TOPIC:

Hello

I am thinking of taking my little kz 440 for a longer trip. Like 500km or so. Has anyone done this? What did you think? Thanks Tyson

Hey Tyson. I've done numerous tours on my 650, the longest being about 1400km. Speed limits were only 80 to 100 km/hr, and usually I would average around 110 with about 5K on the tach with the stock gearing.
Just do a thorough pre-flight check. Cables, hoses, loose bolts, etc. I usually carry a little extra oil/brake fluid and chain lube, spare clutch cable, and a small tool kit with fuses, bulbs, etc. A cell phone is handy, and I joined and auto service with a plan that would cover the bike in the event of unforeseen problems.
If I plan an overnight trip, I allow an extra day in case you want to travel further. Have fun, as tour is the key word, not race.

I have!

Back when I had my 440, I rode it three times on an annual one-day 500-mile (800km) motorcycle rally sponsored by a local rider group. The first two years, I won the prize for the smallest bike in the field. The last few years, though, someone has been doing it on a 125cc bike. And I have upsized to a KZ1000.

The course was a mixture of freeway and country roads. The bike strained a bit at freeway speeds, but managed to keep up with my friends on bigger bikes.

I did have one embarassing incident when I ran out of gas, and I was at the back of my group. We were in the middle of nowhere, and that leg of the rally had a long stretch with no gas stations.

So they left me behind, and didn't notice I was missing for quite a long time. About 30 minutes later, they came back for me. We found a discarded soda bottle on the side of the road, and were able to drain some fuel from my uncle's bike into the bottle, then poured into my tank. With that, I was able to make it to the next town.

Keep in mind that Kawasaki sold a full-up touring version of the KZ400 back in the mid-'70s. Up until the advent of the Gold Wing, people toured on what they had. Peter Egan has written about touring from Wisconsin to Montreal and there abouts on a CB160 back in the '60s.

Now everything is specialized and people are demanding bigger everything. It's easy to lose sight of how simple things once were. Granted, the KZ400 touring package was sold during a time when we had a 55 MPH national speed limit. These days it, and the 440, would probably do just fine on the back roads and two lane highways.

I drove my 400 everywhere.

Plenty of power for high speed highway driving if you ask me. The only problem I had was getting blown around, but my tires were bad and my front suspension was too.

Some good tires, suspension, and maybe a windscreen on a reliable old 440 you could ride and ride and ride and ride and ride.

No problem!

And if you don't know the difference its not much of a pain

In 1970 while living near Salome AZ I had a nice chat with a guy from eastern Canada that was touring on a Yamaha RT. That's a 360 cc single cylinder air cooled two stroke Enduro bike

And now people think they need a 1800 cc six cylinder water cooled four stroke luxo barge to tour

I'm still hoping to take a trip to Alaska on my 750 twin

Once upon a time I did 400 miles (640km) in a weekend on a CB250. It would run at 50mph all day. Only problem I had was the pain in my a** on Monday morning

Met this guy in PA this summer . He is on an 250 Yamaha ,, say he has been up state New York on it , Stays to the Back roads ,, Real interesting guy ..

Was that an Exciter I? My former boss has one of those. I put up the pics I took of it three years agon on PhotoBucket .

Neat little bike.