts-!You must be insane!If I tried that,i'd have one chance at getting it right-which would leave me-well,"flat on my back" shall we say.I can power on in first to second plenty-but I have yet(that I know of)opened er ALL the way wide open shifting like that.I've run er to the limiter in all gears,but not just slammed her wide open and keep it that way.I guess I'm actually doing a fast roll-on-not pinnin it to the throttle stop.(I can't turn my hand that far around without grabbing some more grip).Probably a GOOD THING in my case!...................... As long as I've been riding-this is gonna sound REALLY IGNORANT-I've not even "considered grabbing the throttle further forward"to be able to turn it all the way to the stop!!!WHAT was I thinkin!!!!!NOW I'm gonna have to try that Rome-nice one! ...I swear,if I crash over backwards it's gonna be YOUR FAULT!

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/18/2009 @ 7:39 PM *

but not just slammed her wide open and keep it that way

Nope, me no can do either lol, Clutch slip plays a big roll. 6000 grand and let her slip out. Working on it. Not enough seat time to be great at it. Every time I ride after a 2 week break, it's like starting over.

Yo Blue,
I've been searching the web and I can't find the "Zephyr" sprocket 16 tooth or otherwise. Where should I look?

Sharkey why not the dealer? Can't be that much more.

SORRY Sharkey-forgot to mention it's a Kawasaki Motorcycle!!!!(My BAD)You could order it from your dealer I suppose. 1995 Zephyr-part number 13144(transmission diagrams)16 tooth-$27.09

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/23/2009 @ 12:58 PM *

Ohhh..I get it now. I wasn't making the connection with the Zephyr model Kawasaki. I was searching for a brand name Zephyr. Sometimes I'm as dumb as a post!
T
So what were you saying about the Zephyr having dampers? I see dampers on the secondary drive but not really near the drive sprocket. It's just a steel sprocket mounted on a spline. Am I overlooking something?
Also, sometimes I'm thick... ->->->

* Last updated by: Sharkey on 12/22/2009 @ 7:05 PM *

No-you're not thick!!.The diagram shows the sprocket alright(13144)-and the rubber dampers-it just appears as one ...........See the sprocket .Okay,now look at the outside edge of it(next to the teeth).See that small line at the top running down clockwise-that's the edge of the damper.The bottom has one on the edge there as well-but it runs all the way around in reality, on both sides of the sprocket.It's Vulcanized into the steel sprocket itself.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/22/2009 @ 10:48 PM *

Thanks Blue! I M smart now! Or at least well informed.LOL I kept looking for something like the cush drive set up on the rear sprocket. If I do this, do you know if I'll have to remove a link of my brand new chain, or is there enough adjustment in the rear to compensate? For the 43 tooth rear I bought a 120 link chain and removed 2 links. The formula seems to be each tooth uses one link. I think that's why all the teeth fit in all the little holes in the middle of the chain. These chains are expensive. I wouldn't want to mess one up trying to grind off a link!

I changed out to 16/43 gearing.116 link chain.No cutting required.If you're using a 118-you will be fine.That will also allow you to gear up front and rear in the future if you choose.17/45 is supposed to be very nice.I'm holding off on that one for a while.That requires an addition of links(from 116 to 118).Romans has that setup-it's in these posts somewhere here(recently).44 is the biggest rear I can find so far being sold for the zx14 applications.I was checking out the Busa gearing.Hard to believe their stock setup is 18/43.Not sure what that indicates-but the zx will top out several MPH faster than the Busa with that kind of gearing.Maybe their engines aren't as similar as we think?And I had NO idea the Busa was NOT fuel injected.Am I wrong here?I looked on the parts site and found the fuel system diagrams-it said "carburation".If you look on the gearingcommander site-you'll find a table showing "custom" chain lengths.Entering in 118(from your stock 17/41-116 links)(which will load at the top of the first page there)will show you how far and which way you need to move your rear wheel to get a correct adjustment.The little "custom" window will be green colored-enter your new length-then look down to the right-it'll have the distance and direction to adjust(from stock).So measuring your stock adjustment distances as it is now-that chart will tell you if you've got enough distance to make the adjustment BEFORE you do anything to your chain.Quite handy actually!

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/23/2009 @ 12:55 PM *

Wow...That Gearing Commander site is fun! You can play "what if..." all day long. You can even tell if the chain and sprockets will last longer with a 16/43 or 17/45 setup. What it doesn't give is a correction factor for speed as you change sprocket size or tire diameter. Although it has enough information to be able to calculate that yourself. You can get specific tire dimensions on some suppliers' or manufacturers' web sites. I passed a radar display today which shows your actual speed vs the posted speed. My speedo read 46 MPH and the radar said I was going 41 MPH. That seems a little low for only going up 2 teeth. So maybe I wasn't actually doing over C50 the other day? You'd think with the electronic imput for instrument display the bikes ecu could make an automatic adjustment on the fly. Like a superfast GPS unit.
Say What? Busa is carburated ? Prolly a Holly 4 barrel,or mebe 4 duces?

My speedo read 46 MPH and the radar said I was going 41 MPH. That seems a little low for only going up 2 teeth.

Verify with GPS .

About that Busa-ya-I didn't see anything in the diagram or parts description showing fuel injection or injectors on the fuel rail.Kinda surprised me!Perhaps one o' the Busa Boys on here could shed some light on that?Roman's got it right-GPS Sharkey.(speedohealed of course).Mine is set now at 14.9 %.That sounds right if ya look at that gearingcommander site about percentages "off" in mph with the different gearing combos plus add the factory 5,6% off-that gets ya to right about 14 something-just what the speedohealer calibrator indicated for my setup from stock.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 12/24/2009 @ 7:28 PM *

About that Busa-ya-I didn't see anything in the diagram or parts description showing fuel injection or injectors on the fuel rail.Kinda surprised me!Perhaps one o' the Busa Boys on here could shed some light on that?

I don't know too much about the FI on either the 14 or the busa but what i have always heard is that the busa has 8 injectors as opposed to 4 on the 14. PCs were only capable of tuning for 4 injectors and that is why I went Bazzaz on the busa instead of PC. I think there is some way to tune for 8 injectors with the PC now.

As far as gearing, check out what the primary gearing is on the busa and the 14 and I think you might find that the net result in gearing is very similar. I don't know, I gave up on that argument. It was getting too far over my head. It came up in another thread.

http://www.zx14ninjaforums.com/messages.cfm?threadid=D254509D-D56B-84E2-11E78BFDBA684125

* Last updated by: Rook on 12/24/2009 @ 8:47 PM *

I'm pretty ignorant,that's for sure.I relooked on the parts site-there she was-purty as ya please-the fuel injector-(clearly stated as such in the description area).WHAT was I thinkin?Of course she's fuel injected!My BAD!!Funny though how they refer to the assembly as "carburetor".

^^Just looked at the 14's owners manual today and the specs chart lists "Carburation" and then specifies "fuel injection." It's a little confusing.

Guess the Japanese have a different way of lookin at it!

Webster sez...
Carburator - A device for mixing vaporized fuel with oxygen for purpose of combustion.
So by definition I guess that's what fuel injectors do.
That means the ZX14 has the 4 barrell and the Busa has 4 deuces (8)... And progressive linkage?