Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. .:RIDING IMPRESSION Kawasaki ZG1000 Concours GTS . () J (Top) The '94 Kawasaki Concours looks pretty much the same as It did when it first rolled off the assembly line In 1986, but there are differences • most of them made Just this year. (Above) A more comfortable tripledensity foam seat Is now used. (Left) The Inner plas tic of the fairing Is now thicker and Incorporates two convenient, lockable compartments. By Kit Pa lmer r t's been tw o yea rs s hort of a decade since Kawasaki introduced its sp ort touring ZG1000 Concours and it's been two years short of a deca de since the machine has seen any significant cha nges. Up u ntil 1993, the Concours h as r e m a in ed , for all int ents an d purposes, identical to the original model unveiled in 1986. Well, it's 1994 an d, for the first time in eight years, the Kawasaki Concours actually features some important modifications, most of which were aimed at imp roving rid e r comfort and convenience. First o f all, a new Corbin- looking, contoured, triple-density foam seat has replaced the saddle of old, giving the Concours a new feel as well as look. The inner plastic of the fairing is now thicker and incorporates two, instead of one, lockable compartments. The instru- mentation panel is all new, having been replaced by that used in the Kawasaki ZX-l 1. A digital clock and a trip odomete r are a lso provided, as usual. Hand grips are also new for '94. As fa r as performance-minded changes, the Concours sees few. A beefier 41mm conventional fork is now used , and is no longer' a ir-assisted. The for k offers only on e ex te rna l adj us tmen t spring preload . To improve braking perfo rmance the dual disc front brake was strengthened by going from a single- to a double-piston setup, as we ll as increasi ng the size of the discs by 2mm . Both front and rear wheels are all new . The 18-inch fro nt w heel co mes from the ZRl 100 Kawasaki and has a 16inch rear wh eel to match; they now have five spokes instead of six. Tha t's pretty mu ch it as fa r as cha nge s. Perhaps the one a rea that could 've used some updates, b ut was totally left alone , was to th e liquid-cool ed fou rcylinder engine. It had been quite some time since I had sw u ng a leg over the Concours; in fact, I don't even remember what year that was, but diggin g throu gh . the gears for th e firs t time.on the '94 machine brough t back some mem ories. Not necessarily good ones, however. To me, the Concou rs still feels very buzzy and, well . . . slow. Perha ps even slower than I had remembered . But then again , I had just returned the ZX-9 to Kawasaki and was riding away on the Concours. Now, eve n a Lear Jet migh t feel slow after riding th e ZX-9, so I decided to give the Concours a chance before casting my op inion in concrete. But, after logging about 300 miles on the Co nc o urs, my opi nion did , in fa ct, change . Instead, to me, the Concours feels incredibly slow . " But you have to remember that the Concours isn 't a s p o r tbi ke , " said Ka wasaki ' s press relations guru Mel Moore. "It's a spo rt touring bike." Perhaps, but is ther e a rule in the books somewh ere that says spo rt touring bikes can't be . . . well, fast? Evidentl y not. BMW has a number of peppy sport tourin g bikes to cho se from ; Ho nda's ST1100 moves along pretty good, and Yama ha's GTSlOOO is downright fast. But the Concours? - too pokey for me. The Concours' outdated engine just revs too slowly for my tast es, and, to make matters wo rse, excessive vibration p u t my hand s to sleep after abou t an hou r in the saddle. Not good for a touring bike. The engi ne isn't all bad , however. It does change gears nicely, the clutch has excellent feel and i t starts easily. Perhaps the best thing going for the Concou rs is comfort. The seat offers good support and padding, the handleba rs are well placed , as are the footp egs; even the new grips feel good. The fairing provides excellen t p rotection from t he elements, but the wi n dscre en is d ownright aw ful, at leas t for my 6'1" frame. Th e turb ulence co ming off the w ind scr een was p retty in te nse and pounded my helmet; I usu ally walked away fro m th e Concourse w ith a heada che. Crouching sligh tly eliminated the probl em but tha t became a little taxlngon the back after a wh ile. Luckily, Kawasaki offe rs thr ee d ifferen t windshield heigh ts. Obviously, the "middle" height on the Concou rs we tested didn 't suit my need s . I ha ve no doub t that either a taller or shorter screen would 've helped my situation imm ensely. Suspension-w ise, the Concours offers a nice, smooth ride, bu t it seemed overly se nsitive to gr oove s in the highways. Many freeways here in California have

• Cover