... Were my last 2 oil changes. At 1906, I started to feel the shift quality go off song and finally got around to changing the oil. I could not ride the bike any longer. I guess I am that sensitive or tuned-in to the bike.

9464 miles is what the speedo reads. I must have put a few hundred miles on the bike in the last few days, running around trying to find two bikes at a dealership and speaking to someone about ECU flashing, trying to catch him as his shop. 3rd time was the charm.

If the drive chain were loose, I would notice poor downshifts. But this was not the case. I don't know about you, but this bike will tear up the oil in less than a thousand miles... Shift quality wise.

I cannot believe I am looking back at the mileage and when I dump the oil, it is when that gear box shifts like sour green grapes. Last change before that 1040 sign-off, happened at approx. 700 miles, and I had to change the oil that soon being the shifting just goes away. Hard to believe I know.

Took a ride to get a few OEM's, being I ran out of filters. I thought I'd wait till the weekend to dump the oil, but I guess I am just too anal and did not want to wait and sit on that dentist chair without the assistance of novocaine.

Just came back from tearing the filter open. NADA! If you only knew how hard I beat this bike on the street. I leave before the starter motor stops spinning on a cold engine [every single time]. No sitting around waiting for the bike to warm up. I am moving well under 2,000 rpm, keeping the revs below that number, while the clutch is being pulled in for stop signs. Kind of like a fast idle.

By the time I am on the highway on-ramp, the dash has struck one temp bar. Where is that bearing sheer? Where are the transmission dogs or window slots? Didn't I miss a shift or two, waiting for the gear box to be all chewed up, or say slamming 1st gear on occasion? The magnet picked up zip. Sure, I can see super tiny aluminum chips, but they sure do not look like they are coming from the rod/case bearing inserts. More like out of the threaded holes all inside the crankcase.

Almost 10K of daily abuse since day one and this is one fine running machine. Crisp rasp of the throttle on downshifts, it sounds so toned on the blip. I'm so aggressive in traffic, cars become dots in the mirror or more they are a half a mile away I keep the throttle on to get away from these speeding idiots that bunch up passing each other, changing lanes swapping back to the other lane and went nowhere... For what?

I've poured in straight syn, 50/50 mixes of different weight oils. Old oil or diesel engine oil, it does not matter. No engine damage. Just a transmission that no longer shifts with 4 quarts of fresh, sheer-less oil. WOT a blast this bike is. Unending power on tap. I could almost start dancing.

* Last updated by: Hub on 11/11/2009 @ 6:13 PM *

Either I missed something or you made a typo, Hub. You are ready to dance because your bike won't shift with fresh oil?

......and about this ECU flash, you thinking this can be done to the 14? That would be awesome. I will wait until it has been tried and true though.

* Last updated by: Rook on 11/11/2009 @ 9:27 PM *

Methinks it'll take more than one round of oil mileage to break yer engine.BTW-that's how I know it's time for my oil changes-shift quality.I don't however change it out before several thousand miles.Any decent oil is gonna work for several several thousand miles IMO.Only something TOTALLY not workable would cause the engine to blow(IMO).

Rook, the type says, I am ready to dance on the shifter. New oil says we are good to go once again. Toe tapping and hoofin' it as hard as my balls take me. I'm anal on the throttle sync. Anal on the shift quality. Anal on the drive chain snatch. Anal on the hours running. Anal on the air cleaners. And last butt not least.... So Anal Retentive, I have pretty brown eyes that give off an odor when I wink.

Flashing for the 14 is being handled by the EE's that are into bikes. I'm more the soft/hard hacker on the fly. Flashing is without codes set on the dash. So yes, it is coming soon is what I hear.

But I am in the process of building a racing harness for the 14 with a ZX-1000 ECU piggy'd to the 14 sensors. Once that is accomplished, I then install the Kit-ECU with the ability to remap the fuel trim, remap the ignitions, mess with a few other systems like the GPS gear select ratios; set the de-popper [for a better term]... Crossing my fingers I can loophole what is about to stop the whole process if I do not get the wiring right; for my research hunting down the loom has brought up one little problem. We shall see.

I could have kept the oil in a few thousand more miles, blue. But as we know, once that spoiled foot feels the dogs bark and the drum roll is out of step, we shut down the key fob and dump the gear box. Sheeze, this time I have filled the crankcase with:

1. Half a quart of Pennsoil 10w30 syn that is about 10years old sitting around.
2. 1 quart of straight 30w Pennsoil being the same age as above.
3. 2 quarts of 50w Torco racing that are many decades old.
4. Half a quart of Chevron 10w30.
5. Topped off with .3 quarts of Chevron 5w30.

And all I am going to do is rip that filter open once again and find a spotless pleat like last night. It does not matter what I throw in this bike. No leaks and no clutch slipping.

Well, tits official. My man-boobs were jumping wit joy; I have one fantastic bike. If Kawi is listening, you dumb ass is need to revamp your ECU.

I've got one mighty whack of a hack and that trans shifts a whole lot different than what the factory has plotted out.