I know this was 7+ years ago but thought I would chime in with this, MAKE SURE THE SPROCKETS ARE ON THE CORRECT WAY. For example the front sprocket if you noticed in the video you can see the outer side has a little lip at the splines on the counter shaft, on the opposite side of that same sprocket I will bet it’s smooth on the inside of the sprocket. Vortex does do that. Easiest way to do this is right before you take the OEM front sprocket off, measure it with a tape measure just the the outer face of the teeth, and then remember or mark it on the measuring device. Then when you go to put the new sprocket on, just slide it on and then measure it to make sure it’s the same as what the OEM Sprocket was. If you look at the front sprocket again while he’s putting the rider peg back on, you’ll see that the completely smooth side is out, and the lipped side is facing inwards. If you go back to when he first put the front sprocket on he put the lipped side facing out. And also make sure the rear sprocket is correct too. When you put the sprockets in and the chain make sure you look down the chain BEFORE you put the sprocket cover in, make sure the chain is perfectly straight and not veering off ever so slightly. It’ll save you from having a catastrophic failure and chain snapping or even save you from having to replace the output transmission shaft and gasket. I learned this because the first time I ever did sprockets and chain, I put the front sprocket on backwards and the chain was all bent and stupid loose like it looked and felt like it had 50k miles in it and only after 200 miles or so. So just be careful and PAY ATTENTION!
@@PistonSlap have you ever used driven sprockets? Because as I said you know the little lip portion on the Vortex front sprocket, and I noticed that on vortex the little lip goes towards the inside, at first you put it on backwards and then when you were finishing it up it looked like you flipped it because you realized it was backwards. Am I right? Do you remember? I have had a Driven set and 520 chain on my 09 zx6r, it’s been on for so long so I don’t even have the stock sprocket anymore, but on the driven basically the entire center is raised kind of like the little lip on the Vortex sprocket, so I thought I had it backwards all this time because of the feeling I felt through the foot pegs. So I just took my front cover off and the raised portion is facing out and the backside is completely smooth. I just got off the phone with Driven and he said lipped/ numbers facing out, he had to look it up so I’m just double checking, but I guess I had it right. So that’s why I’m asking you if the lip when inside or outside, since our bikes are the same for the sprockets from 2007-2017
@@Lucky_Logan it's been a long time since I did this. I eyeball the chain alignment to see if its pulling to the side. Like you said toy down want it to be out of alignment. I didnt run the gear set all the time. I tried it for a while then took it to Miller speed way. After that I went back to stock gearing as I would do a 3 day trips on the bike and it would suck sitting on the interstate at 85 screaming the engine.
Definitely a great tutorial and helped me swap out my sprockets as well. I must say that sprocket nut was extremely tight and a pain to get off. I would like to point out to anyone looking at your video, if they are replacing the chain they may want to go up 1 or 2 links in length for the 2013 ninja zx6r. Again great video much appreciated.
This is brilliant! I have a 2006 636 and the sprocket change has already been done (by someone else) but still good to see how it's done. After this I am off to watch your vid on the differences.
Hey man, I have the same bike as you and I like your vidos a lot, talkin from an engineering perspective, lots of noobs out there have no clou about using a torque wrenche and why. Anyway great job.. Do you plan to make a How To for the front and rear brakes? i think there are a lot of people interested in that one, would be great man. Greetings from Switzerland :)
Thanks man. This year I will be doing a How to on brake fluid, coolant, brake pad inspection and replacement, Air filter inspection and replacemint, and depending on how much I ride I might do a spark plug video also. Thanks again for the comment.
Your welcome, I have had a few people mention they had a problem with the ABS kicking in. One of them said they went back to stock gears to fix the problem others didn't get back to me. If your bike is non abs then you wont have a problem. Thanks for watching!
Interesting, my exact bike is the 2016 ZX6r ABS KRT edition. I went for a test ride after the sprocket change and had no ABS or power loss issues so far (had to disable the TC from the default setting of course). My bike is basically stock except for a loud af M4 slip-on exhaust. I really want to keep my -1 +2 Vortex and I might even go +5 rear. If I do have ABS issues I'll want to fix it and let others ZX6 owners know. I'll get back to you if that comes up on my bike and again if I have a fix.
Great video man. Why the hell does kawi want the rear sprocket nuts replaced every time?? I put some Driven aftermarket black nuts on and they were like $50 there's no way I'm replacing them everytime I want a shiny new sprocket on..
