Kawasaki, for feck sakes!

[inlinefour]

Doing some "regular maintiance" on a friend's GPX600F, I think it was a 1994 model. At the same time I'm quickly doing the same maintiance to the super four, that was the easy part. We hit the woes when it came time to oil the throttle cables on the Kawasaki, I could not believe my eyes! :confused: What a farkin blardy stupid throttle assembly. Now I know I could be called nieve, by some peoples' standards, having mostly only owned Honda and never a Kawasaki. But, are all Kawasakis this bloody dense??? In saying this I mean, the Honda was easy, off with the top of the plastic thingamagigee after taking the two bolts out and there is the the cables, nothing else needs to be removed, nothing falls apart and the cables are easily accessable for a wee bit of oiling :niceone:. Now the kawasaki, thats a bit different. This bit for one cable clips onto another bit for the other cable and when the top plastic thingamagigee (you know the bit with the kill switch on it- same as both bikes) is removed and then the whole throttle assembly falls apart on the Kawasaki! :killingme OK, so we lube the cables and look at putting the throttle assembly back together and fark me, nothing will fit in place! :shake: Now my mate is starting to get really pissed after a good half a hour and I'm still standing there stunned, due to the relative stupidity of the whole set up. Some how we managed to get it back together and my mate rides off home and consults his workshop manual. It turns out that every time the throttle assembly is disconnected, the carb end works loose and moves, hence making it almost impossible to reconnect at the throttle end. :confused: Whats more the workshop manual makes it clear that the fairing and the tank have to come off when you want to reconnect the cables at the carb end! :shake: All this pissing about, for what is regular maintiance??? :whistle: Then I take it for a ride, feck thats another story, the antiwhatthefuck, braking: frount brakes! Don't get me started on that, does anyone know how to disconnect it? Its some sort of stupid electrical thingee that was binned after a couple of years when they realised who stupid it was! :killingme :killingme All this just left me stunned and thinking, feck I'm glad I like Honda! :2thumbsup

[inlinefour]

Are all Kawasakis this bad, or have they improved over time? :confused:

[Quasievil]

Are all Kawasakis this bad, or have they improved over time? :confused:

get fucked and come to the Rally

[inlinefour]

get fucked and come to the Rally

Will you have something intelligent to say there? (PT) :killingme

[GSVR]

Maybee you should consider getting a Harley. Solidly engineered and based on sound agricultural practise that even a monkey could understand.

[inlinefour]

Maybee you should consider getting a Harley. Solidly engineered and based on sound agricultural practise that even a monkey could understand.


...perhaps its only because of the monkey engineering(PT). Nope I'm quite happy with Honda and have plenty of practice rebuilding/maintianing them. I alike your thoughts on the Harley though :killingme

[Quasievil]

Will you have something intelligent to say there? (PT) :killingme

Good come back, I like it.
Nah I dont no what to say about the cable mate, wouldnt have a clue, but I have always been reluctant to get to involved with them for fear of not getting assembless back together, I leave it up to service time at the dealers.

Re the Rally I doubt i would have much to say intelligently, I may do for the first 1/2 hour that will be about it:drinknsin

You should come though

[N4CR]

I think honda made bikes to easy... real bikes like kawasakis are too complex for the dumbed down honda people :shake:
:whistle: (hides in a small unventillated box)

[TonyB]

Try having an exhuast manifold nut come off on one of the rear cylinders of an early VFR and then tell me how wonderful Honda's designs are. :p And that was one of the outside studs. I made up a special nut to put on- it was the only hope of every getting one on. Then the bloody thing wouldn't seal up. It was impossible to get at the inside stud to try and even things up, so my only option was to try tightening it just a liiiiiittle more...

Then try having a exhaust stud break on one of the rear cylinders of an early VFR and then tell me how wonderful Honda's designs are. :p The engine had to come out from memory.

[speedpro]

simple things for simple folk.
Kawasakis are for those that can handle that sort of thing.
That's my completely unbiased non-one-eyed view of the situation.

[inlinefour]

Try having an exhuast manifold nut come off on one of the rear cylinders of an early VFR and then tell me how wonderful Honda's designs are. :p And that was one of the outside studs. I made up a special nut to put on- it was the only hope of every getting one on. Then the bloody thing wouldn't seal up. It was impossible to get at the inside stud to try and even things up, so my only option was to try tightening it just a liiiiiittle more...

Then try having a exhaust stud break on one of the rear cylinders of an early VFR and then tell me how wonderful Honda's designs are. :p The engine had to come out from memory.

Why did it come off is more to the point????
Metal shrinks/expands when hot/cold. So hence it need to cool down...

[inlinefour]

simple things for simple folk.
Kawasakis are for those that can handle that sort of thing.
That's my completely unbiased non-one-eyed view of the situation.

So you take your bike back to the shop then when its needing servicing???

[TonyB]

Why did it come off is more to the point????
Age and viabration I guess. Even if you did discover it was loose before it fell off, it would be impossible to tighten with any tools that I own

[Coyote]

Hondas can be utter shite

(told this a dozen times already) When my Dad accidentally unscrewed the idle adjuster off, we had to take the tank and air filter off to try screw it back in, even then we didn't have enough access to it, and we were comtemplating on the idea of taking the carbs off to where we had to screw the bloody thing back on to. Luckily, we brought some long nose pliars with a 90 degree bend on them, managed to screw it back in, even then that was lucky and I don't think I could screw it back in again

Otherwise, our kawasakis have been ok. Finally got to ride the 125 today. Bloody awesome :2thumbsup

[Wonko]

Same type of thing with the GPZ600, '85 vintage. Seemed to fit back together easily enough for me. I learnt a long time ago(the hard way) that you take your time pulling things apart that you haven't pulled apart before.

