I need serious help!

Yeah, keep the KZ. You can always sell it later. The HD is completely different (and heavy). You may hate it.

Kelly E wrote:

For long distance riding I have a 94' Kawasaki ZG 1000 Concours. The best ones are 94' to 05', they were built to run. It will run circles around the Harley's and with the 7.5 gallon gas tank you'll be waiting on them to fuel up. I bought mine for $1800 with 24k miles on it. You can get a nice one for less than $5000. In 2019 I rode mine to Deadwood SD in two days from western Washington. The best part is that you can keep your KZ! 



 

When I bought my ZRX I also took a serious look at the Concours. Isn't one of their mods is to flip the top gear gears to give it an overdrive?


.

Nebr_Rex wrote:

Kelly E wrote:

For long distance riding I have a 94' Kawasaki ZG 1000 Concours. The best ones are 94' to 05', they were built to run. It will run circles around the Harley's and with the 7.5 gallon gas tank you'll be waiting on them to fuel up. I bought mine for $1800 with 24k miles on it. You can get a nice one for less than $5000. In 2019 I rode mine to Deadwood SD in two days from western Washington. The best part is that you can keep your KZ! 




 

When I bought my ZRX I also took a serious look at the Concours. Isn't one of their mods is to flip the top gear gears to give it an overdrive?


.As far as I know it is a gear change at the angle drive. It bumps all the gears up about 500rpm. I never understood the need for it. My bike is turning within 200rpm of my buddy's FJR in top gear.
One thing that I know for sure is it costs about half as much to buy and maintain a first gen Concours as it does for an FJR. It does everything the FJR does except go 147mph. With the torque cams I can beat my buddy to 85mph and that's good enough for me.

 

You might also look for a good used Goldwing.  

As long as we are continuing down this trail, I will put in another vote for the 1994 and newer Concours 1000. Comfy, quick, dang near bullet proof. Super easy valve adjustments, no chain to lube every day while on the road. I could go for ten days with nothing more than the hard bags. Kawasaki made removable bag liners that made stopping at motels super easy.
The only downside is that the newest ones are twenty years old. You will need to plan on replacing all of the rubber hoses, flushing the cooling system, et cetera. I have taken some road trips on my ZRX, and as much as I love the thing, the Concours is a better tourer. The bigger wind screen, the hard bags, and the shaft drive make any long trip a more enjoyable one. 

TexasKZ wrote:

As long as we are continuing down this trail, I will put in another vote for the 1994 and newer Concours 1000. Comfy, quick, dang near bullet proof. Super easy valve adjustments, no chain to lube every day while on the road. I could go for ten days with nothing more than the hard bags. Kawasaki made removable bag liners that made stopping at motels super easy.
The only downside is that the newest ones are twenty years old. You will need to plan on replacing all of the rubber hoses, flushing the cooling system, et cetera. I have taken some road trips on my ZRX, and as much as I love the thing, the Concours is a better tourer. The bigger wind screen, the hard bags, and the shaft drive make any long trip a more enjoyable one. 




I use a couple of reusable shopping bags, one on each side. They fit great and are cheap. If you get a first gen Concours look up murphskits.com, the best Concours specific parts site there is. I got my fork brace and big brake kit from him along with a bunch of other stuff.

 

Wow, great info!  Thanks for all the replies.  To be clear the guys I ride with have no issue with a Kawasaki.  I won’t be selling the KZ and it helped hearing you all say not to sell it.  I have found a 2004 concours with 16k miles running for $2000, but it’s up in Maryland.  I think I am going to hold out for a good buy on a concours.  I wanted a HD for the cool factor.  Not a fan of Goldwings.  The FJR look nice might look a little more into those.  If all else fails and I can’t find something I like I will ride the KZ.  We have six guys going.  We will have a truck and trailer following, but the trailer will only hold 3-4 bikes so somebody will always be riding.  Me being me, I’d like to ride the whole damn thing just to say I did it.

I personally have not ridden the old iconic Concourse. I’ve sat on them. But both friends of mine that have owned them both said they are HEAVY.
Heavy does come in handy on long highway slogs however.

Keep the KZ. How many times have you heard, "Nice bike! Used to have one like it. Wish I'd never sold it. Wanna sell it...?"

While talking mile-munchers:
We've had two Honda ST1300's - a 2003 ST1300 and now have a '09 ST1300A n(ABS) we bought new. The Lovely Z1BEBE likes it's tail trunk backrest, if two-up is a consideration for you.
ST's are fairly top heavy - they're a handful at parking lot / stop & go / foot paddling speed. Once above walking speed the weight pretty much disappears. They're just hitting their stride around 70- 75 mph. Five gal. in the top tank plus two gal. in the under seat tank gives some serious range. Easily removable hard bags using the ignition key. Electrically-adjustable windshield if you wish to look over the top in good weather, raise it for rain protection. Last mfg. in 2012, virtually unchanged since 2003, so aftermarket & OEM parts support is still fairly solid. Knowledge base is very deep & wide on the ST owners forums. Relatively inexpensive to insure.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

blipco wrote:

I personally have not ridden the old iconic Concourse. I’ve sat on them. But both friends of mine that have owned them both said they are HEAVY.
Heavy does come in handy on long highway slogs however.


You should have ridden one. The heavy feeling goes away as soon as you are rolling, then it thinks it's a Ninja. I'm 5' 5", 125lbs and I've been riding a Concours since 2017. All sport touring bikes are on the heavy side. The Concours doesn't weigh anymore than an FJR. The Concours is definitely the cheapest sport touring bike to keep on the road.
But the best part of all is it's a Kawasaki!

 

KellyE, I believe you. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them from owners and people who’ve ridden them. I very nearly bought one. I bought a ZZR1200 instead, which is no lightweight either. The ZZR can really boogie tho.

My ZRX in touring mode.
Did a two day 1000 KM trip this season.

Something with a larger windscreen, more rain protection, would be nice to have too.
Not selling my Zs though.