I've been off the forum and off the bike for a while now. Started riding again about 8 years
ago on a GZ250, great bike, loved it and it met my needs for a while until I needed to do a lot
of Interstate traveling. So, I bought a Vulcan 500, another great bike, and I put 44,000 miles
on it in two years. Absolutely loved that bike. Along the way I also had a Vulcan 750 and a
Vulcan 900, which for a while I converted into a trike but eventually put back to two wheels.
Then I graduated from college (at the ripe old age of 49) and got a job in another city,
needed to move, needed money, sold the bike. That's been almost 2 years ago and I really
missed riding. Late this last Summer I walked into a showroom up in the big city of
Rossville, Georgia and saw a bike I'd never seen before. Fell in love with it, made an offer
on it and now I'm the happy owner of a 1986 Kawasaki ZL600 Eliminator.
It was in good
general condition and ran great for a few hundred miles but then it started having some
"issues". Well, late in September I was having knee surgery so I just put the bike up in the
shop and let it sit while I delt with other pressing issues. Got back to work in November
and the first week in December I won a drawing at work our company calls "Fix my ride",
where they pay to get your "ride" in safe running condition (within some monetary limits).
So, the next day I had the ZL600 at the local Kawasaki dealer. They found several issues,
a rusting gas tank (inside), which fouled all 4 carbs, the coil was bad, the stator was bad,
a previous leaky battery had corroded part of the electrical wiring block, etc. The bad
news, those parts are no longer available for my bike, so aftermarket here we go. The
tank got cleaned and then a liquid liner put in, the carbs got rebuilt, aftermarket coil and
stator, the mechanic "rebuilt" the wiring block, new clutch cable and front tire and I pick
the bike up Saturday (I hope). I'll let you know more after I've got some more time in the
saddle.