First Ride
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:51 pm
So finally the the planets aligned, and the sun shone at the same time as I had a weekend off, so I got up early and dragged the Kawasaki Z1b from its slumbers in my garage, and out into the warmth of the early morning sun, keys in, helmet on, fire it up and away...... but I am getting ahead of myself somewhat, it hasn't been quite that easy, in fact I dragged it out a couple of weeks back, but winter had paid me a bitter blow, and the bike would only run on two.
So I dragged it down to my local garage where the owner allowed me to use one of his lifts, so tank off, and time to find what is wrong, 1&4 were hot, 2&3 were cold, so a coil had failed, no problem I thought, as I had already bought a spare new set of coils from eBay. So a quick trip home to grab the spare coils and I was back and had them fitted in no time. So tank on, fuel pipes connected, ignition on hit start and it started ok, oh yes, it started blowing fuses! Now what I thought to myself, so check the new coils, one is open circuit, the other has a very strange reading, so much for the new coils, so they now head for the bin, and an order goes in to Zpower for some pattern replacements.
A couple of days later the new new coils turn up, and are soon fitted, but now one of the condensers has failed too, probably taken out by the faulty coil, another call to Zpower, and I wait for some replacements. A few days later and they arrive, they are again soon fitted, and the bike is once again up and running, which brings me back to today.
So where was I... Helmet on, keys in, fire up and away, and sure enough that is what happened, and I was out on my own Z1b, a moment I had looked forward to for a very long time. I head off through town, and pick up a dual carriage way, it was busy, Saturday morning type busy, and a lot of traffic moving around town, so I pull out to pass a bus, open the bike up, just get passed, and the bike dies! so I drift to the side of the road, but can't find anything wrong, and it fires right back up, so off I go again. This time I am out of town, I hit the A33 towards Basingstoke, pile on the gas, just hit eighty and again the bike dies, and again I drift to the side of the road, again it fires right up, and I carry on to the next lay bye, I kill the bike, remove my helmet and check everything over, and this time I find the problem, the tank is vacuuming, and I hear the tell tale hiss when I open the tank. So I head back out but this time with the tank open, and no more problems. Back when I sealed the tank, some of the sealer had covered the tiny breather hole in the tank cap, this was soon removed, and I once again hit the road, only this time the small country lanes, as I headed back towards home.
The bike is still not perfect, it has a small stumble just as I open the throttle in traffic, so I have ordered some new pilot jets, but once you get on the throttle, it pulls like a train, and the sound from the four into one exhaust is electrifying. So it is back in my garage now, but guess what, it is going to be sunny again tomorrow.
Kawasaki.... Let the good times roll.
So I dragged it down to my local garage where the owner allowed me to use one of his lifts, so tank off, and time to find what is wrong, 1&4 were hot, 2&3 were cold, so a coil had failed, no problem I thought, as I had already bought a spare new set of coils from eBay. So a quick trip home to grab the spare coils and I was back and had them fitted in no time. So tank on, fuel pipes connected, ignition on hit start and it started ok, oh yes, it started blowing fuses! Now what I thought to myself, so check the new coils, one is open circuit, the other has a very strange reading, so much for the new coils, so they now head for the bin, and an order goes in to Zpower for some pattern replacements.
A couple of days later the new new coils turn up, and are soon fitted, but now one of the condensers has failed too, probably taken out by the faulty coil, another call to Zpower, and I wait for some replacements. A few days later and they arrive, they are again soon fitted, and the bike is once again up and running, which brings me back to today.
So where was I... Helmet on, keys in, fire up and away, and sure enough that is what happened, and I was out on my own Z1b, a moment I had looked forward to for a very long time. I head off through town, and pick up a dual carriage way, it was busy, Saturday morning type busy, and a lot of traffic moving around town, so I pull out to pass a bus, open the bike up, just get passed, and the bike dies! so I drift to the side of the road, but can't find anything wrong, and it fires right back up, so off I go again. This time I am out of town, I hit the A33 towards Basingstoke, pile on the gas, just hit eighty and again the bike dies, and again I drift to the side of the road, again it fires right up, and I carry on to the next lay bye, I kill the bike, remove my helmet and check everything over, and this time I find the problem, the tank is vacuuming, and I hear the tell tale hiss when I open the tank. So I head back out but this time with the tank open, and no more problems. Back when I sealed the tank, some of the sealer had covered the tiny breather hole in the tank cap, this was soon removed, and I once again hit the road, only this time the small country lanes, as I headed back towards home.
The bike is still not perfect, it has a small stumble just as I open the throttle in traffic, so I have ordered some new pilot jets, but once you get on the throttle, it pulls like a train, and the sound from the four into one exhaust is electrifying. So it is back in my garage now, but guess what, it is going to be sunny again tomorrow.
Kawasaki.... Let the good times roll.
Soopa-Doopa in the extreme 
