Those last few weeks in London seemed to drag on forever, and one of my last acts in the Smoke was to purchase a Monza jacket from Lewis Leathers. It was a rather self conscious customer who arrived at the dealers shop on a Saturday afternoon with a poseurs jacket (no scrapes, creases, etc) and a nervous smile - would it be too big, would I drop it?
Initial impressions were reassuring. My memories of the Trident were hazy but the Kawasaki looked solid and enormous. The detail finishing was a revelation after the Trident and the instruments and controls looked really neat. I ordered a colour matched fairing and drove home at a lazy 4000rpm/55mph enjoying the smoothness and sophistication of it all.
The first summer was fantastic. We hardly saw any rain and were clocking up a regular 250 miles each week going to and from work at a steady 85/95mph. The handling felt heavy but secure and the brakes were fantastic. The shaft drive felt totally unobtrusive and the bike polished up a treat. The rear Japlop was worn out by 4500 miles but that was my only expense apart from an additional oil change between 3000 mile services.
In the Autumn, I moved house nearer work, which cut my necessary mileage to around 50 miles a week. The downside was that I had to park the bike outside the house. Despite all my previous polishing, the bike soon became very grubby, especially the wheels (which were a real pig to clean) and the engine cases. The wheels seem to attract the dust from the brake pads which combined with corrosion to make cleaning difficult - they looked more black than the original gold and needed removal and much application of Gunk, Solvol and wire wool to clean them up. Road chippings soon removed the black paint at the front of the engine and road salt did the rest.
The frame paint was generally good - only a few weak points such as the swinging arm around the rear shock mountings letting the side down. Around this time the bike developed a sudden misfire at low revs, which I put down to dampness in the HT leads. I rode to work with the bike alternatively surging and spluttering, though it cleared at high revs. Leaving work, the bike wouldn’t start and I flattened the battery. It was pretty obvious that something serious was wrong - I could hear a ticking noise from the coils and the electronic tacho was leaping around the clock with a dead engine.
Unfortunately, I had to go away for a week, so I persuaded a friend to give me a tow with his Datsun car. I know enough not to tie a tow rope onto the bike but rather wrap it around something and hold it in case you have to let go when something goes wrong. I wrapped the rope around the handlebar and tried to hold onto it with one hand - as soon as we moved off the handlebars went onto full lock and I fell off. onto some nicely abrasive gravel. The usual scrapes resulted, plus bent clutch lever and broken indicators. I left it there for the dealer to pick up.
A faulty CDI unit was diagnosed, fortunately, replaced under warranty. The bike was running fine again when I made the mistake of removing the exhaust system to clean it up and apply some black paint to replace the rust - a waste of time as it just fell off after a week. Unfortunately I was never able to achieve a proper gas tight fit at the cylinder head, despite using new exhaust gaskets and collets.
I solved that problem by fitting a Motad that went on alright, increased mid-range power, but left the centre stand to clatter against the shaft drive housing - two letters to Motad provoked no response so I made my own stop with a piece of scrap metal.
This apart, the bike continued to run like a train with only the occasional 3000 mile service denting my wallet. I had changed the front tyre at 6000 miles and I replaced the second rear at 8000 miles because I thought it had punctured. I was racing an Opel Manta when the bike started wiggling - I put this down to mud on the road and carried on, next morning the tyre was flat. It was only after I pulled the tyre off that I realised it was down to the valve.
When I got married, expenses escalated rapidly and the GT had even less money spent on servicing it than before, but it still ran beautifully despite its rapidly deteriorating appearance. With a holdall on the well used luggage rack and a tank bag, my wife and I had enough luggage capacity for our honeymoon tour of England and a visit to the TT races. On motorways, the bike could still pull an easy 90mph, although my wife complained about vibes through the pillion footrests. Even at highly illegal speeds, the consumption never dipped below 40mpg.
The handling had started deteriorating with a weave at 80mph on curves and at 110mph in a straight line. I think this was made worse by partially worn tyres, but the suspension didn’t help as it was a real pig to set up properly. I was dubious about air suspension front and rear, and I must admit to ignoring the front end without any ill effects. The rear suspension was very fiddly and it was very difficult to reduce pressure properly without causing instant deflation (which causes the tyre to rub through the wiring under the mudguard).
The brakes deteriorated until they would barely stop the bike going backwards on a steep hill. I replaced the fluid and the pads (genuine Kawa jobs), but couldn’t afford Goodridge hoses which may have helped as they weren't much better. On one memorable occasion we left the M6 at Junction 14 and I just couldn’t stop at the top of the slip road despite a death grip on the bars - big thanks to the Artic driver who wasn’t fazed by our appearance in his path.
The paintwork was showing signs of wear and I had the handlebar fairing, mudguards, tanks and side panels sprayed Porsche, sorry Post Office, red for £20. The rear number plate carrier had rusted through and a new one was purchased. I hadn’t changed the oil for 4000 miles and when doing so discovered that the garage had stripped the thread for the sump plug. The repair only cost a few quid, but scraping off all the old gasket was a real pain and small oil weeps have plagued the bike since.
I traded in the Kawa (worth £1000, the dealer sold it for £1400) for a Flying Brick, after four years and 20000 miles of pretty damn good service despite the neglect, it never let me down (CDI unit aside) and it was great to know you could get on it and know you'd reach your destination, a feeling of confidence unknown to me in my Triumph days.
W.J.McGill