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Hi folks. Excited to find you.
Me: Grew up riding dirt bikes and 3 wheelers. First road bike was an 82 GS300L, and I feel pretty horrible in hindsight about the way I treated that bike. I didn’t know anything about maintenance, so I got something like 2,000 miles out of the old thing before it just stopped trying to please me anymore. Then a 2004 Kawi Vulcan 500, which was kind of an awesome little cruiser. I put around 7k on that I think. In 2007 I bought a brand new (gasp) Yamaha FZ6, and I have to give Yamaha credit – owning that bike for 9 years was an amazing experience. Did all the maintenance myself, got 52,000 trouble free miles out of it commuting to work around Boston and blasting to VT. Bike would keep pulling hard well north of 100, and would easily get high 40s mpg. Sold it when we moved west, to Hood River Oregon, thinking “I’ll just get another bike right away….”
Fast forward 2 and a half sad, moto-free years, and my wife surprised me with this.
KBRY8225P by gordopuggy, on Flickr
KBRY8229P by gordopuggy, on Flickr
’81, 1 owner, 27k miles. Aftermarket seat (obviously), some engine crash bars, and those awesome old Shoei side bags, but basically bone stock. Long term plan is to mate it to a sidecar, so I can take the Mrs and the daughter with me at one time. They’re very into it. Meanwhile I’ve been getting to know it, taken my daughter to school 3 times, blasted around the orchards here a bit, short interstate stints.
THE GOOD: Almost everything is good. Bike fires up pretty easy with choke, idles steady and smooth, pulls like a demon, sounds amazing. This motor is … I didn’t expect it to be SO good. Transmission is perfect, brakes feel fine, all lights work except the #5 gear indicator light. Those Shinko tires don’t look old, and while I don’t trust the brand, they feel fine.
THE BAD: I get oil in the air box when I do short cold rides. I’ve talked to a cousin who works on bikes a lot (translation: Harley owner of several decades), and he thinks it’s oil getting past the rings, but nothing to be alarmed at. Given that my airbox gaskets on both sides are cracked (I took them off to inspect), oil is seeping out the left side on kickstand and pooling lightly on the engine. We’re talking about a thimble of oil, not a shot glass. I’d like that to stop, but not if it means a full top end job.
Me: Grew up riding dirt bikes and 3 wheelers. First road bike was an 82 GS300L, and I feel pretty horrible in hindsight about the way I treated that bike. I didn’t know anything about maintenance, so I got something like 2,000 miles out of the old thing before it just stopped trying to please me anymore. Then a 2004 Kawi Vulcan 500, which was kind of an awesome little cruiser. I put around 7k on that I think. In 2007 I bought a brand new (gasp) Yamaha FZ6, and I have to give Yamaha credit – owning that bike for 9 years was an amazing experience. Did all the maintenance myself, got 52,000 trouble free miles out of it commuting to work around Boston and blasting to VT. Bike would keep pulling hard well north of 100, and would easily get high 40s mpg. Sold it when we moved west, to Hood River Oregon, thinking “I’ll just get another bike right away….”
Fast forward 2 and a half sad, moto-free years, and my wife surprised me with this.
KBRY8225P by gordopuggy, on FlickrKBRY8229P by gordopuggy, on Flickr’81, 1 owner, 27k miles. Aftermarket seat (obviously), some engine crash bars, and those awesome old Shoei side bags, but basically bone stock. Long term plan is to mate it to a sidecar, so I can take the Mrs and the daughter with me at one time. They’re very into it. Meanwhile I’ve been getting to know it, taken my daughter to school 3 times, blasted around the orchards here a bit, short interstate stints.
THE GOOD: Almost everything is good. Bike fires up pretty easy with choke, idles steady and smooth, pulls like a demon, sounds amazing. This motor is … I didn’t expect it to be SO good. Transmission is perfect, brakes feel fine, all lights work except the #5 gear indicator light. Those Shinko tires don’t look old, and while I don’t trust the brand, they feel fine.
THE BAD: I get oil in the air box when I do short cold rides. I’ve talked to a cousin who works on bikes a lot (translation: Harley owner of several decades), and he thinks it’s oil getting past the rings, but nothing to be alarmed at. Given that my airbox gaskets on both sides are cracked (I took them off to inspect), oil is seeping out the left side on kickstand and pooling lightly on the engine. We’re talking about a thimble of oil, not a shot glass. I’d like that to stop, but not if it means a full top end job.
Enjoy your new bike!
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