DIRTY SANCHEZ said:
Rob
I had my BB from new and had the CCT replaced @ less than 12k :dunno:
Being over-concerned, I tossed one in at just under 9K mi. Nodda. I've come to realize that this thing is like any other machine: each has a personality, and occasionally a bit of tick or noise here'n'there. My latest "concern" had to do with a startup rattle that has proven to be nothing more than me not waiting long enough before doing a listen.
After thinking about it for a bit, though, I've realized that the XX is never going to be the pig that any of my previous bikes were....even when they were just plain worn out....okay, and one or two were abused...
'74 GT380 - broken kick starter damned near weekly, because I was too daft to realize that my attempts at making the oil injection system work were....wrong.
'79 CB650 - blown head gasket from just plain over-revving...and poor maint on my part (hey, I was young!)...my first attempts at valve adjustments.
'83 Maxim 750 - crapped carbs due to long sitting with piss-poor preps...not to mention bad regular maint...again, carb maint was...er...lacking.
'86 V65 Magna - fun toy, but couldn't afford the $$$ to get the thing properly tuned... tuition or bike? Priorities were off, there....I paid for the books'n'classes...silly @#$% me... fun but expensive toy to maintain.
'86 FJ1200 - damned near indestructible - the first of 2 I've had. Survived everything I threw at it, including amateur maintenance... given to my brother, who somehow managed to kill it. Never seemed to need maint except for clutches, brakes and tires (seemed to eat fronts, somehow).
'88 CBR400 - ah, Japan. I loved this thing. Gained it while stationed in Japan, and it arrived on the scene about the same time as the first of the FZ400's and such. A blast, but ultimately doomed to destruction mere days after I sold it to a racer-wannabe... very touchy clutch and suspension..easy carbs, but valves went outta-whack quickly.
'87 TZ250 - very popular and street legal in Japan...cheap to insure (JCI) and was a blast on the narrow, curvy Japanese roads....but easy to screw up the mixture (2 stroke, of course) and I spent hours working the plugs...a roll-back to the days of the '74 GT380....ack....
'87 Fazer 700... remember those things? (Taken from the FZ750 with the 5 valve Genesis engine - my brother had one)...fun, but I managed to screw it up by going cheap on maint....ride it til it broke....oops...clutch and drivetrain didn't like abuse at all....ran decently with piss-poor maint, though.
'87 ZX600 Ninja...bought from a racer-wannabe who built it right, but didn't know how to maintain it...it was a user bike until something better came along....hated the clutch and the starter, but it worked very well for me for a long...long time...I learned tons about maint with this thing....
'86 FJ1200....the second.... bought it, seriously abused, from a guy who was getting divorced and didn't want it lost to his "other half".... fixed it up enough to make it work, and used it for 4... no, 5 years.... this one, again, never seemed to die... I did a bit over 87000 miles on it (it ended up just over 100,000 when I sold it) and it was wheezing, but still working better than I could have hoped. I never intended to keep it, but it just wouldn't die...actually, as easy a machine to work on as I've ever experienced. I just couldn't seem to maintain it "wrong"....
BUT....
The XX grabbed me. I fuss over this thing. It's already crushed anything I've owned in terms of just plain "fun" to either ride or work on. And I suspect already that it'll be up with the FJ in my book of killer toys. Old man or not.
Get one.