[Hitcher]

Jesus wept. What a naive rant. A 12-year-old bike FFS is no basis for rational interbrand comparisons!!

I've ridden and enjoyed both Hondas and Kawasakis. Whack on all you want about lubing throttle cables on some obscure 1994 model but give me Kawasaki's positive neutral finder every time. Honda (generally) makes a great shifting box but it is a pain in the arse catching neutral when upshifting or downshifting through it. And having to clunk around looking for it when you want to stop and dismount.

[Teflon]

Then try having a exhaust stud break on one of the rear cylinders of an early VFR and then tell me how wonderful Honda's designs are. :p The engine had to come out from memory.

Had a smilar problem on my nc30, what a nightmare.

[inlinefour]

Same type of thing with the GPZ600, '85 vintage. Seemed to fit back together easily enough for me. I learnt a long time ago(the hard way) that you take your time pulling things apart that you haven't pulled apart before.

Well said that man. :msn-wink:

[inlinefour]

Jesus wept. What a naive rant. A 12-year-old bike FFS is no basis for rational interbrand comparisons!!

I've ridden and enjoyed both Hondas and Kawasakis. Whack on all you want about lubing throttle cables on some obscure 1994 model but give me Kawasaki's positive neutral finder every time. Honda (generally) makes a great shifting box but it is a pain in the arse catching neutral when upshifting or downshifting through it. And having to clunk around looking for it when you want to stop and dismount.

Yea right, whatever...

[gav]

Well comparing my old ZXR400 to my CBR600, the ZXR is much easier to work on, the Honda is a bloody nightmare. Things like pulling the carbs off and changing jets etc, the ZXR is way easier and faster to do. Just what I've found working on both.....

[John]

Well comparing my old ZXR400 to my CBR600, the ZXR is much easier to work on, the Honda is a bloody nightmare. Things like pulling the carbs off and changing jets etc, the ZXR is way easier and faster to do. Just what I've found working on both.....
There is an unbiased god! (p/t)

On another note, havnt worked on to many hondas - the ones I did were old so I cant really comment on the new models, old ones were simple as - hell rebuilds were a 4 hour job :Punk:

My kawasaki is average, the manual leaves alot to be desired but Its simple to figure out yourself.

[inlinefour]

Well comparing my old ZXR400 to my CBR600, the ZXR is much easier to work on, the Honda is a bloody nightmare. Things like pulling the carbs off and changing jets etc, the ZXR is way easier and faster to do. Just what I've found working on both.....

I'll shut up then as I'm after the CBR600RR myself and what your saying does not sound good at all. Oh well, I guess thats what the mechanics at the local dealership are there for :msn-wink: Good to hear your views on them Gav, as I've just had a bad experience with one Kawasaki and I'd actually hoped that they are not all like this...

[inlinefour]

Jesus wept. What a naive rant. A 12-year-old bike FFS is no basis for rational interbrand comparisons!!

I've ridden and enjoyed both Hondas and Kawasakis. Whack on all you want about lubing throttle cables on some obscure 1994 model but give me Kawasaki's positive neutral finder every time. Honda (generally) makes a great shifting box but it is a pain in the arse catching neutral when upshifting or downshifting through it. And having to clunk around looking for it when you want to stop and dismount.

I have just become used to that as it does not appear to be a problem at all here. :msn-wink:

[Hitcher]

I have just become used to that as it does not appear to be a problem at all here.
Remarkable.

[inlinefour]

Remarkable.

Glad I could be of help. You do come out with the occasional comment that leaves me thinking, what the heck was he thinking??? :confused: or what planet is he on tonight (PT) :whistle:

[Hitcher]

Glad I could be of help. You do come out with the occasional comment that leaves me thinking, what the heck was he thinking??? or what planet is he on tonight
With a decent telescope I can see the rings around Uranus. I've heard of "hot dates" but THAT is ridiculous...

[inlinefour]

With a decent telescope I can see the rings around Uranus. I've heard of "hot dates" but THAT is ridiculous...

I think its safe to say that its not worth trying to understand him nor wonder where hes from? Planet Spellitrightorelse? (PT) :killingme

[gav]

Well, I guess every bike is different, my ZXR400 was a 93 model, my current CBR is a 97, the current CBR600RR maybe completely different. The ZXR was almost like it was designed to be worlked on or more like a race bike, things like taking the airbox and carbs off, so much easier on the ZXR, just seemed alot less cluttered under the tank. Mind you, the 97 CBR has the Dual Air Intake air ducting bollocks setup which is less than ideal, but things like reaching the screws to undo carb manifolds etc just seemed awkward on the Honda. My mate who was helping has a ZXR400 and he commented (several times :angry2: ) how silly some things seemed, but I guess you get used to your own bike to a certain extent. Of course with a Honda you're less likely to need to fix it anyway! :whistle:

[inlinefour]

My mate has been mucking about with his GPX and reckons he has it sussed now and can get it all done pretty quickly. I just thought it was a bit bizzare at times. I guess I'll get over that once I get a modern sports bike aye? :msn-wink: