new bike

[penzdude]

i just bought myself a christmas present. myself and a friend stopped into a bike dealership yesterday. of course, this time of year the manufactures are all running pretty good deals, not like in the spring, when everyone has "the fever" i ended up getting the kawasaki zrx1200r. most of the bike mags i've looked at call it the "hooligan". i have to keep it under 4,000rpm for the first 500 miles, and under 6,000rpm for the next till i reach 1000 miles. then i can let her rip a little. certainly even riding it home from the dealership was a little hairy w/ all the christmas traffic and being used to riding a 1200 sportster! first service is at 600 miles. on the zrx owners site, most wait till 2000 till the switch to a syn. i will probably run the amsoil 10w40 as the reg kawachem dino is well over 3 bucks a qt. any of ya'll know much about this bike? it's an upright naked sportbike...like the old kawasaki green eddie lawson bikes which they offered this bike in for yrs. i got the galaxy silver. not into the antifreeze green color on a bike although i see where it might have some visibility benifits!

penz

 

[cos]

penzdude,

Congrats on the new scoot! I thought about the same bike! I really like it in silver and the black from a few yrs back. I agree with on the green, I'd pass. The ZRX forum is one of the best bike boards I've ever been on. Make sure when ya park it you roll it foward in first to take the play out or it may fall over because the kickstand doesn't allow it to lean much - check the forum for more details. I may get one yet but I'm still paying off my SV 650 which is just a great do it all scoot.

 

[medic]

Congrats. A new toy is always fun. My problem is the limited size of my toy box. My bike is currently in a friends garage so I can have my truck inside to keep the snow off of it.

I've alway had a bit of a liking for the Ducati Monster. The new S4R model almost has me wanting to trade in my Harley, but I doubt that'll ever happen.

 

[msparks]

congrats,


I have a friend out in El Paso that has one of the green ones, has hotter cams and a nice pipe. It will rock your sock off! They are pretty fast.

Be careful on that thing.

 

[penzdude]

thanks for the replys....i had to run the purchace by the "big boss" aka...the wife, but i really seemed to catch her at a good time. you see she had to have a hernia repaired on tues morning and was in surgery for 2 hrs. i conviently ran the "honey, i've been thinking about a new scooter" line by her while she was on liquid vicodin for the pain during her re-coup process. i'm telling ya fella's...works like magic. if theres anything ya really want.......i know, i've been a bad, bad boy.....lol

 

[penzdude]

hey msparks! yeah, i have read some test results on expertly riddin stock bikes, that were turning in 10.70's in the quater, at over 128mph, and a couple of mildly moded bikes ...the hotter cam you mentioned, new can, and rejeting, that were doing 10.50's at over 130. i keep telling my brother to bring his red vette over.

 

[bulabula]

Nice bike! I always liked the Eddie Lawson Replicas.

I saw an article in a Sport Rider magazine last night at the supermarket where they looked at a supercharged a ZRX1200 that put out 200hp @ 10k rpm and runs the 1/4 in something like 9.5@148. It was a Green one.

Better break out some more of that vicodin!

 

[penzdude]

hey! that's a thought! maybe i'll habe my own website even...i can call it. mikethevicodinguy or something of the sort. 9.5 at almost 150? holy crud! yeah, got to start wondering though when it's gonna stop. i've heard the new busa's will do close to 200mph off the show room floor!!! anyway, i'm 44 and havn't had a ticket since 88' so i think i got a pretty good deal insurance wise, way under a grand a yr for the zrx and my sporty 1200 for full coverage, both bikes, but the agent told me some incredible rates for some of the young fellas getting busa's and ninjas etc. i don't see how they do it! hey cos, i have read alot aboout the sv650 too. all good things to boot. medic...don't sell the harley! then you'll have to get rid of the wallet, boots, vests, patches...er, let me see, that about covers it, too! plus, then we can't be tough anymore either, and we'll have to start drinking latte or something! remember, it's all in the timing! ms, when are ya coming back to virginia beach? penz

 

[penzdude]

oh yeah...forgot. i also got this big hairy looking english block lettered...aka {gang} lol, tattoo that says of all things..HARLEY DAVIDSON} on the left side of my arm. yeah, i know, but you see, i had blown out a disc im my back and was on vicodin, and.......

 

[medic]

quote:

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Originally posted by penzdude:
medic...don't sell the harley! then you'll have to get rid of the wallet, boots, vests, patches

---

Don't have any of that high priced Harley junk. I do have leather, but it doesn't say Harley and I consider it a must for saftey reasons. My riding boots are my retired work boots.

Don't worry, I love my bike. I'm never gonna get rid of it. I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago and I told him I'd like to get an ElectraGlide or RoadKing for long trips. He got a smile on his face and said "I'll give ya $12,000 for your Softail right now". I looked at him and said "Did I say anything about selling my softail?".

My ultimate motorcycle collection:

My '93 Harley FXSTC
Harley ElectraGlide UltraClassic (geezer glide)
Ducati 996 SS
Ducati Monster SR4
Norton Commando 850
Honda CBX SuperSport

'04 Mustang GT sitting next to them

That would make me happy for now.

