Concours

[mtroutma]

With BMW's shoddy reliability, I have shifted my focus from the R1200RT
to the Kawasaki Concours.  Anyone with a recent model is invited to ply
me with tales of love and horror.  And if you know of a place I can rent
one for a test ride in NoVA, I would appreciate it.  I have been
directed to Eagle Rider but I don't think they carry them.
--
___________________________________
Mike Troutman
   mike@...
   http://www.troutman.org/

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[Dave Yates]

Troutman tired of terrible Teutonic tales:  

With BMW's shoddy reliability, I have shifted my focus from the R1200RT
to the Kawasaki Concours.  Anyone with a recent model is invited to ply
me with tales of love and horror.  And if you know of a place I can rent
one for a test ride in NoVA, I would appreciate it.  I have been
directed to Eagle Rider but I don't think they carry them.

[Dave] Nay, but I have the connie's hermanito the zx14.  Have test fitted
the connie and they've found their way into the rental fleets across the
pond now.  

YMMV and all that.  The R bike from brand b shakes like a demon, but on a
different frequency than the big ZX.  I can take maybe 15 minutes on the hwy
before my throttle hand sensation is at zero on the zx.  <disclaimer> I
shoot probably close to 20k rounds / year through various handguns.  I have
chronic tendonitis and this inhibits my ability to LD ride. </disclaimer>.
Most folks can go a lot farther than I can.  I put an audiovox cruise on to
address this.  The connie ergos are long distance friendly - bars, pegs,
seat are all capable.  Bags seem to me to be good, but my long distance
touring exp. Is limited.  

I do not like the ZX14's below 6k rpm throttle response, which can be PWNED
by a Vespa.  I am given to understand the Connie suffers the same fate;
secondary throttle plates that eliminate about 25 foot pounds of torque & 15
hp below 6k rpms.  It's an easy, and best of all free mod except for the
beers you consume whilst removing them.  

The connie has a monococque frame and there is barely a fist's worth of
clearance between the valve cover & frame.  Spark plug change = easy, but
2-3 beers.  They give you a pretty decent S/P wrench to use and it works.
That, plus the 2 ended screwdriver is more than I got with my Duc for 2x the
price... Go figure.  

I'd also like to get some saddle time on the new Connie, but OTOH, I don't
because I don't want to end up buying one :-)

FWIW, lots o' 14's out there in the used market below $7k that will take a
Connie seat, and has some limited luggage support from Givi & SW Motech.
You give up the shaft drive though...  Plus a good hundred pounds or so ?
... Just a suggestion as an alternative.

If memory serve me correctly, there's a connie forum of sorts... Google
maybe, and see what you can dig up.  

HTH

Dave
       

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[dcstrom]

They have a new web site - http://www.cog-online.org/

Trevor
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[dcstrom]

BTW Mike, COG have an event in MD this weekend... you'll get plenty of info
on the C14 if you want to show up there. Camping, breakfast and rides,
should be a good time.

http://www.cog-online.org/clubportal/EventDisplayNew.cfm?clubID=1328&EventID=79725&mo=6&tDate={d%20%272009-06-25%27}

Trevor

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 8:18 PM, Mike Troutman <mike@...> wrote:

> With BMW's shoddy reliability, I have shifted my focus from the R1200RT
> to the Kawasaki Concours.  Anyone with a recent model is invited to ply
> me with tales of love and horror.  And if you know of a place I can rent
> one for a test ride in NoVA, I would appreciate it.  I have been
> directed to Eagle Rider but I don't think they carry them.
> --
> ___________________________________
> Mike Troutman
>   mike@...
>   http://www.troutman.org/
>
> _______________________________________________
> dc-cycles mailing list
> dc-cycles@...
> http://dc-cycles.org/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo/dc-cycles
>

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