A lot of manufactures have the fasteners replaced on suspension and driven components. Also, the nuts are a lock style nut and they may not retain tightness after they have been installed a second time. I normally use a dab of blue locktight
mauidirtbikerin808 Great question. On this bike Kawasaki uses a reluctor ring on the right rear by the rear brake rotor. This is the same reluctor used in both the abs and non abs modles. What that means is you will never need to us a speedo healer on this bike, unless you change tire hight. Here is a link to a motoVlog where I talk about the relutor andh use of a speedo healer. @DR7vwQcU3t8 Thanks for the comment!
I really liked the stock gearing. After having the gears I talked about I spent a lot of time shifting. They would be good for street or drag racing but crushing around I got tired of shifting all the time.
I loved it at the track but ended up going back to the stock gearing for riding around. On the multi day trips it would suck when your cruising the interstate and buzzing the engine. It seemed like unnecessary wear on the engine.
I saw your video showing you removing the left pegs, just wondering what is the size of the bolts as I would like to remove my pegs to remove the chain guard
The traction control will activate easily with this gear set due to the out of torque from the gear change. I had a guy comment in here a long while ago that said he was having some sort of t/c problem while just rolling on the throttle. I never heard back from him as to what was the fix or cause.
The bike pulls harder coming out of tight corners. I do notice a slight power loss around the 150-160mph but thats in the red line. Riding around town I shift a lot more and find myself shiffting up twice skiping gears. If you ride a lot of high way or interstates I woulnt recommend this. But for the canyons and stuff, this was just what I needed. I found with the stock gearing coming out of a 20 mph hair pin turn, if I was in first it was to low of a gear and 2nd would be to low in the rpm. With the gear new sprockets I use 2nd now and seems to pull hard enough that is will almost lift the front wheel as I come out of the apex. Hope this helps!
So question lets say i have stock gearing now at 70mph in 6th is a 6500rpm. 80mph is 7800rpm so this means i would be wayyyyy high up in the rpms in 6th in highway cruising correct? And in the city with this setup you have to shift up more you said?
@@PistonSlap it would be a bit higher. I had my 2012 ninja geared -1+2 and I had a speedo healer calibrated and I recalled 230kmh so 144 and I had a few hundred rpm left might have hit 240kmh tops so maybe 150mph
Hey, you seem like you know what you are on about! I've got an issue with my bike and appreciate if you'd reply. I got my local Kawasaki dealer to change the sprocket on the rear to +2. Since the change on very small minimal throttle position (about 10-20% throttle. e.g cruising in traffic) i get almost a studder like traction control is setting in from rev ranges 2.5k-4k rpm. This only happens in first and is then gone above these ranges. Its going into Kawasaki again tomorrow but they already had said they weren't sure what the issue was last time it was there when they completed the sprocket change. I've disconnected the speed sensors and it wont have the issue. But when they are connected it comes back. However, looking at the dash when this "studder" occurs no traction looks like its on (the bars that go from left to right). I look forward to your response.
It sounds like your getting a false activation of the traction control system. If the bar graph showing up and moving up, then the computer is seeing a wheel speed difference between the front and rear. I would inspect the sensors to make sure they free of debris, also inspect the rear sensor for damage. (the rear sensor is supposed to be removed when pulling the rear wheel assembly off). The reluctor part might have runout or damage of some sort also. Another question to you is, what traction setting are you using. I noticed on mine if your in 3 (the most sensitive) the bike activates the traction control a lot. setting 2 I only see traction control kicking in on medium acceleration from first and second. On setting 1 it kicks in a tiny bit but will lift the front wheel also. hope this helps. Let me know what you find. Something to keep in the back of your mind is that with a larger sprocket in the rear it is like adding more power to the rear wheel, so the traction control is going to activate more often.
@@bjluisbalolong8721 yeah. Some people like the tire all the way forward which changes the suspension geometry I'm not at that level of riding amd when I put it on there was still room for adjustment.
I have it in a annotation at the end of the video. I added a card and a link in the description just now, for the mobile users, Thanks for the comment! Hope this video helped ya.
I bought a 2017 636 and since I have owned it the speedometer on the bike hasn’t worked. Rpm is fine but it won’t change milage it show me my speed. I replaced both front and rear speed sensor cables on the bike. Any idea what it could be. I also tried my buddies speedometer still same thing.
I believe the speed is pulled from the rear tone ring. If ypu have speed but no odometer. It sounds like a cluster problem. I don't know if they have to be programmed like a car one to start counting.