 

[KW]

Check out Holeshot. com Dale Walker makes a pretty good jet kit and pipe for the ZRX. I've had good luck with his stuff on a Bandit 1200. Muzzy's is another good place for hop up parts for a ZRX.

 

[msparks]

So what did you do with the Sportster, did you send it to the crusher or what? Hahaha.

Do they take trades on kawasaki's?

 

[penzdude]

actualy, i get to keep the sportster too. before riding the zrx, i thought it was kinda quick, well, at least compared to most all cars. it's a 1200, w/ the vance and hines pipes, screaming eagle air filter and the carb rejet. amsoil 20w50 in motor and tranny. probably the quickest harley except the v-rod. i got tons of extras on it ...forward controls, the pipes i mentioned, kuriakyn iso grips w/ the throttle boss, chrome battery and ignition cover, harley air foil pegs, 2/up seat with backrest and luggage rack, chrome belt cover, custom derby cover and the harley quick detach windshield and docking station. and yes...i'll admit it, the jeans, leather vest, wallet and boots. although high in quality, very overpriced stuff indeed. also kind of ****** ya off when you look inside and it says made in sri lanka or mexico. at least the boots are made by wolverine. still no match for my redwings! medic...er, how much were ya selling yer tail for?

 

[Motorbike]

Congrats on the new bike ! It's an entirely different engine and chassis than the old ELR was and for the better too IMO although the old J model style engines that came along after the KZ's were really tough one's.

Like someone already said , head over to the ZRX site and get aquainted . Might ad Kerker to your list of maybe's for a pipe as well .

 

[Steve S]

Speaking of Harleys are Buell's any good? I have seen ads and two in the back of a pickup and they are kinna interesting. I haven't owned a mc since I sold my 86 Kawasaki 500.

 

[msparks]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve S:
Speaking of Harleys are Buell's any good? I have seen ads and two in the back of a pickup and they are kinna interesting. I haven't owned a mc since I sold my 86 Kawasaki 500.

---

compared to what?

The biggest downside for Buell is you can only get them at Harley Dealers, So you are treated like a second class citizen. If they got Buell out of Harley I think they would do better.

I've heard they are fun little bikes, lots of torque and handle really well. They are not setup for touring though, so that leave me out.

Good luck

 

[Mackelroy]

Rather than being in misery for 500 miles. Just get lots of abrupt accelaration and deceleration and a few coolings and push the rpms on up. That 500 mile stuff is typical in most manuals, only bike I broke in that way was an 82 gs650, turned out to be an oil burner. Last time I break one in that easy. Present bike I did lots of acceleration and deceleration, several full coolings and before 300 miles we were running full throttle runs. Bike doesn't burn a drop(23k) and routinally sees 10k rpm.

 

[penzdude]

kinda afraid that if i do go over the recomended break in procedure, even though i've heard a bunch of different ways to do it, if something went wrong before 1000 miles, they could read a stored rpm code or something and see i went over the recomended break-in procedure. **** , i'm a chicken. i'll stay w/ the kawasaki sticker on the tach. thanks though!

 

[msparks]

when breakin in a motor, follow the factory recommended.

What I usually do is go up to what they say rediline is for that milage. Say 5000 for the first 100 miles. What I will do if run it up and and let it off, then run it up, then back off and over and over again. The cooler outside the better. Cooler weather is better for breaking in than summer hot weather.

I would do no more than 20 miles at a time for the first 100 miles. then from 100-500 do the same but extended that to 50 miles at a time. It's fun, take the bike out around blackwater, pungo ferry bridge, princess anne to currituck and back.

Ring it up to the max RPM for those specified miles and back down, what you are wanting to do is put a load on the engine without building up too much heat. They make these engine tight so the put out a lot of heat when new.

After 500 miles, about anthing goes. Take it to the Rev limiter everytime your out and that engine will be bullit proof.

Oh and wait until about 3,000 until you put Amsoil in. Run the Kaw stuff until then

 

[penzdude]

i actualy took the bike out today, after the initial kid destroying the house christmas ritual was over with. man, it was freezing, probably in the high 20's or low 30's, with lots o' wind. i saw one other idiot besides myself..on a harley, who promptly broke his frozen neck to look away...like i was a leper. i wanted to run him down {which would have been like catching a turtle with dystrophy} and force him to look at my way cool harley tattoo. so anyway, i did take her up to 4g several times and tried to vary my speed alot. yeah, my fellow riders and i always ride through blackwater, pungo, etc, and go to southland in n. cacalaki, to get cheapo smokes. by the way, on the zrx board, most of the guys are using wd-40 to clean the o-ring chains, and then it seems like the favorite is the maxima chain wax. they don't seem too fond of the lubes because of the fling issue. alot seem to think it's a way over blown issue, that o-ring chains are basicly sealed deals, and just keep them cleaned of to keep their bikes "pretty" and wax em' when they "get around to it".