My Bike

I first began riding motorcycles when I was 13-14 years old and lived in the country, sneaking rides on my friend's dirt bikes and mopeds when our parents weren't looking. That initial contact became a lifelong obsession, and I ride motorcycles to this day.

The first motorcycle that I owned was a 1970 Yamaha R5, which was a 350 two-stroke in purple and white. I had that motorcycle from the summer of 1985, until the spring of 2000, when it was stolen from the back yard of my home. I've owned a total of 9 bikes now, including my current one, which is a 1986 Kawasaki Concours. Most of them have been sportbikes, and the Concours is the first one that I've owned which was made for riding longer distances.

[Portions of the following three paragraphs were taken from a description of the Concours written by David Gibbs (dagibbs@quantum.qnx.com) in August of 1992, and adapted. His full text may be found at: ftp://ftp.cecm.sfu.ca/pub/RMR/Kawasaki/CONCOURS-90. Some like to stand on the shoulders of giants. I prefer to stand on the shoulders of normal people. Less vertigo.]

The Concours is a 1000cc Sport-Touring motorcycle which is based on the 1000cc Ninja of the same vintage. It is big and heavy, weighing almost 275kg dry (without gas). It has a 26 litre fuel tank, which is pretty large for a motorcycle, and which gives it a range that exceeds 350 km. This large fuel tank contributes to its top-heavy, clumsy feel at walking speeds, especially when full. It is an extremely good long-distance bike, but surprisingly sporty as well. It's known for being durable, and a good all-round bike. It was, in fact, produced for 20 years to the same basic design, which is almost unheard of with sporty motorcycles.

It has a large fairing, slightly leaned forward seating position, fairly good space for one or two, standard hard luggage saddlebags with reasonable capacity, shaft drive, liquid cooling, dual disk brakes at the front, a single disk rear brake, a 6 speed transmission, and an engine that redlines at 10,500 rpm. In the hands of an experienced rider on a twisty road, it can keep up with all but the most hard core sport bikes. It has a detuned version of the Ninja motor (which makes it nearly "bulletproof"), and carries a lot of weight, so the top speed is just over 200 kilometers per hour. By comparison, a current Sportbike of the same displacement weighs around 175kg and has a top speed greater than 300km/hr. It's very nimble on a twisty road, though, despite its weight. The weight just seems to disappear once you move beyond walking speeds.

The fairing protects well against rain, and I have ridden through light rain for 5-10 minutes in jeans without getting wet. This protection tapers off from the shoulders and up, so my helmet and shoulders do get wet. The wind also generally hits the top of my helmet, depending upon speed and air turbulence. This causes a bit of buffeting, but it is acceptable. On most days, I can comfortably travel at speeds up to about 80 km/h with the helmet visor open, but I have to close it for highway speeds.

My bike is from the first year that Kawasaki produced the Concours, 1986; and was, until recently, in excellent condition for its age. It has had few modifications: The handlebars have been raised one inch and a Corbin seat fitted, for greater comfort. These changes were also made by the factory in subsequent years (well they didn't fit Corbin seats, but they made a credible copy), and for the same reasons. A previous owner has also installed a 12-volt accessory outlet, so that a heated vest or other powered accessory may be used. Up here in the great white north, that's an excellent thing; as it allows you to extend the riding season until the last possible moment.

Although this bike is still in excellent cosmetic condition, never having been dropped (Hi Ho Silver!), it's now living on borrowed time: The mechanic that I took it to, to have the motor rebuilt last Summer, basically told me that the bottom end is now worn out to the point that it's not worth it... "Ride it till it blows up, and then get another one" was the basic diagnosis. We'll see if I can squeeze another summer out of "Connie"....