So I find myself with another Connie, an '01, and while it's a project at the moment, I fully expect to ride it once the engine is either righted or replaced.
I had an '86 back in the day- traded an old, slightly tatty ray-gun Trident for it, but then, it was 1988- and it came with about 25,000 and left with 126K.
So, obviously, I really liked it.
But my absolute least favorite thing about it, and the other Kawasakis of that era, was the slow, heavy steering. Back then, a set of Heli Multi-Tour Sport handlebars in a Storz plate provided some relief on the Connie but nowhere near enough. I got by because I was a much younger tradesman with enough strength to bully the bike into submission.
Still, I never liked that steering feel, nor that of the ZX1100E (GPZ) that followed it, or the more recently-owned ZRX1100.
Indeed, the Missus, a bit of newer rider, loved the look of the ZRX and planned to graduate to it someday. Yeah, but despite being quite athletic, fighting that handlebar killed that love affair right quick.
So in the intervening decades, has there been any sort of consensus as to how to lighten the touch needed at the grips?
I figure to maybe widen the existing bars a bit, a trick I pulled on my FJR1300 to excellent result (you more or less add on short lengths of cut handlebar material, figure a way to draw them tight into the stock bar end, and move the controls. The FJR took me all of about 40 minutes and is a marvel in town with no compromise on the Interstate.)
Or, I have a set of Heli Horizon bars and that old Storz plate, which might be a bit.
But has there been any other jiggery-pokery along these lines while I was away?
Bill
I had an '86 back in the day- traded an old, slightly tatty ray-gun Trident for it, but then, it was 1988- and it came with about 25,000 and left with 126K.
So, obviously, I really liked it.
But my absolute least favorite thing about it, and the other Kawasakis of that era, was the slow, heavy steering. Back then, a set of Heli Multi-Tour Sport handlebars in a Storz plate provided some relief on the Connie but nowhere near enough. I got by because I was a much younger tradesman with enough strength to bully the bike into submission.
Still, I never liked that steering feel, nor that of the ZX1100E (GPZ) that followed it, or the more recently-owned ZRX1100.
Indeed, the Missus, a bit of newer rider, loved the look of the ZRX and planned to graduate to it someday. Yeah, but despite being quite athletic, fighting that handlebar killed that love affair right quick.
So in the intervening decades, has there been any sort of consensus as to how to lighten the touch needed at the grips?
I figure to maybe widen the existing bars a bit, a trick I pulled on my FJR1300 to excellent result (you more or less add on short lengths of cut handlebar material, figure a way to draw them tight into the stock bar end, and move the controls. The FJR took me all of about 40 minutes and is a marvel in town with no compromise on the Interstate.)
Or, I have a set of Heli Horizon bars and that old Storz plate, which might be a bit.
But has there been any other jiggery-pokery along these lines while I was away?
Bill
