Just drug home a Kawasaki concours

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CaptainKyle

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I must be sick I just drug home an old 87 Concours project not sure what I was thinking bringing home another project but dont think I will lose any money on it so its in line behind my other projects.
 
About the only other bike with a production run as long as the Vmax. They run well and have few issues. Looking at mid 12's at the track (same speed as my stock 86 Fazer was). But, more comfort.

Sean
 
Doesn't the Concours use the original ZX-10 motor after the 900 Ninja's run was over? Those were stout motors and were i believe the first 170 mph (in USA 1000 Ninja tune) streetbikes. Not too-sure about interchangeability between the Concours & the first-generation 1000 Ninja, but I bet the 1000 Ninja cams may swap right-in. I assume they may have dialed-back on the valve sizes & the compression to make it a more low & midrange powerband, but maybe swapping a 1000 Ninja head would take care of the cams/compression/valves in one fell swoop.

My buddy had one of those first 1000 Ninjas (ZX-10) & it had a Superbike Mike head & a D&D comp exhaust. Apart from being annoyingly loud, it was a fast bike in a straight line but my FZR1000 would leave it in any handling situation.

One time we were going as a group of about a dozen bikes on a firefighters' day off to the Islamorada Tiki Bar in the FL Keys, a well-known hangout for fun, especially during Spring Break.

The place would be hopping day & night then! Women in the pool, women on the beach, women at Beer Can Island just offshore, most-prominent during low tide.

It was a perfect spring day. Everyone was keeping a pace, and we were enjoying the beautiful azure skies and the warm breezes from offshore on the trip down south on A1A. We got to Homestead, (now known as a location for NASCAR, and formerly an USAF field before Hurricane Andrew pretty-much destroyed it) and suddenly it looked like Top Gun in the sky. There were F15's boomimg & zooming, thick like skeeters at dusk, flying around like they had business to attend to.

Once we got to Islamorada, we found out a Cuban MiG pilot had defected. He flew above the waves from Cuba, buzzed the Key West airport and landed at Boca Chica N.A.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/21/us/cuban-defects-with-mig-27.html?pagewanted=1

Bear in-mind a "Flogger" has a top speed in-excess of 1150 mph and that it's not much more than 90 miles to Key West from Cuba, and Havana is on the NW side of the island. On afterburner at altitude, once the MiG 27 decided to leave Cuban airspace, he could be above Key West in about 6 minutes. Of course, at wave-height, his arrival would be a bit slower, but still a very short trip. Good thing he announced his arrival before he showed up or he probably would have been downed. That's why the Fighting Falcons were scrambled, and why we saw them flying sorties since they were up there, might as well get in some flight time! They put-on quite a sight, pitching & rolling, and going vertical, their contrails pointing the way, "follow this path to your end!"

On the way to the Keys on A1A, since much of the roadway is single-lane, there are 'passing zones.' Whenever traffic gets to one, slower traffic is supposed to move to the right and let the faster traffic by, then the road narrows again, until the next 'zone.' in actuality, all traffic reaching one immediately speeds-up about 20 mph and moves left, to make time. About the only ones who do move right are the trailers and the big rigs. For everyone else, it's as-if the Homestead NASCAR track opened the gates & shooed everyone onto A1A.

When you have a dozen big-bore bikes meeting cars & pickups, and they all want to get by the slowed traffic in the allotted space, which isn't that long, you are likely to be front-center for what the L.E.O.'s would refer to as "exhibitions of speed." It's a good time to be at the top of the displacement/compression/# of cylinders hierarchy. The ZX-10 and the FZR1000 were top dogs, pretty-much conceding the lead to whoever got the jump. Afterr the 'passing zone,' speeds would be dialed back so the rest of the pack could catch-up on our trip to the land of salt water on both sides of the road, margaritas, and corn-fed Homecoming Queens on vacation from Midwest campuses.

It was a great road trip, with many stories, and here were just a couple.

Yeah the road is straight, but you owe it to yourself to see the view with nothing between you and the ocean or Gulf of Mexico but a concrete path to the sunrise to your east, or to the sunset to your west. On a spring day with cumulus clouds slowly passing, I cannot think of anything better.:biglaugh:
 
Yep motor was based off the Old ZX 10 not sure what I am gonna do with this thing its pretty ratty. The guy said it ran good when he parked it & he was gonna fix it but decided he did not know whet he was doing. He did buy a set of carbs that look like new & put a new generator on it not to long ago. I will probably slap the other set of carbs on it & clean the tank & see how it runs & go from there. I might leave it a Rat bike & just use it to hop around & pick up parts on or sell it & make a buck. I only paid $ 300 for it so even if it runs crappy I can make plenty of money on parts.
 
