Hello all,
I've been mulling it over for years, the decision to buy a concours that is, and I'm finally ready.
My dad got started with sport tourers as an extra alternative to his Ultra Classic when yamaha came out with the first FJR1300. I rode it quite a bit and absolutely loved it. I've been a Yamaha FZ1 guy for years, but I really enjoyed that FJR. More comfortable, More wind protection, power and brakes that weren't far off from what I was used to, and decent handling for the extra weight.. I started to see what it was all about already in my 20's. He traded it on the AE model, which I absolutely hated, what a stupid stupid bike. He suffered thru it for a year putting very few miles on it before going back to the standard transmission.. Then Kawasaki had their new Concours 14 writeup in Cycle World and pop was captivated by the lure of changing brands to try it out. He ended up getting an '09 Concours14 and that bike transformed what I thought a bike could be. Him too to a bit of a lesser extent. I did a custom electronic cruise control install (an Audiovox unit IIRC) on it and it looked like it came from the factory that way. He had all the Kawasaki accessories for it including the trunk and he got mad at me cuz I was always "borrowing" it. I'd come up with something to work on my bike at his house and find a reason not to finish just to take his bike home with me.
I always loved the Connie for the do it all solution to motorcycling.
1. Go into town and run some errands and have enough room to get stuff done.. check.
2. Powerful enough to pump some adrenaline on the ride.. check
3. Crisp enough brakes to keep me safe while doing it.. check
4. Good enough handling to wear smiles for miles.. check, as I preferred the new Connie to the FJR in the handling by a small margin
5. Attractive enough that I want to be seen riding it.. Check.. I still think this is one of the best looking bikes on the road
6. Affordable? It wasn't a check for me at the time, but times have changed. I make way more money than I did then, and these things are criminally cheap on the used market now!
I should have bought that Connie from My dad.. I wanted too before he traded it in on the newly redesigned FJR1300 now with factory cruise and a slew of other modern goodies. But for whatever reason, I think I was buying a house at the time, I didn't. Fast forward several years and man oh man I miss that bike. I remember researching how I'd further mod it with a power commander, pipes, butterfly removal, etc. at the time to get what I really wanted out of it, but I just wasn't ready to buy it when my dad was ready to sell it.
Nowadays, I still have a first gen FZ1. I still love this bike. Its got almost enough power for me, near perfect brakes, and fantastic handling. I keep up with most of my sport bike buddies on it, and I can't think of another standard naked bike that offers handling to match the ease of laying it into corner hard and fast like my FZ1. It is quite comfortable all things considered, with an aftermarket sergeant seat that is oodles more forgiving on my bottom than the stock one. I still think its a good looking bike. Only problem is I can't do anything useful with it. I have soft luggage sure, it doesn't fit well, its a PITA to install and uninstall, and it looks terrible like it couldn't possibly belong on that bike. Running Errands are out for this bike. My wife won't get on it either, no back rest. I wanted a more purposeful bike to add to the stable, so I bought a coworkers mint 2007 Yamaha V star on the cheap as he was a motivated and desperate seller. It was... Too cheap not to buy..lol. And I can't believe how much I love riding around town on it now in my late 30s. This was kind of a test to see if I could be happy on a cruiser. I am. I run everywhere on it. Any errands that can be ran on it, are. Love having saddle bags. A Trunk in addition would be better, but I'm still happy as a clam that I can hop on it for more purpose than just to go for a ride. My son loves to ride on it, and it requires less stress to 2 up it since it has the backrest. Man its comfy. It has such a natural riding position for me. I've thought to myself several times that the only bike that came close in the comfort department was that concours. Other than a full on tourer of course. I can't help but think how nice it would be if I had the best of both worlds again. Power, handling, brakes, and fun to push hard, all the things the V star lacks. But also the comfort, windshield, luggage capacity, and smoothness, all the thing my FZ1 lacks. I'm ready to get rid of both of them for a concours. Sure, it won't handle quite as good as the couple hundred pounds lighter FZ, and it won't be just quite as comfy as the V star, but man I'm sick of maintenance, insurance, registration, and garage storage space for 2 motorcycles. I miss that concours and I'm ready to have the Do it All machine back in my life, so, Here I am!
Now, to find the perfect one! If I could go to the used motorcycle factory and buy exactly what I'd want, my list would include:
2015 C14 in Kawasaki racing Candy Lime Green.. LOOOOVE this color on a Kawasaki
Factory Kawasaki color matched Tour pack trunk
A quality electronic cruise control already installed.. I really didn't enjoy that project as worthwhile as it was.
An AreaP full header back exhaust with that highly recommended Shoodaben Tune
and Service Records from a responsible owner
Alas, as the Rolling stones said best... You can't always get what you waaaaant. Buuuuuuut, the song also suggested I can still get what I need. And I need a concours!
I'm looking hard and ready to ask sellers some questions. Are there any points of interest you all think I absolutely shouldn't overlook in my search? I'm trying to think of all the right questions I should be asking sellers and thus is the purpose of this thread. Any and all advice is deeply appreciated. Thanks so much all. Its good to be here. I'm ready to soak in as much info as I can and meet some great people here. Cheers, and...
God Bless
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