new to gz nnot bikes

[Water Warrior 2]

Oh good you haven't abandoned us. Wow, freeway riding is a scary propostion on a GZ. Your learning curve must have taken an abrupt turn upwards when you hit the freeway. Glad to hear you survived. Slower secondary highways are where the GZ shows it's worth. It can run along all day and wear you out while it still wants to continue.
You will have to realize the GZ and other smaller bikes are the primarily built for 3rd world countries where roads and speeds are slower. They are tough to kill but high speeds will do it quite nicely. Stick to highways with a limit of 60 MPH and get to know what the bike is capable of doing. Headwinds will take their toll on speed as well as a a long gradual hill. You do have to plan ahead while on the road. On a bigger bike just a twist of the wrist is sufficient when a hill comes up or the wind blows. Ride Safe.

[alanmcorcoran]

Dr. Speed,

Although the GZ will never be great on the highway, you will get more comfortable doing it when you have to do it. You have to get used to a couple of things, like really thrashing the crap out of it, typically in fourth, tucking yourself in good to make yourself aerodynamic, learning to ignore the fact that it bounces all over the place in the rough spots (it won't fall down and the wind will NOT blow you over - even though it feels like it) and keeping your eyes open for traffic (especially morons in cars on cell phones.) I avoid long distances on the freeway, but I'll jump on for 5 or 10 miles if I have to. I had my Geezer for about six months before I was forced to do about 25 miles in heavy, high speed traffic on a very rough four-lane and I got more acclimated to it. My big bike is a world of difference better on freeways, but the GZ is still a better local around town bike.

[DrSpeed]

Well as i said, Ive riden for a number of years and that hiway trip just freaked me out because for the 2 miles i was on it i had a right to left wind and was getting a left to right trucker wash wind. so i was squirlley like none other when i hit the frontage road and was hitting 55 i was happy. im just so used to kicking it down into 3rd or 4th giving a twist and be at passing speed, this little bike syndrom is a learning curve indeed. ohh and to whoever said it was a dumb idea to pass on a bike i liked becuase it had efi well personally i trust carbs more and push starting is always a good option that i was told can mess an efi bike up. but has anyone else rE

[DrSpeed]

ALIZED the lack of lighting for this bike i think a front fender mounted auxilliary light is in order

[blaine]

Originally Posted by DrSpeed

ALIZED the lack of lighting for this bike i think a front fender mounted auxiliary light is in order

With the G.Z.you can only run a small amount of auxiliary lighting.I ran two 20 watt lights on the front of mine.I was right on the edge of what the charging system can handle.

:cool:

[Viirin]

Trying to make yourself more visible is doable - trying to illuminate the road better is a bit more tricky...

Although there was a thread recently about switching to a LED headlight which would probably free up some watts

[Water Warrior 2]

My thoughts on EFI. Wouldn't be without it now. EFI just works too darn good not to have it. Yes you can push start an EFI bike if there is enough power to run up the fuel pump and pressurize the fuel system. You probably have a better chance of push starting b/c the processor will optimize all settings.
There are a few LED headlights on the market but are very costly to the average person. There is an auxilary light kit available from Twisted Throttle that has 2 10 watt LED's that apparently do wonders for seeing and being seen. About $300 if memory serves me correctly but well worth it on a low wattage system like the GZ. This kit is about as good as it gets in today's market.

[DrSpeed]

well i figured it out drill battery i keep charged under the seat and a home made led light that magnaetcially attaches to the fender. it took work but it adds that extra range i need to avoid coyotes and such

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by DrSpeed

well i figured it out drill battery i keep charged under the seat and a home made led light that magnaetcially attaches to the fender. it took work but it adds that extra range i need to avoid coyotes and such

Can you post a couple pics for us. Also a night pic would be most welcome.