by Lee Meyer |
|
Well,
it is about time. Finally this huge project is coming to a
close. Throughout the month of May, friends would stop by
the shop. "Hey, let's go riding!" they would taunt. Ha ha,
very funny. Co-workers amused themselves by trying to get me
to duct tape a flashlight to my unfinished Skeletor bike,
strap a gas can on my back and ride it as is. Again, wildly
funny. I hoped they all got flat tires and the
flu. Then I started to
receive some body parts from the paint man, so I began to
assemble the beast. Things were looking up. Soon I would
ride as well. I finished up on May 20. I have not driven a
car since. Tom Summers of
Lowriders by Summers in south Minneapolis did the paint
work. Tom only paints bikes&emdash;Harleys, drag bikes,
customs, whatever. Tom can do just about any paint. He can
restore an old Norton or do candy colors, flames and pearl
for your custom. After looking through the billion or so
colors in the color charts for about five minutes, I chose
Candy Cobalt Blue for the ZX-11. I have a theory
behind my lengthy selection process. If you spend too much
time mulling over billions and billions of colors and shades
from one end of the rainbow to the other, the likelihood of
serious brain lock, confusion and indecision becomes
extremely high. Nearly inevitable. The result of my decision
making process is a pretty cool paint job. Very, very
blue. Now, about riding
it. I have put almost 500 miles on this thing so far and the
new Ferodo brakes have seated in. How do they work? Way
sweet. They are not as grabby as stock parts, and since they
need more hand squeeze, I achieve much finer braking
control. Rather than fading from the heat of hard high speed
braking, these Ferodo parts seem to thrive on it. These are
THE way to go to reel this big bike in from high triple
digit speeds. One thing that might bother some people is
that these are full floating rotors for racing use. This
means clacka-clacka-rattle-rattle with every bump in the
road. We must pay if we wish to play. A stock ZX-11 fork
is perfectly fine for everyday riding and touring duty.
However, if you wish to ride somewhat more towards the
sportier side of the tracks they leave much to be desired.
If all roads were smooth as glass there would be little
problem, but this is Minnesota, Land of 10,000 totally shot
roads. Leaning one of
these large Kawasakis over hard in a turn and running into
rough pavement causes a stocker's front end to jitter and
skitter in an uncool way. Losing the front end of a bike
this big can wake you up in one big ass hurry. There is a
difference between riding on the edge and riding over the
edge. Seen it, done it, don't want to go back. Enter the fully
modified forks with all those neat-o Race Tech parts
installed. Wow, totally different world. They have a firmer
feel, but small to medium road divots go unnoticed.
Interesting. Moderate speed corner handling is very good and
the bike feels much more nimble. High speed leaners are
where it's at, though, along with tight peg scrapers. The
difference here is remarkable. Bumps or cracks in the road?
Not a problem. Maybe a few rocks ahead? Big deal. The bike's
front end just stays planted, stuck to the road. Very
unusual behavior for a big sport tourer. It inspires much
confidence, and road conditions are no longer such an issue.
Nice, very nice. Okay, now here is
the million dollar question&emdash;Was all this time, effort
and cash worth it? To be honest I am not sure. The bike
turned out pretty nice and performs as well. Also, this is
now a one-of-a-kind machine. However, the time and effort
were exhausting and the expenses were intense. This was not
a budget project. I was going to go
into the costs of the paint work, but prices can vary from
$200.00 to $3000.00 depending on who does the work and what
you have. I gave Tom twenty-one pieces. I seriously doubt he
will paint another ZX-11 for anywhere near what he charged
me. I believe he gets about $500.00 to paint a tank and a
pair of side covers from your standard bike. I now have a
pretty bitchin' sport touring bike that doubles as a very
capable sportbike. If you own a big ZX and wish to duplicate
some or all of these mods, set aside a few thousand bucks.
The Ohlins shock that I have not installed yet was $1,000.00
alone. So, there you have
it. The end. I hope I leave it alone now and just ride the
thing. I wouldn't bet on it though. The engine is still
painfully stock. Next month, let's
return to the world of the low-buck. Maybe convert an oldie
from points to electrics and talk about those famous old
Viragos. See you at First Thursday or Bob's. -Doc M.M.M.
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