Piston Slap I appreciate that. I may have wrote that confusing. My speedometer turns on, lights up, shows the gear the bike is in, rpm and all of that stuff it just has the speed stuck at 0. Is it possible for a tone ring to go bad? Mine looks pretty dirty but I wouldn’t know if replacing it will help. It’s worth a shot anyways
@@Carternc8 they dont go go bad. Unless it has hit something. There is a sensor that is mounted in the bracket that should be close to it but not touching. It could have been damaged if the wheel was removed and the sensor was not pulled out.
Piston Slap I guess I should have started with the bike is a stunt bike so it’s been down before. The previous owner did a lot of work to it and removed the abs to so I don’t know if that has something to do with it. I originally replaced both speed sensor plugs thinking that was it. I will have to remove the rear tire to see what’s going on back there I guess. Really don’t want to as I just had the bike complete tore down about a month ago
@@Carternc8 im not sure on how the wiring runs but if you go online to the zx6r forum you can find a service manual. If you got a decent meter to read volts and ohms. You should be able to figure it out. I would look ar the abs wiring and see how that all ties in
If you dont replace the chain with sprocket, the sprockets will wear down faster. That chain guard is insane, having to take off the foot peg bracket partially is just too much extra work, First time doing it, I was like.. wtf really?
I think on the chain gaurd I wont take it off next time. The shop manuel shows to take it off for some reason. As for the the chain, I agree with you on replacing the chain with sprockets but I only had 3k on the chain and 1k of that was easy break in. I figured when I hit the service limit of the chain I will replaced both sprockets and chain.
I know this was 7+ years ago but thought I would chime in with this, MAKE SURE THE SPROCKETS ARE ON THE CORRECT WAY. For example the front sprocket if you noticed in the video you can see the outer side has a little lip at the splines on the counter shaft, on the opposite side of that same sprocket I will bet it’s smooth on the inside of the sprocket. Vortex does do that. Easiest way to do this is right before you take the OEM front sprocket off, measure it with a tape measure just the the outer face of the teeth, and then remember or mark it on the measuring device. Then when you go to put the new sprocket on, just slide it on and then measure it to make sure it’s the same as what the OEM Sprocket was. If you look at the front sprocket again while he’s putting the rider peg back on, you’ll see that the completely smooth side is out, and the lipped side is facing inwards. If you go back to when he first put the front sprocket on he put the lipped side facing out. And also make sure the rear sprocket is correct too. When you put the sprockets in and the chain make sure you look down the chain BEFORE you put the sprocket cover in, make sure the chain is perfectly straight and not veering off ever so slightly. It’ll save you from having a catastrophic failure and chain snapping or even save you from having to replace the output transmission shaft and gasket.
I learned this because the first time I ever did sprockets and chain, I put the front sprocket on backwards and the chain was all bent and stupid loose like it looked and felt like it had 50k miles in it and only after 200 miles or so. So just be careful and PAY ATTENTION!
Good information! Thanks for the comment. I'm going to pin it to the top.
@@PistonSlap have you ever used driven sprockets? Because as I said you know the little lip portion on the Vortex front sprocket, and I noticed that on vortex the little lip goes towards the inside, at first you put it on backwards and then when you were finishing it up it looked like you flipped it because you realized it was backwards. Am I right? Do you remember? I have had a Driven set and 520 chain on my 09 zx6r, it’s been on for so long so I don’t even have the stock sprocket anymore, but on the driven basically the entire center is raised kind of like the little lip on the Vortex sprocket, so I thought I had it backwards all this time because of the feeling I felt through the foot pegs. So I just took my front cover off and the raised portion is facing out and the backside is completely smooth. I just got off the phone with Driven and he said lipped/ numbers facing out, he had to look it up so I’m just double checking, but I guess I had it right. So that’s why I’m asking you if the lip when inside or outside, since our bikes are the same for the sprockets from 2007-2017
@@Lucky_Logan it's been a long time since I did this. I eyeball the chain alignment to see if its pulling to the side. Like you said toy down want it to be out of alignment. I didnt run the gear set all the time. I tried it for a while then took it to Miller speed way. After that I went back to stock gearing as I would do a 3 day trips on the bike and it would suck sitting on the interstate at 85 screaming the engine.
@@PistonSlap you happen to know the sprocket nut thread pitch?
Which sprocket the drive or driven?
Definitely a great tutorial and helped me swap out my sprockets as well. I must say that sprocket nut was extremely tight and a pain to get off. I would like to point out to anyone looking at your video, if they are replacing the chain they may want to go up 1 or 2 links in length for the 2013 ninja zx6r. Again great video much appreciated.
Thanks
Really good video! Just the right amount of detail, very helpful, thanks!
Thank you for the feed back. Good to know Im helping outhers out.
