Well I finally had a couple ofdays to reallytake the bike out. Still being in the break in period at only 235 miles I can say that I think it's going to be a fun bike. I've yet to hit the trails but here are a few observations of the bike from a stubborn old 2 smoke rider. Bear in mind that my last street bike was a Honda CBR 600, 13 years or so ago.

1) 6th gear seemed gutless to me but it still had enogh a** to accelerate uphill when I asked it to. My weight is 165lbs. Fully loaded with helmet backpackand work gear I register 190lbs.

2) The bike has good acceleration over 5000 rpms and has no problem merging with traffic or accelerating beyond them.

3) The bike does not do well at lower RPM's (under 4000) which is why I'm shocked that Kawasaki reccomends keeping the bike below 4000RPM's for the first 400 miles. Simply put the bike doesn't want to be there.

4) The seat is uncomfortable. But I think my arsehas not fully recovered fron the extreme beating it took from therocky terrain I was ridingin last season on my KDX 200. Seriously!

5) Great gas mileage. I've calculated that at my current gas prices for 93 octane (about $3.38 per gallon) the total opperating cost for the bike is5.3 centsper mile.

6) Wind is a big enemy

7) Very cool looking bike. All the neighborhood kids stop what they're doing and wave when I go by.

So there ya go. I still haven't opened the bike up because I'm still 'babying it' during this break in period but I have had to ride with some power at times becausesharing the road with people in the Washington D.C. area is not an easy task. Can't wait to take it off road

Mike

 

good luck with the new bike- look up "free mods" you will be glad you did.

 

get an exhaust, a jet kit,a pumper, and the vortex throttle. maybe throw on a a kdx 47 tooth rear.this is my set up and i'm satisfied. all i do now is replace stuff i break.

 

my understanding is that the free mods only work when you are doing them all at the same time. for example if you take the lid off the airbox, etc. and don't change the exhaust and jetting you're not getting anywhere. i'm waiting until i can do them all together. i've had mine since october 07 and so far i've added the green clarke tank, utah skid plate, cycra handguards, renthal bars, trakmaster tires, 13/45 gearing with longer ek chain, uni filter, removed rack and a LOT of oem crap and finally installed the vortex throttle. i know i could've started with the pipe and jetkit + free mods, or 300cc cylinder, or whatever, however, i'm super stoked on my set-up. good protection, good range, enough snap for now with the gearing and most importantly the throttle.