Boys, whats goin' on? I have never had a noise/vibe problem; are we talking zl900 or zl1k fuel caps? My fan was secure when I pulled the rad out to replace the mount rubbers, no noises though, before or after, just chopped out rubbers.
I must say though I did have a noise for two years in the engine which sounded like a big end knock (a little worrying) until about two months ago when about 20secs after starting it, it went BANG! "Bugger this is not good" I thought; until I noticed the knocking noise was gone completely and the motor was dead smooth and silent (by comparison). I could tell it was still running because the tacho needle was still synchronised with the right grip. Now I'm just too scared to pull the sump off or stick a torch in the oil filler cap.
Now here's a pet hate of mine, who was the idiot that decided to put that bloody oil filler cap on the left side tucked in where a funnel will not stay put (or sit at an angle that will allow oil to run to the hole in the centre). I want his name and address!!! Just as bad is the sight glass which can't be seen while sitting on the bike, while trying to keep the 240kg beast upright, while holding a recalcitrant funnel in place, while hanging onto a 10ltr bottle of oil, while holding a fluro to the sight glass, while noticing you can't see though the freshly wiped glass because you used your fingers to clean it only to find the finger prints are harder to see through than the dust you cleared away in your attempt at forward planning. Hey I suppose it could have been worse, the glass could have been on the opposite side (thus promoting genetic mutation of Eli owners into octopuses).
While on the subject of "wrong sides" when you guys give me the address of the culprit responsible for the oil servicing points, can you get his brothers details too? That would be the one that decided the cam chain would look sexier on the left side rather than the right, you know where it is, on the same side as the side stand. These boys obviously don't ride naked bikes; surely they understood the reason for their decision to put the fuel tap on the left side of the tank, so fuel/water would fall that way to be consumed when the bike's on the side stand. Well now I'll get to the point, you see I don't stop riding just because of a little rain but when I end the ride and put the bike on it's only available rest (side stand) where does the rain go when it lands on the rocker cover? Dead right, straight to the "dam wall" the cover forms on the cam chain side, that is until the number one plug hole cools down and sucks in a couple cc's of H2O. I'm sick to the teeth of siphoning water out of the #1 plug hole (and this occurs even though all my plugs have new plug boots with tight seals).
About the centre stand issue, some of you might remember an early post of mine on KERA where I indicated I was going to do something about it. Well I got the sh1ts one day and solved it, I made my own and I must say I love it, it's so much easier to change front and rear tyres, pull shocks out, drop the forks etc. etc. Mind you it's not a permanent fit but it is easy to install, use and remove (<2mins; 1min on & 30sec off). What about balance I hear you ask? Well I simply mount it to the foot pegs and when you remove either wheel it will rest on the one remaining wheel.
The seat, love it; great under a 25mm sheepskin
. Even better when I put my feet back on the pillion pegs, perfect balance against the wind at speed (no windshield), good enough for 6.5hr rides in one stint.
Fuel capacity? Mine is about 200km to reserve so a K&N element is going in next week. OK, so you've done the sums, you've got me. No I don't ride for 6.5 hours at 30k/hr. I stretched the truth a little in my last paragraph. I stop for a 5min refuel (premium unleaded, 95 octane) twice on those 6.5hr rides.
Air box? I recommend you do the carbs once and thoroughly, leave no stone unturned. If you commit to a quality service then it should be a few years before you need to remove them again (it's been a couple of years since I had mine off) and she runs like a Japanese watch (never owned a Swiss watch so I can't use that phrase). Oh sorry, I forgot about the boys suffering from "off seasons", you may need to spend your time draining and preserving the tank before hibernation.
The original LH sliding indicator switch with the difficult to find centre "OFF" position shits me, so on went a GPz900 model "press to cancel" switch along with a suitable longer choke cable (GTR1000/Concours).
One last issue (for this post) and this is a mistake by Kawasaki which costs me a small fortune. There's way too much rotation on the throttle grip. I need to put a stop somewhere near the 60% point. My rear tyre only lasts 10 months and 9,000kms. OK sorry, that's a plus hey?
Copya, right wrist down...
:nonono:
