[johnnydelray]

Hey guys/girls
Bit late to join, but this is my ride, 2017 Z650. Done about 15,000km (nearly 10k miles), mixture of commute, twisties, long tours, etc, all except track days, as I have another bike for that. Hope to upgrade my suspension eventually and giving it a go though.

Love the bike, torque curve is simply a joy. Brakes, seat height, tank size, manageable weight and compliant handling all make it an excellent versatile machine. As you can see from the pics, it has a few mods. Here are the standouts:
Ixil Hyperlow exhaust
Daymaker headlight
MZS levers, Domino handgrips, Rizoma circuit mirrors
Michelin Power RS (F), Battlax S22 (R)
Hepco & Becker Crash bars

And some aesthetic changes (wrapped in black, as here they only come in green or white)
Oh yea, have changed the handlebars to be wider and more forward (see last pic), as the originals are just way too swept back to attack corner entries confidently.

That's it for now, loving seeing other people's rides here and feel free to ask me any questions!

 

[POWERMAN]

The underground Garage looks spotless!!

Oh and nice bike : )
Any plans for a custom dyno tune?

 

[johnnydelray]

The underground Garage looks spotless!!

Oh and nice bike : )
Any plans for a custom dyno tune?

Thanks!
No plans as of yet, pretty happy with the fueling and power delivery actually. The snatchy throttle did take some getting used to at first, but I'm used to it now. Wouldn't mind having a go on a tuned one to see if the difference is worth it

 

[mattelic]

Hey guys/girls
Bit late to join, but this is my ride, 2017 Z650. Done about 15,000km (nearly 10k miles), mixture of commute, twisties, long tours, etc, all except track days, as I have another bike for that. Hope to upgrade my suspension eventually and giving it a go though.

Love the bike, torque curve is simply a joy. Brakes, seat height, tank size, manageable weight and compliant handling all make it an excellent versatile machine. As you can see from the pics, it has a few mods. Here are the standouts:
Ixil Hyperlow exhaust
Daymaker headlight
MZS levers, Domino handgrips, Rizoma circuit mirrors
Michelin Power RS (F), Battlax S22 (R)
Hepco & Becker Crash bars

And some aesthetic changes (wrapped in black, as here they only come in green or white)
Oh yea, have changed the handlebars to be wider and more forward (see last pic), as the originals are just way too swept back to attack corner entries confidently.

That's it for now, loving seeing other people's rides here and feel free to ask me any questions!

What handlebar did you end up with? I love the look of it.

 

[johnnydelray]

What handlebar did you end up with? I love the look of it.

Hi Mattelic,
I'm actually using a Yamaha handlebar from a bike that is produced locally here, Yamaha Xabre. I picked it because of it's very aggressive, almost supermoto type stance. Width is nearly the same, just more straight instead of swept back like the original. Needed to drill one tiny hole on throttle side, but otherwise fitted without a hitch.

Then just put some domino grips on it and WR3 bar ends to complete the look.

I'm sure any handlebar from a similar bike will give a close result, like a KTM Duke.

 

[mattelic]

Hi Mattelic,
I'm actually using a Yamaha handlebar from a bike that is produced locally here, Yamaha Xabre. I picked it because of it's very aggressive, almost supermoto type stance. Width is nearly the same, just more straight instead of swept back like the original. Needed to drill one tiny hole on throttle side, but otherwise fitted without a hitch.

Then just put some domino grips on it and WR3 bar ends to complete the look.

I'm sure any handlebar from a similar bike will give a close result, like a KTM Duke.

It looks great! I might have to look into getting one of those. I changed mine to one by Rizoma, but I'm not sure if I love it yet. Have to go out for some longer rides before I make up my mind.

Thanks so much for letting me know!

 

[dave658]

Hi
Awesome looking bike, I am looking to change the oem headlight too. Could you tell me what light and screen you used please?
Dave

 

[johnnydelray]

Hi
Awesome looking bike, I am looking to change the oem headlight too. Could you tell me what light and screen you used please?
Dave

Hey buddy, thanks!
The light is a Daymaker, can't recall the exact model now (some half round Angel-eye thing). The wind screen is just a generic one from Aliexpress, there's a few around so just pick one that you like or has the look you are going for.

Basically you just want a 7" round LED light. Take note if it's the whole housing/bowl, or just the light by itself.
Also some have indicators built-in so you have to decide whether you want to get that, or some aftermarket indicators stuck on the sides as well. The indicators might need a relay, to adjust the speed of the flashers, in case they start going nuts due to over volting or whatever.
Lastly, depending on what kind of kit you get, you'll need some clamps/mounts/brackets to clip the light onto the forks. They're pretty universal, usually can fit 28-43mm or so (Z650 forks are 41mm) so any cheap set of those will set you right.

Good luck, don't forget to share pics after the conversion!!!
Not too many round-headlighted Z's here, in Indonesia it's only the ER6's that have had any custom bodywork or cafe racer mods going on

 

[dave658]

Thanks for getting back to me. I will start looking into it and will post a pic when done.

 

[Northwind]

Hey guys/girls
Bit late to join, but this is my ride, 2017 Z650. Done about 15,000km (nearly 10k miles), mixture of commute, twisties, long tours, etc, all except track days, as I have another bike for that. Hope to upgrade my suspension eventually and giving it a go though.

Love the bike, torque curve is simply a joy. Brakes, seat height, tank size, manageable weight and compliant handling all make it an excellent versatile machine. As you can see from the pics, it has a few mods. Here are the standouts:
Ixil Hyperlow exhaust
Daymaker headlight
MZS levers, Domino handgrips, Rizoma circuit mirrors
Michelin Power RS (F), Battlax S22 (R)
Hepco & Becker Crash bars

And some aesthetic changes (wrapped in black, as here they only come in green or white)
Oh yea, have changed the handlebars to be wider and more forward (see last pic), as the originals are just way too swept back to attack corner entries confidently.

That's it for now, loving seeing other people's rides here and feel free to ask me any questions!

Did you need to do a remap or ECU flash for the exhaust?

 

[johnnydelray]

Did you need to do a remap or ECU flash for the exhaust?

No, didn't do anything to the ECU, but I'm also running it with the db killers. Which supposedly don't need a remap.
Have just passed the 15,000km mark (~9,300 miles) and so far runs like a dream, it has coughed and died on cold start maybe 3 times total but I attribute that to poor fuel because they were isolated incidents. Snatchy nature of throttle at low rpm didn't get any worse as a result, so yes I think you can run this exhaust without any fiddling around.

If you take out the db killers or run an open style air filter, then you will probably be running on the lean side and will need a flash/piggy/remap.