I am one happy pilot of the Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX, feels unreal even after 2 years of owning this beauty
BHPian N1Krider_R recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass
~ William Henry Davies
I open my post with these lines, they resonate so deep – you ask yourselves what is the meaning of life if you cannot take some time out of the never ending rat race. Enjoy the nature, take a stroll, go for a drive or ride your heart out without a care.
The earliest memories of mine had been about watching a express train pass by across the window of my house, I would run across the hall listening to a train hooting far away in the distance only to marvel at her as she sped by. Try recollecting and see the 1st images to appear on your mental screen – it has to be some vehicle or a scene similar to the one from Malgudi days where Chami and his friends used to run to catch a glimpse of the British era trains.
Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX: 22,222km update
Fast-forward your memories a bit and you will observe massive planes flying across in the skies or a one off helicopter wheezing through – the sound and sight of these beasts, surreal.
Come 2000’s India was introduced to a different breed of machines – hint : “Dhoom” If this one word doesn’t ring a bell, you might as well have been living under a rock. This extremely popular, dare I say “Cult” movie stirred up emotions and imaginations of many Indian kids at the time. The sound of a zooming motorcycle, not the splendors or mileage bikes of the days but a proper Super Bike. A proper head turner, kids or men all alike everyone would tune there ears to locate where the sound is coming from to catch a glimpse. The Inline 4 symphony, flashy graphics, mind numbing speed, and a pilot wearing protective gears zooming through the streets; it just isn’t an everyday sight. It literally is a low flying machine, no wonder people still love watching them flyby in 2025. Fleeting moments of happiness.
And I am one such happy pilot of the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 sx, feels unreal even after 2 years of owning this beauty. Yes, Nimbus turns 2 this year and what a coincidence to have reached the proverbial milestone.
Total Kms covered – 22,222
The Flying machine
Lets begin the 2nd year round up of the costs – how much does it take to run a Ninja 1000.
TLDR – You need at least 1 Lakh rupee to cover the running cost of a Kawasaki litre class motorcycle while you ride a modest 10K kms a year.
Nimbus turned 2 years old in April clocking a total of 22,222 kms and another round of update was being cooked. Mind you this year the touring was half the amount compared to previous years 15K kms. A couple of overnight rides to Goa, Tapola, Pune (PSS), etc thats it and rest was attending breakast runs with MARs to our favourite hangout spot – German Bakery Lonavla and a couple of runs on the Igatpuri circuit. February and March were the driest in terms of rides – weather wasn’t conducive at all i.e. too hot. We also have a new vehicle in the ranks now who has been carrying out the touring duties.
Welcome Lady Galadriel (Honda City)
Honda City – V Manual petrol variant, a pre-owned beauty, 8 years old serving me, my wife and my younger brother. We all pooled in the cash and brought her home as we wanted to learn to drive and also have our first car in the home. (The arrival feeling aka rat race never ceases)
I applied for my 4 Wheeler licence and started driving right away, at first I thought it would be difficult learning after riding only motorcycles for past 15 years, but it really wasn’t. Instead we did 3 tours on it with the family to Pandharpur (taking mom and granny was in our bucket list, wife planned the whole thing and was successfully executed), Alibaug, Pune, even a breakfast run to Lonavla. There were some misadventures as well, I ll keep that to some other post and not let Galadriel hijack nimbus’s digital space as well. A couple of photos of our old-new touring companion.
Enroute Pune
Shell treatment – good service I must say
Enroute Alibaug
Back to the Nimbus story – Looking at the mileage and rides drying out over the 1st quarter of 2025, I decided to sell the bike and listed it for sale. It did not make sense as we were enjoying the car drives, planning car trips and the local duties were carried on by the reliable Yamaha FZ250. I listed this beauty for 12 lacs and had decided to let go around 11.50 lacs i.e. a good 4 lac rupee depreciation + accessories of say 1 lac. Connected with a couple of enthusiasts who were looking for a Ninja1000, the story I gathered was repetitive in nature. Many of them had a big bike and looking to get back in the riding scene – but most of them were hard bound on a budget of 10 Lac. I felt a bit let down listening to the price but some of them let go and did not haggle knowing this was a genuine well kept bike, and 1 guy even offered to buy without negotiating.
Meanwhile, Nimbus was up for an annual check up. On one of the rides a fairing bolt had come off and the engine felt it was emitting a bit of a clatter. The service centre was quick in diagnosing a Timing Chain Tensioner issue. The TCT used in these bikes is Automatic i.e. spring loaded, so that you don’t have to manually adjust it. At first they said replacement is required to which I said ok and ordered the part, but the issue persisted so reinstalled the old one and the problem was solved. I had researched on the international forum as well where this issue was initially identified and I had conveyed it to the Anzen technicians. The problem with Auto-TCT is that it sometimes get stuck in between the grooves as the adjustments are in millimeters, here is the excerpt from the forum and the link to perform DIY or educate service centre.
The TCT costs 10K INR here in Mumbai if you intend to replace or you can get it service at a known FNG for fraction of the amount. The Anzen guys did it for free and did not charge a penny for this. Phew !!
This whole episode lasted for a week while I had listed the bike for sale. As soon as the issue was fixed and the bike was home – my better half planned a trip to Nashik for the weekend on Nimbus and ditched Galadriel for a while.
New gears were purchased from Viaterra, a riding jacket and riding jeans. I got the bike detailed as the 2nd top up from the AMC was pending.
Waiting for a much needed Spa treatment
Post Spa
One from the top
Off we went together for the ride after almost a year
We visited the much hyped GRAPE EMBASSY for Misal in Nashik – we were disappointed as expected. Nothing great, waiting for a table, then the noisy af ambiance, and to top it all a very ok ok Misal.
Nimbus on her periodic XP100 diet
One of my friends also got himself a pre-owned Ninja 1000 from 2015. And boy he’s loving it. The bike is pure bliss to ride even after so many years of riding.
From here on I believe the tours will be split between Nimbus and Galadriel and the run rate Nimbus was carrying in her first year will be halved. 7k kms per year also seems to be a lot to some folks I understand. In the resale market people want to buy bikes run as low as 5-8k kms under 10 Lakhs. Plus the invalid negotiations, depreciation rules, number of kilometers run, dealer logic, etc was way off the expectations. I did the math and found out that the new bike would cost a cool 18 Lakhs with all the accessories that I have now on my bike – essentially the same bike and it obviously did not make sense to sell her. Put up another post, got her off the market.
PS : Nimbus to stay here forever.
See you on the next update !!
Cheers.
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