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Nov. 1984 - April 1989 4 seasons 12,600 mi.
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I bought this bike
from a snowmobile racer at a Greenville golf resort (Nicholson's). He claimed he never rode it hard. Low
mileage and in perfect shape. Great looking, too. Triple disks (just
like the KZ1000).
16 valves, anti-dive front brakes. Completely black; engine and pipes, bars,
mirrors, hardware. No chrome to polish anywhere. It had an LCD digital gear
indicator between the gauges. Unnecessary but entertaining. The other color
for this year was a fire-engine red that was popular but not my style.
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This bike was more
performance oriented than the KZ1000 and had the footpegs
just slightly further back. The bars, too, were lower and more sport-riding oriented. This represents
one of the last 'naked' sport bikes where you can see the engine. Soon after, high performance bikes were water cooled and lost the fins and the engine was shrouded with plastic like my next bike (the Honda Hurricane ).
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I did have to fix a
leaky valve cover gasket (twice, since I didn't do it right the first time). But it
had excellent reliability and fine performance and seemed particularly smooth compared to
the KZ1000. The anti-dive brake feature was only mediocre and the brakes vibrated a
bit near the end of my ownership. Could have been warped rotors.
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| I did adjust the 16 valve engine at least once. It had standard tappets not bucket and shims so there was some reasonable care needed to do the job correctly. | |
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This is a
note of perceptions about this bike after riding it's replacement, the 1987
Honda Hurricane in Sept. of 1988. "The bike seems rattley. It is too willowy in the turns and feels like it is falling off the tires. The handlebars vibrate too much and seem flat and too wide. It's like riding an old bike, stiff yet flimsy. It's also much colder due to less wind protection. And the shifting is abrupt with a noticeable clunk." |
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