Wading my way through MCN I saw an advert for grey imports which stated delivered for free. As I lived in West Wales and the dealer was on the other side of England it sounded promising. I phoned up, was given the usual eulogy. Three years old, 7000 miles done, absolutely immaculate. A snip at £2250. It would take a couple of weeks to sort the paperwork out, did I want to send a cheque off? In a rare moment of optimism I concurred.
The 400 Zephyr turned up on a sunny Tuesday morning. A momentary panic when I read the clock - 11,500! Then I realised it was in kilometres. It wasn't immaculate, looked like it had done 30,000 miles. However, this was just some tarnishing from being stored and transported. It cleaned up quite nicely.
The 400 Zephyr is similar to the 550, save that it's only 399cc and does 46 horses at 11000 revs. Starting was reluctant, needing much choke juggling as if suffering from fuel starvation. It was immediately obvious that it was a bit of a revver. The tacho needle flicking around to twelve grand with just a touch of the throttle.
It's a compact machine, befitting its capacity and 390lbs of mass. Engine smoothness was impressive but it didn't really want to shift below 8000 revs. For sure, it would turn over cleanly enough but it was more like some mediocre 250 twin than a hot 400 four.
Once into its power it felt pretty good but didn't exactly rip my arms off. The sweet spot was between 10,000 and 11,000 revs but it went a bit flat after 13000rpm. Top speed worked out at around 120mph and 100mph cruising was just about possible as the riding position was totally sensible, the perfect compromise between town and open road riding.
Though the engine always needed work on the throttle and gearbox (the latter better than most Kawasaki efforts I've experienced) it was never a hard bike to ride whatever the circumstances. It always felt safe, with no underlying violence ready to bite back. Both well developed and nicely put together. Much of this togetherness probably comes from the fact that much of the bike has to do duty in the 550 and to a large extent is over-built.
So my initial impressions, those all important first few weeks and hundreds of miles, were very favourable. Alas, they didn't last very long. Things began to go wrong when someone tried to nick the bike. The old screwdriver in the ignition trick. He ran off when I came out of the house and started cursing. The ignition was buggered. When I'd finally managed to pull the module out, a great clump of wiring came adrift with it. There was obvious evidence that it had been bodged in the great swathes of black insulation tape.
The more I looked into the electrics the worse the situation became. The rectifier and regulator were some Lucas junk meant to be fitted into the end of a car alternator. Even the ignition pack didn't look right, as it was held in position by cut down bungee cords. When I secured a used 550 Zephyr ignition lock it was totally different to the one on my machine. I didn't have a clue how to connect everything up.
That was how I ended up at a local dealer. He didn't have a clue either but offered me 500 notes for the machine. When this was declined he let his tame mechanic loose with a multimeter. I didn't have much faith in the youth but, lo and behold, he managed to get the ignition working. When I gently suggested that it might, you know, be nice to have working lights and horn, he gave me an incredulous look. An hour later he beamed like an imbecile, suggested that all was well...
It took about half a mile for me to smell the fire. Coming from the front headlamp shell. By the time I'd pulled off the road the engine was stone dead. All that was left of the wiring in the headlamp was a blackened blob of wire and insulation. I pushed the bike to the nearest phone box but the dealer didn't want to know. I pushed the Kawa the three miles home.
I phoned the grey importer about a wiring loom. He didn't want to know either but reckoned a used 550 Zephyr one would do the business. A telephone trip around various breakers revealed prices ranging from £20 to £90! I chose the cheapest, which came two days later, COD.
Nothing matched up but a bit of guesswork and prayer finally had everything working. I was mightily relieved. But only for 700 miles until the top end started to rattle. Camchain, thought I. I tried tweaking the adjuster but it didn't make any difference. Valve clearances? No idea what they should be. Phoned the grey importer, the nearest official Kawasaki dealer and a mechanic. Only the latter was willing to offer any help. £50 later the rattle was still there in all its intrusive glory.
I ignored it for the next 1700 miles. Then the camchain broke with an alarming explosion. The engine locked up solidly until I grabbed for the clutch. The only good thing was that I could see my house in the distance and I'd only been doing 25mph.
I'm not a brilliant mechanic but figured that I could tear it apart myself, suss the problem and hand it over to an expert. Unfortunately, the broken camchain had allowed the valves to hammer into the pistons, with various bits of engine flying all over the shop. There didn't appear any component within the still immaculate cases that had escaped damage.
After crying myself to sleep after getting drunk out of my head I bought MCN and had a look at the breakers' adverts. For £750 I bought a nearly new ZR400 mill, which went in without too many traumas.
The motor had a little more top end power but the same vacuum at lower revs. I'm not sure if the high revving nature of the motor had led to an early demise (combined with my ignoring the rattle) or if the machine was a clocker or some refugee from an accident which had been extensively bodged. I kept it for a couple of months and then traded in for a CBR400.
The Zephyr was okay on fuel, at 55 to 60mpg, didn't do much damage to its consumables and generally ran around at a rapid pace. It obviously pays to check them out thoroughly and not just rely on a conversation with a dealer! Find a genuine low miler, have a test ride and buy it if the price is right - £2000 to £3000. Above that there are much better buys.
Dan Michaels