Kawk GPZ500S

That would only carry any weight if done in some 'ironic' way.

It's not, so doesn't.

 

Given that it was 'done' by somebody at least two owners before
Charders, you may not be right. Regardless of that, I look on it as
her decision to buy the bike, and Deb's before that, being based on
the irony inherent in the mods done to it.

Does too.

 

Oh Nooo it doesn't

 

I don't know, I've only seen it once at the BOSM.

It did have an awful lot of purple on it though.

--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, Keeper of the TFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

He's behind you!

 

1st, the bad points:

Nice bike, but not enough power to keep you interested once you've had
it for a while.

Sidestand cutout switches always fail and cause various "loss of
power" type symptoms. It should have been disconnected by now though.

Rear suspension always needs replacing. Plastic bushes side-by-side
with rusty metal bushes do not mix. Original rear shock is usually
knackered before 10,000 miles. Front suspension fares better but
change the fork oil once you get it.

Cooling fans sometimes seize or the rad gets caked with crap thrown up
from the wheel so the engine boils, doing in the head gasket. Take it
for a test run/thrash and watch out for coolant being pushed out of
the expansion tank overflow.

Checking the tappets requires dropping the coolant, thanks to a bad
design feature where the coolant tubes into the head need to be
removed to get the cam cover off.

Changing the oil involves removing the belly pan.

No space under the seat for a u-lock. The biggest thing you can get in
there is a disc lock, but watch it doesn't move about and jam the seat
release mechanism.

Bits ground easily during enthusiastic riding.

The seat gets uncomfortable after a couple of hours, which equates to
full tank range.

Now the good points:

It's light, nimble and does up to 130 easily.

Once the suspension is sorted and with decent tyres, it's reasonably
agile on the road.

It does up to 180 miles on a tank of petrol.

Its easy on tyres and other consumables, so it's cheap to run.

Insurance is relatively cheap.

The seat is bigger than on a sportsbike.

It's relatively easy to do DIY maintenance on.

Hope that helps.

Mark.

 

Mark G Phillips says...

What is this 'always fail' thing? They don't always fail. Unless I've
been very lucky with all my kwaks, because I've never experienced any
problems relating to the side-stand cut-out switch, including the GPX6 I
owned for 7 years and rode all year round (when I was young and 'ard,
like, not the pansy I am now).

If my shock was knackered before 10k I'd be more than a bit miffed.

That was an amusing feature on the GPX, too. After a bit of practice it
didn't take too long to do though.

As it does with all fully-faired bikes.

I don't think I've ever owned a bike that had sufficient space under the
seat to store things.

Rear-sets. )

Oddly enough, the racing pad and riding position on the ZXR4 make for a
more comfortable ride than some of the bikes that were supposed to have
a more comfortable seat on.

<snip>

--
Lesley
ZXR400SP
SBS#11[with oak-leaf cluster]
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18

Un-cork me to reply

 

They do on the GPZ ;-) Kawasaki use a 10p switch not designed for use
outdoors and fit it where it sees a lot of road crap. You may have
been extremely lucky, or you've bought bikes with the switch already
bypassed...

On the GPZ500S it's cheap and cheerful, not the best quality and it's
right in the firing line of all the road crap. Ride through a winter
and the shock will be knackered. Mine was. Even a cheap Hagon
replacement is better quality that the OE shock.

Worse still is the fact they mix plastic and mild steel bushes for the
suspension linkages: the steel bushes rust, then the rough rusty
surface wears away the plastic.... Not the best design solution IMHO.
Stainless steel bushes anyone?

True, but is still a PITA and takes longer than other bikes. Just a
bad design when with a bit more care, things could be easier.
A bit like my jap c*r: to replace the heater matrix, I've got to
dissassemble virtually half the car (everything from the bulkhead back
to the rear seats: I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to do the
job). Why so complicated, when with a bit more thougt it could be
miles easier?

But the GPZ only has a belly pan. All the hassle with none of the
asthetics.

The ability to store a grandfather clock is pushing things I agree,
but the bare minimum should surely be space for a u-lock and a set of
thin waterproofs?

Don't forget the belly-pan. Mines got scrape marks to testify how
quickly it decks out. And the centre stand... Oh, and my boots, but I
can move them out of the way ;-)

 

Mark G Phillips says...

Nope, including earlier kwaks. You don't believe they have different
switches for different models do you? That would push the price up.
None of mine had the switch by-passed.

As it was on the GPz305, but that did manage more than 10k before it's
demise.

Granted yes, it could have a better design. I had a 'helping hand'
(cue,man) to work on the bike once. The number of times I had to take
the cylinder head off for tappets work due to this muppet was beyond
belief. You can get into a routine, and in some respects I miss the GPX
for working in because it was so much easier than my current bike.

My replacement for the GPX6 was a GSZR750L that wasn't water-cooled,
but it was still a pig to work on in other areas. Perhaps I'd got too
used to pulling things apart on the GPX without thinking about it that
doing the same on the GSXR was difficult.

I know which bike I prefer out of the two, though ;o)

I'm not talking about grandfather clocks, just things. The most I've
managed has been a pair of waterproofs, and on one of the older bikes
you had do be careful because the storage area was close to the carbs.

Show-off ;o)

--
Lesley
ZXR400SP
SBS#11[with oak-leaf cluster]
BOTAFOT#101A UKRMHRC#12
BONY#54P BOB#18

Un-cork me to reply

 

This is not really a new problem. None of the bikes I've had have had
/any/ real storage as standard.

Guzzi's have an inadequate tool tray that the first owner breaks/looses.

BSAs have room for a few tools but never enough.

MZ's have enough room for a tool kit. Which is pretty good as supplied,
tyre levers, pump etc as standard. (However, don't look after them and
you will be using it). But it's a choice tools or two stroke.

The Suzuki GSs I've had could squeeze in tools and tightly bound
waterproofs in the tail pieces. The others I can't remember ...

The answer appears to be topbox and/or Habana Custom.