Some observations on my month-old metric

To my beginner ear there is much more drive train noise than I figured there would be. There is a whirring noise coming from the vicinity of the engine and the drive line seems to have different whining noises. Also a sound coming from the vicinity of the rear wheel (sounds to me like a noise a speedometer cable would make).

The bike seems to have plenty of power but also seems to be geared much lower than I would have expected. It really seems to be churning out the RPM at highway speed. So much so that I always find myself looking for another gear thinking that I haven't shifted into high gear yet. Would have thought that 5th gear would have been more of an over-drive. This might explain why the Kawasakis are reputed to get lousy fuel economy. Seems to be no vibration. For a touring bike the back rest seems to be too small. Took the windshield off for a week or so. Four bolts held it on. Two were a bitch to get at. Would have been nice if it could have somehow been clipped on instead. Suspension seems OK. Would have been nice if it had come equipped with a tach. Seat seems comfortable but will test it out tommorrow when she goes in for its 1000 km. service. Service center is 125 km away and this will be my first cruise of more than 10 miles.

Take care
John

Well I learned a few more things about this bike on the cruise to the service center.

1. My ass started getting sore about 30 minutes into the journey

2. I will be definately looking for some kind of throttle lock

The tech test drove it and seemed to feel that all the noises are normal. He also set the idle WAY down. It was idling pretty fast but I figured that was normal.

John