New here. New bike..

Introduce yourself, share your heroic Zephyr tales, put the world to rights, gossip, etc.
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Raven
Posts: 8
Joined: 29 Jun 2018, 20:23

New here. New bike..

Post by Raven »

Hi and thanks for adding me to the forum.

My wife and I live in west Cornwall and have just pulled the trigger on a 1996 Zephyr 1100. It's in really good condition and has covered 16,000 miles. This is a totally new bike for me having never owned one before. My wife and I have been looking for a bike for a few weeks and when we saw the Zephyr we both fell in love with it, plus it's a really nice bike to ride. We are collecting the bike from the dealer on Friday and are really looking forward to getting her.

There are a few questions I would like to ask and hopefully you guys can give me a few answers.

The bike has genuine silencers fitted they seem quite loud, is this normal or do they have any kind of removable baffle? After the Little symbol on the silencers there are three numbers 292 looking at other silencers these numbers seem to vary..

She has had braided front brake hoses fitted I would like to convert this back to the original is this advisable??

I believe the rear shocks have been replaced at some time again I would like to put this back to the original Kawasaki one's.

What kind of mileage would you expect to get from the motor & gearbox and are they reliable.

Are there any things I should keep an eye out for.

Looking at the bike it looks in a fairly original condition this is why I would like to get it back to as it was when it left the factory.

Many Thanks for any help you can give. Below are a few pictures of the bike
Ross...
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Freddy
Posts: 695
Joined: 06 Sep 2017, 11:06
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by Freddy »

Hi Raven,
Welcome...

Regarding the noisy exhaust, post a picture of the end of the pipes and I'm sure someone with an 1100 (I own a 750) will advise if the baffles have been removed.

Braided brake lines - I wouldn't take them back to OEM as braided lines are superior. If you a set on wanting it to look original than I'd replace the stainless braided lines with black covered braided lines.

Rear Shocks - Again I wouldn't replace with originals as they wouldn't have been that great to begin with. That's true of any motorcycle. If you do want to replace the ones on the bike, put the money toward a set of top end shocks that are very similar to the originals. No one will notice, and those that do will only think positively that the bike is fitted with good shocks.

Another non standard feature I noticed is the fork brace. Leave it on, it improves handling. A badly adjusted or engineered one will make the front harsh, but that's not a fault with fork braces as such.
Last edited by Freddy on 06 Jul 2018, 06:57, edited 1 time in total.
Swampy
Posts: 323
Joined: 04 Sep 2017, 18:01

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by Swampy »

Hi Ross, congrats on the bike it looks nice :D
A few answers that I can give, my 1100 has a standard exhaust system and is pretty quiet so if you say its loud then someone has deff done something to it.

As Freddy has stated I would stick with the braded hoses...
As for millage I think a lot of owners on here have got many miles out of their bikes without any issues, the one main problem that the 1100 is known for is the 2nd gear issue, some have had it jump out of this gear. Its said that once you have this fault then that's it, gearbox rebuild :o I'm assuming that you have taken it out for a test ride? but saying that if you have bought it from a dealer then you would have some comeback ;) A so called fix is to fit a Factory Pro kit, I will post a link to a video that I made a few years back on how I did this to my bike below.

I had a few issues with my bike flooding a few years back and it turned out to be a faulty petcock, others have mentioned this in the past so maybe something to look out for...

Apart from that they are pretty solid bikes so hoping that it reaches your expectations :)


Swamps :)
Swamps :)
arejay
Posts: 36
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 12:12
Location: west sussex, england

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by arejay »

"the chrome bar ends, the chrome oil cooler guard the black grab rail and the black air box covers" I may be wrong but I don't think they are original either
andye
Posts: 71
Joined: 11 Sep 2017, 10:03
Location: Merseyside

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by andye »

Looks nice, good colour & sensible Mods.
The shocks look like they are off a ZRX1200. This is a reasonably common upgrade on the originals, as they are basically a more modern version of the same shock. Can be rebuilt if necessary
Raven
Posts: 8
Joined: 29 Jun 2018, 20:23

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by Raven »

Thanks for all the info guys and the gear change video. At the moment it seems to be fine no jumping out of gear..

Picked the bike up on Friday and did a 100 mile ride home. It rode fine and had loads of grunt even with the two of us up. We’ve been riding it all weekend and have clocked around 250 miles so far. We have a three months dealer warranty with the bike so have a some time to check it out and find any faults. I think after a couple of months I’ll take it to our local Kawasaki dealer and have them check it over before the warranty expires.

The engine seems fine and sounds good. It’s a little lumpy when idling is this normal? As for the exhaust they are quite noisy, it has a sort of a deep rumble sound. I took the aluminium end off and had a look inside I can see the baffle plate further down the silencer with a centre hole and smaller pipes around the outside (see pics) Knowing a little about exhaust systems I would have thought there was once a pipe going from the centre towards the plate that the end cap bolts onto with holes in it. Has it got a removable DB killer??.
My wife likes the sound of the exhaust but I’m not to sure at the moment…

I think I’ll keep the Braided brake hoses as you have said as this seem to be a sensible upgrade. I’ll also keep the front fork brace as I quite look the look of it.

It’s very comfy to ride, didn’t have any major aches or pains but may looking to get a set of bar risers in the future.

Sandy likes to have some support behind her does anyone know if there is any kind of small backrests I can get or have made

All in all we’re very pleased with the bike, it needs a little TLC here & there but it is 22 years old so that’s to be expected.

Again thanks for all the good advice
Ross & Sandy
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andye
Posts: 71
Joined: 11 Sep 2017, 10:03
Location: Merseyside

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by andye »

The baffles have been removed. Someone has physical cut out the baffles. There was a thing for modifying the exhausts to make them louder at one time.
The old Zephyr Zone had a few posts showing how to do it. There not supposed to be removable, they have to be cut & drilled out.
Not sure what you can do to make it quieter other than new cans. Although you may find a DB killer that will fit.
Raven
Posts: 8
Joined: 29 Jun 2018, 20:23

Re: New here. New bike..

Post by Raven »

andye wrote:The baffles have been removed. Someone has physical cut out the baffles. There was a thing for modifying the exhausts to make them louder at one time.
The old Zephyr Zone had a few posts showing how to do it. There not supposed to be removable, they have to be cut & drilled out.
Not sure what you can do to make it quieter other than new cans. Although you may find a DB killer that will fit.
Thanks for the info.

Would it be possible for someone to post a picture of the exhaust with the end cap removed, so I can get an idea of what is needed.

Many Thanks
Ross
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