Explorer Series Rear Suspension Linkages

The Kawasaki Ninja 300 is one of the few parallel twin engine sports bike available in the 300cc category in India today. It is still a strong contender in the segment when it comes to long distance touring capabilities and corner carving. But one of the major chinks in it's armor especially from Indian Roads and terrains point of view is the lowly ground clearance of 140mm as marketed by Kawasaki.

If one watches closely, the bottom most point of the bike is the exhaust pipe (for BS6 bikes due to addition of the catalytic converter), where the ground clearance actually dips to 135mm! On further inspection one will notice that the point on the exhaust pipe which falls exactly at the center of the wheelbase, the ground clearance value is 137mm and this is the point which gets the most amount of scratches on the pipes, when going solo over some of the nasty speedbumps or going 2 up over normal speedbumps. The below image clearly shows Ground Clearance value at 3 different locations of the stock bike. From basic fundamentals of off-roading one knows that the breakover angle of the vehicle is very important to not get a hit from the bottom and this is where the 137mm clearance of the pipe is a hugh disadvantage.

To solve this major issue of the bike from the point of view of tackling bad patches of road or mild off road trails encountered during exploration of natural beauties, we have developed the Explorer Series of Rear Suspension linkages to increase ride height of the vehicle. These linkages are available in different lengths to suit specific needs of different Rider+Pillion combination along with their touring luggage in mind.

Not only do the Explorer linkages aid in tackling the nasty speedbumps or bad patches of roads with ease, but also add a degree of acceptable stiffness and decrease the rake angle ever so slightly, the combined effect of which is overall improved handling and braking performance of the bike compared to the stock setup. With all this comes a slightly aggressive ergonomics compared to the stock bike which is most apparent with the 162mm and 170mm linkages. But one gets used to the changed ergos quite soon as they are not too bothering to the level of being unbearable.