Kiwi Specification bikes

[Biff]

It's a '93 Yamaha XV1100 Virago, and if my shipping company (bloody stupid crown)

I knew it - it had to be Crown - absolute bastards. Useless, stinking, mother forkers!!!!!

I used them too - I've a list as long as my arm of (alleged) complaints. I'm currently waiting for a nice compensation cheque form the toss pots. One of the many benefits of having a QC as a good friend.

Rant ends - legal restrictions apply and therefore prevent me from elaborating any further as I may loose shed loads of $$$$$$'s.

[scumdog]

I think we get a sort of ''base'' bike,all the restrictions are add ons for other countries - but as Dave says we get run outs of odd models that don't sell in other markets etc...one of the reasons parts are hard to get for NZ models as compared to Jap imports.

The headlamp should dip straight down,but a modern lamp may illuminate the left side more as Bugjuice says,having the headlamp point to one side of the road is not a smart idea.

Yep, when I had my US import Harley the light dipped to the right, eventually a WOF man noticed, the law says it must dip straight ahead or to the left so I went back with the headlight wrenched to the left, NOW it dipped straight ahead but also lit up the paddocks on my left when I was on full beam!!

Of course I only "wrenched" it for each WOF then wrenched it back once I had a WOF!! Lit up each oncoming car as it went past!!

Just goes to prove a WOF is a 50/50 thing - lasts 50 seconds or 50 feet, whichever comes first.

[James Deuce]

make sure the dash is for right hand drive, instead of left..??

The only thing I can sensibley think of is the headlights. The low-beam lighting often illuminates more of the kerb side of the road. I know this for cars, but might not apply to bikes, and might be different now, with new 'clear' headlights etc. Have to check mine when I get home..
Apart from the head lights, can't think of anything that would specifically make it left or right sided of the road.
Hell, my bike even has a Canadian tested sticker on it, so I guess it could have gone anywhere..

The lighting issue is a serious one. Take a Canadian spec bike to VTNZ and you will have to replace the headlight reflectors at least or maybe the whole unit.

The previous owner of my GSX got stung with this during a one off visit to VTNZ for a warrant. The Euro/US spec reflectors mean that you dazzle oncoming traffic on low beam and REALLY dazzle oncoming traffic on high beam, as the the light beams are pointing in their direction, instead of slightly away from them.

[Coldkiwi]

The lighting issue is a serious one. Take a Canadian spec bike to VTNZ and you will have to replace the headlight reflectors at least or maybe the whole unit.

Well, unless my bikes been taken to two rather unthorough WOF stations, that may be the exception rather than the rule. The GSXR alstares that got bought in by Suzuki from Canada in late 2003 seem to be fully compliant. I've pulled off the stupid orange reflectors on the front forks but haven't had any problems with the headlight or otherwise.
This suggests to me that Canadiuan spec must be fairly close and that suzuki may have just replaced the head light units (although I haven't had a good look at night to see if it is dipped to the centreline).

[gav]

Once upon a time when production racing was a big thing, NZ used to get the highest HP spec models available in the world, very similiar to South Africa. Sometimes the distributors would be able to pick up cheaper shipments that were destined elsewhere and never got there. Witness stuff like the Honda GB400/500, VFR700's, 1990 CBR600 (mph speedos) Suzuki RF900, GS1200SS etc real pain in the arse stuff when working in a parts dept, so important to get chassis and engine numbers correct when ordering parts, esp bodywork etc.
I'm sure alot of this sort of stuff still goes on, certainly Suzuki seem to be able to pick up some real cheap stuff at times.

[Coyote]

Don't most Suzukis come from Canada? Also don't some hondas come from Mexico?

[gav]

Don't most Suzukis come from Canada? Also don't some hondas come from Mexico?

Shit, I thought both came from Japan.....

[Coyote]

Shit, I thought both came from Japan.....

I mean manufactured there

[Timber020]

Depending on where in the states you get them from, cars, bikes and chainsaws have different exhaust management due to different emission laws.
Californian machines have the most restrictions and tend to be down on the power scale, next come the other states. NZ models tend to have more HP.

[Waylander]

Couple of things here mate, first; the bike can be turned around so that it leans away from traffic. Second; hardly anybody parks on the street in the states. And third; our streets are curved upwards in the middle so that rain runs off to the side and collects in the gutters so when you do park in the side of the road and so that your bikes stand is on the road side (not the curb side) it's not leaning so far into oncoming cars. We aslo have concrete roads wich tend to not cew up tires so quikly. Still I prefer it here.

