Getting a new bike next week...

[milo]

...and this time i don't mean an upgrade!!!
A Kawasaki GPZ550 has found it's way into my local dealer and i'm gonna be part-exchanging next week. It's a 1989 20k example but looks mint. 20k's isn't a lot for a bike that old, mine's done over 4k in 6 months! It's going...gone for £1495 and i think it's a bargain. insurance is gonna be a couple of hundered quid more than the nsr but that's okay.
and yeah, i've had to fork out for a £200 33hp restriction kit for it. dunno how long it's gonna stay in for though!
has anyone come across a GPZ550 before? seems better than newer models it got a 4 cylinder oil cooled engine, twin exhausts and twin disks up front and single at the rear. newer GPZ's run a twin with single exhaust and disks, so i think it should be much better!
any info would be great!
oh yeah...it's even got a LCD fuel indicator looking like a game loading bar on the tank!

[Keith]

Hi
They were the hot middle weight in the mid 80's, and not bad bikes. They can be a bit problematic if you get the carbs set up wrong (they occasionally burn through pistons), but if set up correctly they should be fine. The engine is air cooled, not oil cooled. Check the rear suspension linkages are greased up.
The GPZ500S is OK as well. We had one years ago. Finish was horrible on the frame (you could scrape the paint off with a finger nail), but 65mpg at 85mph was nice. Brakes were dire on ours, and ate front pads in 3000 miles. Some markets got them with twin front disks. Top speed is around 125~130.
All the best
Keith

[milo]

yeha, it's air cooled. but with an oil cooling radiator. It's the twin disk version. still haven't checked to see how many gears it's got, any idea?
to my relief i found out today it does run on unleaded, i was worried cos it's 12 years old.
picking it up next tuesday

[Keith]

Hi
Fairly certain it has 6 gears. All the 550's had twin disks.
By the way, almost all Japanese bikes since the mid 70's have run on unleaded. The exceptions to that are few, being limited to things like the CB1100R and also the CB400/4 (because although they were sold in the late 70's they were all made earlier mainly for sale in the USA where they bombed). Even heard that the RC30 is meant to run on leaded fuel.
All the best
Keith

[milo]

blimey! Even bikes as recent as the RC30. don't think that's quite true but strange nonetheless. Korn, you might want to double check which fuel you use!
Also any idea what it'll be like in 33hp restricted form? should be overall quicker than the 24hp NSR? It's alot heavier but the inline 4 should be better at hight speed? what kinda speed will it get to?
cheers for all the info!

[kewbie]

hi
a couple of my friends have restricted bigger bikes and the top speeds seem to range a bit with a vfr400 and zx6r both doing around 120mph whilst a zxr400 i know does around a 105mph (just). I think it's all about how the bikes are restricted, but one thing for sure they are all more reliable at doing their (restricted) top speeds over long periods of time, compared to 125s

[Keith]

Hi
The leaded fuel need only applies to a VERY limited number of Japanese bikes and only tend to be those which were built for racing. They may even have said that the RC30 can use unleaded now. Anyway, the RC30 had enough reliability problems anyway. They used titanium con rods, and you MUST you high quality tools on titanium parts as touching that stuff with cadmium (which is a regular component of "steel") will cause a stress point and lead to premature failure. Joe Bloggs with his spanners could really screw the engine up
You can have 33hp max, but you can have as much torque as you like within that. Should give you far better flexibility. Roughly speaking, power = torque x rpm
All the best
Keith