lowering links or lowering a GPZ

Tue Apr 6 18:16:54 PDT 2010

Heh Randy welcome to the GPZ list, glad to read your intro as it's getting
ready to snow tonight again out here and I put the GPZ outside to sort parts
in the garage and with the 60+ mph wind gusts we're getting I'm leaving it
outside tonight!

Sounds like you got yourself a good bike for dependable riding and several
of us on this list can understand the $$$ situation, that's why divorce is
worth it (not you, but us!).

You have good taste in first generation sport bikes.  I started the Honda
SOHC750 Owner's Group, you can google it but I'm not there much anymore as I
moved on, bike-wise.  Used to actually have in my garage one of every F
model 750 Honda made, 75, 76, 77, and 78.  Later I raced in WERA and AHRMA
on a '76F Superbike (actually an 836 WISECO engine) which had all of the
goodies they had in the day.  I sold that to a collector ~ 2 years ago when
I moved from Boulder, CO to Longmont.

You also have good taste in later model Kawasaki's in that you picked up
that ZX11.  I'm talking to a guy out here that has a cheap low miles D model
engine that I might harvest the cams out of, sell the head and seal up the
bottom end for later use, just like you.

You had an early modern Truimph, too bad, but probably fun none the less.
The newer triples are pretty neat on the low end as well as the high end.  A
buddy of mine has one and let me ride it, pretty sweet!

Wish I had the room for a tire changer.  That was one of our breakfast
discussions on Sunday, the cheapest place to get tires put on, go figure.

Ask anything you want on this list, eventually you'll get an answer but it
can be slow at times.  New blood like you get's the post level up!

Cheers,

John

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com] On
Behalf Of Randy noneofyourbusiness
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2010 6:37 PM
To: oldfr8dog at yahoo.com; GPZ List
Subject: Re: lowering links or lowering a GPZ

First of all Hello everyone, I am Randy, & I reside in the mountains of
Virginia.

as for the links you have, sure, if they may work I would be interested, & I
will measure what my length is, as soon as I have some daylight.

also to answer another question, I am new, not to motorcycles, but to the
GPZ, I bought it in January & had to do a few things, & just put it on the
road Friday, April 2, & I am under 20 miles from hitting 300 miles, & by
tomorrow night I will probably be around 400 miles, if not over since
Friday.

money is quite tight right now, but looking for the least expensive way out.
it has been a couple of bad weeks, well pump was hit by lightning, & my
Toyota truck blew its engine & my other truck broke down, & I am 2 wheeling
on the GPZ until I get my Isuzu back on the road.

right now I want to lower it, plus I need to put a new chain on it as I have
2 tight spots & 3 loose spots, sprockets look reasonably ok, & bike has
25,000 or so miles on it. chain is looser than I am comfortable with. but I
cant tighten it as the tightest spot is about right for adjustment.

I bought the handle bar risers from Dave Daniels, which I will hopefully
install in a couple of weeks, a Corbin saddle would be nice but will be
looking for used one as soon as money allows.

The GPZ is my second sport bike, my first was a 2000 Triumph TT600, which I
was very unhappy with, it had no torque down low, which is what I need for
these mountains. I am not canyon carving, I might drive a little spirited at
times, but not hard. 

I am an old school Harley rider, & have rode old Harleys in 25 to 30 states,
never owned a Harley newer than 1973, but also hate the upkeep that goes
along with riding 20,000 to 40,000 miles a year. & I rode several Kawas when
I was young before I got hard into Harleys, & loved the reliability, wife
asked me what kind of bike I wanted & I said something either in the likes
of an old pre 1977 honda 750 or old Kawa 900 or 1000 or a zx11 or similiar,
but it was either a Kawa or 750 sohc hona only for me, & as everyone sees I
wound up with a 1996 GPZ1100e in the faster black...... lol... 

 I still love a hand shifted, ape hangered Harley. but for riding some
serious miles my wallet cant afford that kind of riding, & I hope I can
afford to ride the GPZ that much.

my goal is to put at least 20,000+ miles on the GPZ this year. & for my
birthday wife bought me a coats 220 tire changer that was on the local
craigslist for $150,, I figure that will same me a little pocket change. 

while money was better we picked up a 5,000 mile, trashed, slid, & left
outside & rusted,  zx11d for the tune of $600, figure the motor will be a
decent bottom end for this bike in a few years. not sure what other parts
will fit, but was worth it to me for a running low mileage engine.

what kind of gas mileage should I expect?  I averaged 49mpg, which is city,
hiway, & mountains.

Later,
Randy

--- On Tue, 4/6/10, oldfr8dog at yahoo.com <oldfr8dog at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: oldfr8dog at yahoo.com <oldfr8dog at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: lowering links or lowering a GPZ
To: "GPZ List" <gpzlist at micapeak.com>
Date: Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 7:56 PM

I've got a pair of brand new dog bones that have 2 adjustment holes. I don't
know how much they'll lower it but if you're interested I'll measure the
hole spacings and let you know. I'm never going to use them so maybe you can
get some use out of them.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Randy noneofyourbusiness <tuner_delorean at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 14:45:22 
To: <gpzlist at micapeak.com>
Subject: lowering links or lowering a GPZ

What is the best way to lower the GPZ?

I got it on the road Friday April 2, & I have already managed to get in
right at 300 miles, but my 26 inseam I am vertically challenged, I need to
lower it a little.

right now I can only get 1 foot flat on the ground at a time, or both feet
tip toes, so for safety, it needs lowering so I can get both feet flat on
the ground. I am having problems turning it around on my driveway, which is
like an old country dirt road with tall center hump, plus my driveway is up
side of a mountain nearly 1/2 mile long.

what is recomendations? anyone have a used lowering link? or? 

Thank you,
Randy