Forum Help.

[Pighuntingpuppy]

One thing about this forum...Gotta hand it to the community as there are people with direct hands on knowledge about these bikes. They can tell you everything you never wanted to know about these bikes. And given the fact that these are not really a high production motorcycle, the fact that this much knowledge exists about these bikes is absolutely awe inspiring.

Now take the Kawasaki Vulcan. The name plate has been around since 1984. Arguably a much better seller than the Vmax. Next to nothing exists for information on these bikes. There are no guru's to say....here....do this, that or the other thing first. True throw away bikes. Something gets too involved....toss the bike and replace is the general answer. Which is sad cause sometimes, the fix is not as bad as its made out to be.

I appreciate the fact that I can come here and get help with actual viable direction. I ask why does a Kawasaki burn up fuel pumps in under 2 miles, I get, the relay is bad. Ok....wonderful....where is this fuel pump relay? Silence. My diligence shows this bike does not have a relay. Instantly, I am told its wrong, there is a relay, I just dont know where to look. In the end, there is no relay on those era bikes. The 4 wire fuel pump receives power either from the main kill switch, the starter switch, or the primary lead on the ignition coil....in my case for the rear cylinder. The last wire is a ground. While I dont know for sure, as I was never able to test as failure occurred, I think the coil shorted out, sending 30K volts down the line shorting the fuel pump. I replaced the ignition coils and fuel pump....what do you know...it starts....runs....drives. I am lucky as Kawasaki warrantied out the first burned up fuel pump. But it would have been a $300 mistake. Ignition coils from Kawasaki were $150 a pop plus NGK boot ends and what not. And these coils....even though they have a factory warranty....are now discontinued and obsolete.

So....With all that said....I want to say that I am thoroughly impressed with the information and the actual hands on help you get from the folks here from a bike that was clearly not as big as seller as something like a Vulcan. Thank you.

 

[schudaddie]

I don't know how many kawi forums are out there but I would check here.....
https://www.vulcanforums.com/about/with 50,500+ members there has to be some info there for your vulcan issues.
good luck, bill

 

[Pighuntingpuppy]

I don't know how many kawi forums are out there but I would check here.....
https://www.vulcanforums.com/about/with 50,500+ members there has to be some info there for your vulcan issues.
good luck, bill

Yup....signed up there. 50K members....no one knows a thing and proves the point I am talking about. A huge forum like that and no one there is like some of the members here. Members here can tell you everything you dont wanna know. I was told at that site that my bike has a relay. There was no way about it. I told them there is no relay and the signal comes from the coil. I was, in so many words, called a liar and that I dont think I know how to read a schematic. I think they pull crap out their butt expecting people to just blindly say....ok. As you go through the forum, there are LOTS of questions asked with no replies. Some of the replies are extremely generic followed up by a copy and paste of the service manual that the person asking the question already went over.

VMax....with as few as they produced, has this compendium of knowledge and people who have been elbows deep in these bikes. There isnt a problem out there that someone here hasnt encountered yet. The Vulcan....50K people. No one can tell you a thing outside of...here is the manual...good luck have fun, trash the bike if you cant get it to work. That is evident by the dead and unanswered threads of that forum.

 

[user 16790]

maybe because VULCAN's are about 'look at me riding by'
but Vmax's are about 'look at me ri................. too late, gone'

 

[Fire-medic]

A Vulcan was brought to market to make $ on the cruiser phenomenon. No passion in a Vulcan. I had a chance to buy one, pretty-cheap, decent shape, not many miles, I passed. I only would have bought it to flip, but I decided that it didn't have enough potential to sustain my interest.

The VMax is a 'halo bike.' They only plan on 2,000 sales a year, for the USA market. If you have the hottest-bike, then your other bikes gotta-be 'something,' too. Maybe you cannot afford insurance on a VMax, much-less the payments on one, but you can buy a Virago, a Seca 550, or a Vision (one-quarter of a Cosworth DFV, the #1 sports-racing engine) .

We should consider ourselves extremely-fortunate that Yamaha has supported the Gen. 1 as-long as they have. Some parts are now no-longer available, so the end is at some-point, going to be a fact. For my sake, I hope it's awhile yet, because I have a number of these! And, parts, lots of parts.

Watch this video, and see how-many cars you can name by brand, model, and year. Now, decide "if this was today, how-many of these could I sell, if they ran OK, and were priced-right?"

I think, "every-one."

 

[02GF74]

The Vulcan passed me by in that I never took interest in it but a quick look on everybody's favourite auction site shows 5x the number of Vmax'es and in several different capacities. (The early models so appear to look to be anHD knock off)

So to be fair, the Vmax, with a few components changes (fork tubes, brakes, igniton module) is the same bike all the way through coupled with a very comprehensive service manual. I don't know what documentation is availalble for the Vulcan nor how many changes were made to each model over time so this could be a reason for the lack of knowlege?

oh, and the only car I recognised was a blue MGA convertible, wire wheels, at 0:25s just before the man climbs up the ladder. (probably most of the cars and people in the film are now dead)

 

[Fire-medic]

The Vulcan passed me by in that I never took interest in it but a quick look on everybody's favourite auction site shows 5x the number of Vmax'es and in several different capacities. (The early models so appear to look to be anHD knock off)

So to be fair, the Vmax, with a few components changes (fork tubes, brakes, igniton module) is the same bike all the way through coupled with a very comprehensive service manual. I don't know what documentation is availalble for the Vulcan nor how many changes were made to each model over time so this could be a reason for the lack of knowlege?

oh, and the only car I recognised was a blue MGA convertible, wire wheels, at 0:25s just before the man climbs up the ladder. (probably most of the cars and people in the film are now dead)

MGA convertible

Maybe it had more in-common with a VMax than you thought: a Twin-Cam 1500!
MGA TWIN CAM | The MG Owners' Club (mgownersclub.co.uk)

One of my co-workers had a Twin-Cam coupe! Only 310 Twin-Cam coupes were built during the two years of the Twin-Cam production run. The Triumph TR3-A and the Austin Healy 3000 were better, faster, and cheaper.

 

[desert_max]

Funny you guys should mention the Vulcan. Early 1985 and I still had my Bonneville and visited the Ocala Kawasaki dealership. I took a ride on the Vulcan, but that was not why I was there. The object of my desire was the ZL900 Eliminator. Rode that one (the one I had come to see) and immediately signed the papers on it. I found the Vulcan to be pretty bland then and actually I don't think that ever changed.

My 77 CB750 had been gone a couple of years by then. Of course a friend of mine, pissed by the Eliminator, went out and bought a Vmax. Hmph.