AMA GARAGE

Tips,Tweaks, Fixes and Facts: The two-wheeled ownership experience, explained

Staff Rides

Boehm: 2004 Kawasaki ZRX1200R

The original retro Superbike done up in fire engine GPz red is, for me, Just Exactly Perfect

Retro-styled street bikes are all the rage right now, but the trend isn’t all that new. Back in the 1990s came Honda’s CB1000 Big One and Kawasaki’s ZRX1100, which became the ZRX1200R a few years later. The CB1000 was underpowered and missed the mark on styling (even with those awesome-looking CB900F-based AMA Superbikes to crib from) and failed in the market. But the ZRXs, which offered 100-plus horsepower and earlyGPz/Eddie Lawson Replica styling, sold well and have become bona fide cult classics since being retired in the mid 2000s.

I rode a Z-Rex for a full year back in the early 2000s and have lusted after one ever since — until last summer, when I bought a low-mileage — and GPz red — ZRX to replace the red (but boring) CB1000 I’d bought the previous year.

It had brittle, squared-off and mismatched tires, a leaky fork leg, a worn chain and original hydraulic fluid, but it was fast and fun and reminded me of the two GPzs I’d owned years before…an ’83 550 monoshocker and a twin-shock ’82 750, both red, both entertaining, and both emotionally inspiring.

So into the shop it went (Salt Lake City’s Moto Station) while I was

Mmmmm… Fresh Dunlops.

sampling H-D’s new Pan America 1250 adventure bike during last year’s AMA Alps Challenge tour. There it got some serious care, including synthetic Maxima oil, a brand-new DID 520 chain, new fork seals, 15-weight fork oil (and a little more than stock) and, most importantly, a fresh set of dual-compound Dunlop Roadsmart IV tires, which offer more mileage than the already excellent Roadsmart IIIs (which I ran on my CB1000) and tons of dry grip and wet-weather performance.

Once back on the road the thing was mostly brilliant, offering lots of smooth power (even at 10,000 feet) and soft but supple (and mostly controllable) chassis behavior, even at big speeds. The Dunlops proved superb, even in colder (and sometimes wet) conditions, and with their dual-compound construction they grip like full-on sport tires when speeds and lean angle get juicy. Could I run these at a track day? I absolutely could. Next up is a full detail (the paint’s a bit hazy and there’s some corrosion left over from the previous owner’s oceanair location) and improved — and slightly firmer — suspension: firmer fork springs and Emulators from Race Tech and some quality aftermarket shocks. Otherwise, my Z-Rex is a fast blast, and a helluva goodlooking one, too.

Staff Rides

Burgess: 2013 Yamaha XT250

The perfect dual-purpose ride for newbies and/or the inseam-challenged — aka Joy

I’m newer to this motorcycle thing, and like a lot of rookies I made what Mitch calls a “bad purchase decision” a couple years ago when I bought my first motorcycle…a used — and messed-with — Honda XR80. (I’ve called the whole thing a “learning experience” but he and I argue a lot anyway, so it’s not surprising.) Inherently, the XR is wonderful, but not the particular example I bought. In the beginning it ran okay, but soon became hard to start, and then it would quit — and not start again — far from home, which had me pushing. Ugh.

But I’ve learned a lot, and in December bought a low-mileage and totally stock 2013 Yamaha XT250 that starts instantly at the push of a button, runs all day and, with its low seat height and light weight, will be easy to handle. It’s being shipped via the good folks at Federal Motorcycle Transport (funtransport.com) from the western U.S. to my home in Florida, and I’ll be reporting back as soon as it arrives. Stay tuned!

Winter Pickling 101

What to do if you forgot to do the winter-storage deed back in November

Green Goo…see why carbs hate enthanol-laced fuel?

It’s February, so cold and nasty weather is still with a lot of us. If you didn’t store your bike properly before the holidays (and you’re not lucky enough to live in the lower tier), not to worry; there’s still time. Maybe.

FUEL SYSTEM

The biggie here, for carbureted bikes, at least, is fuel-system contamination and degradation caused by ethanol-laced gasoline. The stuff gums up quickly in a carburetor’s many small jets and orifices, so if your bike is carbureted, drain those carbs immediately, either via the float-bowl bleeds or by turning off the petcock and letting the bike idle for a few minutes until it conks out.

If your bike won’t start, you’re probably sunk, and are most likely looking at a carb clean, which can be difficult and almost always expensive. If your bike runs rough or maybe only on fewer cylinders than the engine has, you might be able to salvage the situation by using a fuel system cleaner like BG’s 44K, which this author has used successfully in the past. Just pour it into the tank per instructions, let the bike run, and see how it goes.

By the way, in an ideal world, just before putting your bike away for the winter, you would have filled your tank with fuel and added a fuel preservative, and then drained the carbs.

BATTERY CARE

This is pretty easy, really, and usually only involves hooking your motorcycle’s battery to a battery tender or trickle charger, which, if it’s one of the better ones, will not only charge your battery but maintain that charge all winter long. There are plenty on the market, but Battery Tender and CTEK are two top brands to look at. Do your homework.

TIRE CARE

It sounds weird given all the use and abuse your tires can take, but leaving them sitting in one place all winter while holding up 400 or 500 (or more) pounds can deform the carcass or worse, especially if not inflated properly. So put your bike on its centerstand if you can, or a pair of work or track stands. And if you don’t have either of those, at least inflate them to 40 or 50 pounds each and try to roll the bike around a bit during the winter months.