CaptainKyle, you sure get into some strange things. You could almost write an adventure book based on the bikes you pick up..:biglaugh: No disrespect meant. What you do is what makes the world go round...
 
CaptainKyle, you sure get into some strange things. You could almost write an adventure book based on the bikes you pick up..:biglaugh: No disrespect meant. What you do is what makes the world go round...
Thank you very much ! I just try to keep things intersesting its mostly Vmax's any more but I try to keep an open mind to all bikes. I am gonna try & have another tech day soon you should try & show up.
 
The owner of the shop that works on my bikes has a newer model Concours. He offered me a ride one day & I jumped at the chance. He told me to "redline it".

I started running it through the gears on what I "thought" was a very long, clear stretch of highway. That thing just ate up the highway & quick too. The last time I looked; the speedo was reading 151, the bike was ready to do more, and the rpms were nowhere near redline. I was getting tunnel vision, and the long, clear highway was gone. I backed it down............
Had a nice, conservative ride back to the shop.
Adrenaline was kicking my ***.
Shop owner got a good laugh.

It may not do 170, but I'll bet it'll come damn close.
If if ever does; I won't be on it.

Jester 42
 
I must be sick I just drug home an old 87 Concours...

First of all shouldn't that be ' dragged ' ? :ummm: signed the Grammer Nazi .:biglaugh:

And second...thanks for that little trip down the Keys to the Holiday Isle Fire-Medic...out favorite vacation destination since the late 60's...been diving there since the mid 70's...:punk:
 
First of all shouldn't that be ' dragged ' ? :ummm: signed the Grammer Nazi .:biglaugh:

And second...thanks for that little trip down the Keys to the Holiday Isle Fire-Medic...out favorite vacation destination since the late 60's...been diving there since the mid 70's...:punk:
Dragged ,drug dont make much diffrence to me. Im just an old Redneck never claimed to have proper grammer & never really cared.:biglaugh:
 
Dont know ! Knowing me it might end up that way I have a tendancy of tearing things apart. It might just end up a parts bike since I seem to do pretty good with parts.

Whatever pays the bills. When you get 'em cheap they are usually worth more in parts than as runners. No one wants to give you what you can make via part-out.

I have been passing up some deals because of the storage & workin' on 'em time committment when the wife wants other things done.
 
Doesn't the Concours use the original ZX-10 motor after the 900 Ninja's run was over?

Actually, it was the GPz1000RX, the bike that preceded the ZX-10. It was made in 86 & 87, concurrently with the 900. Although it was a pig in the twisties compared to the FZ1000, it was a superior all day mount thanks to a much more comfortable seating geometry. At the time it was released, it was the fastest production bike ever made, and it was impossible to resist the smooth rush of power it had, especially from 80-130mph.

82995d1147380012-fs-1986-zx1000r-ni.jpg
 
Actually, it was the GPz1000RX, the bike that preceded the ZX-10. It was made in 86 & 87, concurrently with the 900. Although it was a pig in the twisties compared to the FZ1000, it was a superior all day mount thanks to a much more comfortable seating geometry. At the time it was released, it was the fastest production bike ever made, and it was impossible to resist the smooth rush of power it had, especially from 80-130mph.

82995d1147380012-fs-1986-zx1000r-ni.jpg
Now THAT brings back some memories. My neighbor had an '86 1000R and we regularly ran the 1/4 up at Union Grove Wisconsin. I would routinely holeshot the ***** out of him on my GSXR, but if he got off the line well he would always run me down by the end of the track. His best times were an even .1 of a second on me. Good times!
 
Kyle is grammatically correct, Being a Stranded Texan, It would sound just plain wierd to the ear to hear "dragged" home versus "drug" home....

You oughtta hear how, Grind, Ground, Grinded gets handled here....:rofl_200:
 
Kyle is grammatically correct, Being a Stranded Texan, It would sound just plain wierd to the ear to hear "dragged" home versus "drug" home....

You oughtta hear how, Grind, Ground, Grinded gets handled here....:rofl_200:

Seen... I HATE that word... "I seen something yesterday" No no... You SAW (past tense) something yesterday...

Of course... Seen IS a word... "I've seen that before"

Pet peeve!

Chris
 
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