Total Motorcycle Community Forums

-Holiday wrote:so, essentially what tis forum is telling me is:

that riding with no helmet is bad

riding without gear is bad

starting on a liter bike is bad

lsd is good


very interesting

You learn fast

Butt really in all fairness I dont speak on behalf of the forum.

Didn't you know LSD makes you paranoid?

(poor KeithB...his thread is so far off course!)

Hey Zoo,

What about ease of maintence? Like getting to oil drain plug, oil filter, spark plugs ect?

Thanks

KeithB wrote:Hey Zoo,

What about ease of maintence? Like getting to oil drain plug, oil filter, spark plugs ect?

Thanks

Couldn't be easier!

The main oil drain plug is right on the bottom, though most 1500/1600 owners drain the oil from the oil screen. It's a bit lower than the main drain plug plus you can inspect the pre-filter for debris.

In this picture you can clearly see the oil filter, which is easily accessible. I use K&N filters because they weld a 17mm nut to the end which makes it even easier to remove.

This picture shows the location of all four spark plugs. Just pop the boots off and insert your socket. Nothing is in the way and they spin right out. The manual called for a change at 7500 miles, but I removed them at 10,000 and they looked brand new. I went ahead and replaced them while I was there, but I was very happy with what I saw.

Everything else is equally as cut-and-dry. The rear differential fluid is very easy to change. I just installed my third rear tire and, while I was back there with the wheel off, I decided to do the swingarm bearing and drive-shaft maintenance which was a piece of cake.

Other than that, fill her with gas, change the coolant and brake fluid every two years (also very easy), and sit back while the valves adjust themselves.

thanks, this bike looks better and better Got a dealer brochur the other day, but he doesn't have one to sit on.

in the spark plug pics, one side has the airclearner i asume. what is the round cover on the opposite side?

4 plugs? 2 per cylinder?

KeithB wrote:in the spark plug pics, one side has the airclearner i asume. what is the round cover on the opposite side?

The air filter is in the housing to the left of the engine. From there, incoming air passes through a tunnel between the cylinder jugs and into the housing on the right, which is home to the idle air solenoids, the temperature sensor, the inlet for the reed valves, and the throttle bodies. The Caddman Kit that I will be installing soon removes all the stuff under the right-hand cover and installs open air filter assemblies on both sides. The filters I bought are the blue high-flow oiled cotton filters from Spectre, to match my bike's paint.

GeoffXR200R wrote:4 plugs? 2 per cylinder?

Yup.

Burns cleaner and stronger since there are two flame fronts per combustion event.

Thanks Zoo,

My Honda Shadow Spirit has the 2 plugs per cylindar, pretty common now days i guess.

BTW: the Shadow has 1650 miles already, i didn't buy it to look at

Mr Keith,, I would admit the Mean Streak is a nice looking bike, but for a big 1600cc engine it only has 52HP, and for the same price you can buy a Honda VTX1800 that has 96HP. Don't make the same mistake I made by buying a bike only because it looks good, and look closely how the Kawasaki's are assembled, the cheap brake calipers, cheap tires, the bad welds, then look at the Honda's they are almost perfect.