This is brilliant! I have a 2006 636 and the sprocket change has already been done (by someone else) but still good to see how it's done. After this I am off to watch your vid on the differences.
Thank you!
I’ve been thinking about this swap.
Hey man, I have the same bike as you and I like your vidos a lot, talkin from an engineering perspective, lots of noobs out there have no clou about using a torque wrenche and why. Anyway great job.. Do you plan to make a How To for the front and rear brakes? i think there are a lot of people interested in that one, would be great man. Greetings from Switzerland :)
Thanks man. This year I will be doing a How to on brake fluid, coolant, brake pad inspection and replacement, Air filter inspection and replacemint, and depending on how much I ride I might do a spark plug video also. Thanks again for the comment.
Thanks Slap! Doing this mod on my 2016 zx6 today. This vid is a huge help!
Your welcome, I have had a few people mention they had a problem with the ABS kicking in. One of them said they went back to stock gears to fix the problem others didn't get back to me. If your bike is non abs then you wont have a problem. Thanks for watching!
Interesting, my exact bike is the 2016 ZX6r ABS KRT edition. I went for a test ride after the sprocket change and had no ABS or power loss issues so far (had to disable the TC from the default setting of course). My bike is basically stock except for a loud af M4 slip-on exhaust. I really want to keep my -1 +2 Vortex and I might even go +5 rear. If I do have ABS issues I'll want to fix it and let others ZX6 owners know. I'll get back to you if that comes up on my bike and again if I have a fix.
Great video man. Why the hell does kawi want the rear sprocket nuts replaced every time?? I put some Driven aftermarket black nuts on and they were like $50 there's no way I'm replacing them everytime I want a shiny new sprocket on..
A lot of manufactures have the fasteners replaced on suspension and driven components. Also, the nuts are a lock style nut and they may not retain tightness after they have been installed a second time. I normally use a dab of blue locktight
Did you use a speedo healer since you changed sprockets
mauidirtbikerin808 Great question. On this bike Kawasaki uses a reluctor ring on the right rear by the rear brake rotor. This is the same reluctor used in both the abs and non abs modles. What that means is you will never need to us a speedo healer on this bike, unless you change tire hight. Here is a link to a motoVlog where I talk about the relutor andh use of a speedo healer. @DR7vwQcU3t8 Thanks for the comment!
I have a 16 zx6r what do you recommend for gearing . Mostly ridden In the city may drag race rarely
I really liked the stock gearing. After having the gears I talked about I spent a lot of time shifting. They would be good for street or drag racing but crushing around I got tired of shifting all the time.
I bought this kit just wondering how you liked it over the years. Havnt installed it yet..would you do it again or keep stock gearing?
I loved it at the track but ended up going back to the stock gearing for riding around. On the multi day trips it would suck when your cruising the interstate and buzzing the engine. It seemed like unnecessary wear on the engine.
@@PistonSlap im probably going to just keep front stock and go +2 on rear may help with alittle torque without such a top speed loss
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how many links is the chain?
I saw your video showing you removing the left pegs, just wondering what is the size of the bolts as I would like to remove my pegs to remove the chain guard
Touhoua Yang I want to say it is a 5 MM allan could also be a 6mm. I have all the tools needed to do this job in the descriptor.
How did you end up liking the -1 +2 i read some people having problems with traction control kicking on a lot easier. Is it worth doing?
The traction control will activate easily with this gear set due to the out of torque from the gear change. I had a guy comment in here a long while ago that said he was having some sort of t/c problem while just rolling on the throttle. I never heard back from him as to what was the fix or cause.
How did it impact the performance of this bike?
The bike pulls harder coming out of tight corners. I do notice a slight power loss around the 150-160mph but thats in the red line. Riding around town I shift a lot more and find myself shiffting up twice skiping gears. If you ride a lot of high way or interstates I woulnt recommend this. But for the canyons and stuff, this was just what I needed. I found with the stock gearing coming out of a 20 mph hair pin turn, if I was in first it was to low of a gear and 2nd would be to low in the rpm. With the gear new sprockets I use 2nd now and seems to pull hard enough that is will almost lift the front wheel as I come out of the apex. Hope this helps!
what type of boat was used to take out the front sprocket
boat? the socket I used was a 1 1/4" socket with a big breaker bar. It that doesn't work I have had to use a impact wrench on it.
So question lets say i have stock gearing now at 70mph in 6th is a 6500rpm. 80mph is 7800rpm so this means i would be wayyyyy high up in the rpms in 6th in highway cruising correct? And in the city with this setup you have to shift up more you said?
