Who knew assembling rearsets...
Who knew assembling rearsets could be so confusing?
2008 Kawasaki ZX-6R
John Zamora: Associate Editor
Miles Ridden: 1848
Modifications: Arata rearsets, Supermoto Engineering axle sliders
Last month I took care of the basic upgrades that any new bike should have to make it more comfortable and enjoyable to ride. My unsuccessful attempt to get the front sprocket off left me with another month of a sluggish, high-revving machine begging for more midrange.
My hopes to reclaim some mid-motor muscle were foiled when my slip-on exhaust from Two Brothers Racing and Vortex sprockets were both hijacked for the "Size Matters" (page 44) feature. That will teach me to leave my parts lying around.
During our Rated and Reviewed of rearsets (December 2007) I had a hands-on opportunity to try out several different models. They came in various stages of assembly-from ready to bolt-on to a big box of parts. The Arata rearsets were some of the nicest we tested, but came completely disassembled. I thought I would give them another chance with the ZX-6 and see if I could figure out how to put them together correctly. After staring at an exploded diagram of arrows, numbers and parts, I thought I would approach it in a different manner than before. Instead of spreading out all the parts on the garage floor to be kicked, mixed up or lost, I set aside a few hours, sat down at my desk and logically tried to attack the assembly. I guess I was a prima donna last time as they went together rather easily in about 45 minutes. After pre-assembling them in my office, bolting them onto the bike was straightforward and took about 15 minutes. While not the simplest of designs, once together they turned out to fit really well, had multiple adjustments and included a built-in brake light bracket.
Supermoto Engineering makes a nice set of axle sliders that give a little extra damage insurance and add some golden gleam to help break up the green and black. After all, according to the golden rule, "he who has the gold makes the rules."
After the ZX-10 and ZX-6 from the "Size Matters" feature head back to Kawasaki, I'll be able to reclaim my pipe and sprockets and put them to use. I also plan on attacking the brake systems with brake lines from Galfer and rotors from CTS Moto.
Coming next month: Brake lines, rotors, sprockets
Contact Info:
Arata
Rearsets
$449.99
www.aratausa.com
Supermoto Engineering
Rear Axle Block Slider
$109.95
Front Axle Slider
$44.95
www.supermotoengineering.com