[Waylander]

Hmm I see.
It would be a pain in the ass.. if not a little dangerous sometimes.. to turn your bike around each time you wanna park on the street, also I see what you mean about the sidestand being "streetside" as opposed to "curbside", so with the curve of the road wouldnt that cause the bike to be more upright than leaned over? I know I like to have a bit of weight on the stand cause the few times i have parked on a incline where the stand side of the bike is higher than the other side I have been very nervous about leaving the bike in case it blows over from being too upright... know what i mean?

Yea I know what you mean and that's one of the reasons no one parks on the streets aswell as the fact that in most cities there is plenty of parking. Only problem with parking a bike in a carpark is sometimes a car driver wont see that your bike is in the spot till they have started pulling in.

What was it like riding on concete roads? Different dynamics than tarmac I would say.. more/less grip??.. the expansion joints could get dicey. But you wouldnt get potholes or pea gravel would you?
How have you adjusted to riding on the correct side of the road as your mate put it?.. Do you favour lefties instead of righties now?

Ok, where to begin here..... Well as far as I can tell there was less grip than here and yes the exspansion joints were a problem, exspecially when there was a gap. The centre line that goes down most front tires always wants to stay in the gap, wich is why I got the Metseler ME880 on the bike now. (no centre line) We still had potholes and some gravely areas but the gravel was mostly random bits of rock that were just deposited and colloected in one spot cause no one drove in that particular spot on the road. As for driving on a different side of the road.... only thing I have trouble with is remembering wich side of the cage to enter when I drive that thing. I keep wanting to go to the left side of the car(wich here is the passenger side) but once I'm in the car and driving I have no problems with remembering where everything is uch as the shifter and the pedels. Did you know that the manual shift set up is the same as it is in the states? Your just coming at it from a different side of the car is the only difference. As for turning (im assuming thats what you meant by "lefties" and "righties" I never really had a preference and if you meant driving seat in a cage, the answere is still the same. Just something to get used to.


( and I think i have just written my longest post to date here. Hurrah hurrah!! )

[Motu]

As an aside.. well kind of related..

Which boffin decided that side stands should be on the left???
It seems to suit NZ/Aus/SA/UK?JAP cause when we park our bikes up at the side of the road they lean AWAY from the traffic.. but in places like the States they would lean IN towards the traffic stream... eg trucks and vans with big mirrors..eeek.. surprised the states didnt change em around.. to be different

I'm not aware of any bikes with the stands on the right?? but I could be wrong.. wouldnt that be weird

Maybe you should buy a trials bike,most have the side stand on the right,not too sure why - but it suits me as I'm left handed and naturaly dismount to the right,and hey,on a trials bike the stand is right there by my foot - that must be what it's like for a right handed person on a street bike....maybe....

Oh,and that's aslo why left foot brake was better for our market,with road curveture the foot would go down on the high side of the road,now (thanks to the yanks) we put our foot down on the long side - unless you are like me and never made the change over mentaly.

[Eurodave]

A mate of mine has an american spec VS700 Intruder
& he told me that , after he stepped off it , NO replacement parts were the same as the jap home market version,they all had small but noticable differences??????

[XP@]

Kiwi bikes have gotta be robust, our roads aint that good.
They need to be massively over powered, for the doing as runner of.
They need to beable to go cross country(knobbleys suggested, although they have to be special Kiwi ones for high speed tarmac cornering)
Idealy they will have all this and get 98mpg 'cause we dont like paying fer gas.



And finally, the headlight should "dip" to the left.

Shortly they will have to have factory zorst, headlight on and every other legal requirement that other countries seem to be heading in.

at least we don't have to have faktory tyres like in germany!

edit: and elsewhere, they are probably 1/2 the price

[Wolf]

I recall being stunned when trying to get powerful Bosch-based bulbs for my Zundapp. Most powerful I could locate was 45/35 and I found it too weak even on high beam so I figured I'd get my mate in Germany to send be a bulb - as the Bosch factory was in Germany I figured they'd havea better range over there than what was being imported here.

To my surprise, I get sent a 35/35. Axel assured me it was the most powerful he was allowed to buy owing to Germany's restrictions on how much light your vehicle is allowed to put out.