That's correct. Also i believe top speed was about 144
@@PistonSlap it would be a bit higher. I had my 2012 ninja geared -1+2 and I had a speedo healer calibrated and I recalled 230kmh so 144 and I had a few hundred rpm left might have hit 240kmh tops so maybe 150mph
Hey, you seem like you know what you are on about! I've got an issue with my bike and appreciate if you'd reply.
I got my local Kawasaki dealer to change the sprocket on the rear to +2. Since the change on very small minimal throttle position (about 10-20% throttle. e.g cruising in traffic) i get almost a studder like traction control is setting in from rev ranges 2.5k-4k rpm. This only happens in first and is then gone above these ranges. Its going into Kawasaki again tomorrow but they already had said they weren't sure what the issue was last time it was there when they completed the sprocket change.
I've disconnected the speed sensors and it wont have the issue. But when they are connected it comes back. However, looking at the dash when this "studder" occurs no traction looks like its on (the bars that go from left to right).
I look forward to your response.
It sounds like your getting a false activation of the traction control system. If the bar graph showing up and moving up, then the computer is seeing a wheel speed difference between the front and rear. I would inspect the sensors to make sure they free of debris, also inspect the rear sensor for damage. (the rear sensor is supposed to be removed when pulling the rear wheel assembly off). The reluctor part might have runout or damage of some sort also. Another question to you is, what traction setting are you using. I noticed on mine if your in 3 (the most sensitive) the bike activates the traction control a lot. setting 2 I only see traction control kicking in on medium acceleration from first and second. On setting 1 it kicks in a tiny bit but will lift the front wheel also. hope this helps. Let me know what you find. Something to keep in the back of your mind is that with a larger sprocket in the rear it is like adding more power to the rear wheel, so the traction control is going to activate more often.
I got the same issue also, without a fix yet.
Have you tried turning the traction control system off?
Did you ever get your problem figured out? Thanks for any information!
Did your ever get to the bottom of your problem? Thanks for any information.
How many Links did you put on it?
None. The stock chain fit. As long as it's not worn out.
Okay bro..cause im on still in stock sprocket 15/43 and 112links on my zx6r 2019.. i read and found on some groups that it should 114links.
@@bjluisbalolong8721 yeah. Some people like the tire all the way forward which changes the suspension geometry
I'm not at that level of riding amd when I put it on there was still room for adjustment.
Nice job , but where is the link for adjusting the chain ?
I have it in a annotation at the end of the video. I added a card and a link in the description just now, for the mobile users, Thanks for the comment! Hope this video helped ya.
I bought a 2017 636 and since I have owned it the speedometer on the bike hasn’t worked. Rpm is fine but it won’t change milage it show me my speed. I replaced both front and rear speed sensor cables on the bike. Any idea what it could be. I also tried my buddies speedometer still same thing.
I believe the speed is pulled from the rear tone ring. If ypu have speed but no odometer. It sounds like a cluster problem. I don't know if they have to be programmed like a car one to start counting.
Piston Slap I appreciate that. I may have wrote that confusing. My speedometer turns on, lights up, shows the gear the bike is in, rpm and all of that stuff it just has the speed stuck at 0. Is it possible for a tone ring to go bad? Mine looks pretty dirty but I wouldn’t know if replacing it will help. It’s worth a shot anyways
@@Carternc8 they dont go go bad. Unless it has hit something. There is a sensor that is mounted in the bracket that should be close to it but not touching. It could have been damaged if the wheel was removed and the sensor was not pulled out.
Piston Slap I guess I should have started with the bike is a stunt bike so it’s been down before. The previous owner did a lot of work to it and removed the abs to so I don’t know if that has something to do with it. I originally replaced both speed sensor plugs thinking that was it. I will have to remove the rear tire to see what’s going on back there I guess. Really don’t want to as I just had the bike complete tore down about a month ago
@@Carternc8 im not sure on how the wiring runs but if you go online to the zx6r forum you can find a service manual. If you got a decent meter to read volts and ohms. You should be able to figure it out. I would look ar the abs wiring and see how that all ties in
If you dont replace the chain with sprocket, the sprockets will wear down faster.
That chain guard is insane, having to take off the foot peg bracket partially is just too much extra work, First time doing it, I was like.. wtf really?
I think on the chain gaurd I wont take it off next time. The shop manuel shows to take it off for some reason. As for the the chain, I agree with you on replacing the chain with sprockets but I only had 3k on the chain and 1k of that was easy break in. I figured when I hit the service limit of the chain I will replaced both sprockets and chain.
Other side of the pond 😂🤣😅