I thought you guys might appreciate these articles. The K5 ti valves article has me quite nervous now, and I’ll be speaking to Crescent this weekend about it before the K5 goes on the dyno. I don’t want to risk blowing my engine up!
Neil Hodgeson on AMA Superbike
K5 Development
Yoshimura Hayabusa X1
K5 Ti Valve problem
Yeah saw that. Very interesting stuff. I reckon that you’ll be fine tho mate. The warranty must cover that kinda thing. Although if your thinking of racing, a nice set of steel ones probably will be better…
Are they a gimmick though? Or do we really require Titanium valves? I would guess that they are extensively tested but i think the problem lies in the way their manufactured. They appear to be two parts fitted together rather than the more expensive one piece machined part.
I would guess that if the ‘Manufacturer’ has too many ‘recalls’ due to valves munching pistons i think they would smartly change their tack re, fitting them. But who knows.
On a differnent tack, Whats the deal with Crescent re: Dyno? I have just fitted the Power Commander 3 to my 6. And have downloaded a map to suit. One for the Full Yoshimura Race and aftermarket K&N filter. But am quite interested in maybe having a custom map done. Assume thats what your having? Tell all…
http://www.nhrafan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Videos/MVI_0804.avi Some light action…
The warranty wouldn’t cover it, because they would claim the exhaust changed the engine characteristics drastically, causing the damage. Of course, who’s to know if you put the stock can back on? Well, my dealer unfortunately as he saw the exhaust at the first service, oops 
I too hope it’s all just hot-air, but I’ll speak to the guys that know, i.e. Crescent. They build enough stressed K5 engines, they should be able to say without hype, or BS getting in the way.
The deal with this Saturday is a stage-one tuning session, which involves fitting the BMC race air filter (high flow) I have ready, the Power Commander 3 USB I have ready, and the quick-shifter for the gearbox. They will then set the bike up on the dyno and spend a few hours mapping the characteristics of the bike performance, and create a custom fueling map for the Power Commander. The custom map will mean that I have the perfect fueling setup for the mods on my bike, i.e. the Racefit exhaust and air filter.
If you have common combinations of mods, which you do, you can most likely just download a map using these combinations and save yourself £150 or so. Unfortunately, I’m a perfectionist, and the mods I have are pretty unique, so another map using another exhaust, won’t work for me. I want the bottom-end brought alive, the curve smoothed, fuel economy increased, and any extra top-end power will be a bonus. I sure hope they don’t have the Attack velocity stacks in stock, as I may be tempted by them, and they add a claimed 4bhp to the top-end, which would mean 175bhp at the rear-wheel could be attainable.
“I feel the need, the need for speed!”
Have downloaded a map from www.powercommander.com and am now running that. Am tempted by a custom session but will assess the new map and decide from there. The Power Commander Software is simple to use and if you knew what the hell you were doing. You could really bugger about! hehe
Have posted pictures of fitting up mate, check em.
Jay, get yourself a kawasaki mate! It is still time… 
