A belated introduction.I’m just the wrong side of 60 and thankfully retired. I signed up to this site a little while ago with the intention of using the accumulated knowledge on here to help me decide whether to iron out the issues with my Z1300 and stay with it, or perhaps let it go to someone who has more time and skill to give it the attention it really deserves.
The bike is a 1983 registered A5 model, the last with carburettors, sometimes this does not come up on parts searches but I believe it is basically an A4 that was given chromed engine casings as Kawasaki tried to shift the last of them with the DFI model incoming. I brought it brand new from Kawasaki City in West Bromwich and at the time it was the flagship bike in the range. My wife said “You may as well have it because it will be the last bike you’ll ever have” and for 20 years she was right.
At first it covered a decent mileage each year and did take me on one trip through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany in 1985, but shortly after a bigger mortgage and children came along and it was consigned to odd short runs when a baby-sitter became available. At times it was taken “off the road” as there was no money for tax or insurance, but somehow I managed to hold on to it. In my experience bikes do not like to be left idle and the less it was used the more temperamental it got resulting in further reluctance to trust it on longer rides.
In 2003 with children now of an age to be legally abandoned I started to use it a little more but wanting the reliability of a newer bike I purchased a Suzuki GSX1400 to sit in the garage with it. A new Z1000 was added to the roster in 2009 as most of the guys I was riding with were on sports bikes and I wanted something more nimble to keep up with them and as I was now doing an annual two week tour abroad I managed to cram in a GTR1400 in 2017 so that I had the luxury of a shaft drive and hard luggage.One of the first things to decay during the 13’s period of neglect was the exhaust system. Originally I fitted a Jama 6-2 set which was all I could afford but as the silencers on that system later started to tarnish I bought some Marving Master silencers to fit to the Jama downpipes. I really like how these look and much prefer them to the originals, but with exhausts it is very much a case of “each to their own”.A few years ago in an effort to get it up and running properly I paid for an ultrasonic carb clean and a general going over and it ran well for a while but from paying £300 to get it going the following year I had to shell out £300 to get it to stop – brake lines replaced, callipers overhauled etc. The next problem as it had been laid up over a winter was that I noticed some bubbling at the bottom of the tank and the slightest finger pressure resulted in petrol seeping out. I was told lining the tank may work so gave it a go, but no luck. The tank was then sent to a local sprayer / fairing repair specialist who soldered it up for me and resprayed the tank, I also got the other body plastics done by them so that the back paint finish was consistent.Another job that has been attended to is the fitting of Progressive Suspension air shock absorbers to the rear. I imported them from the USA so they were not cheap, but were the closest thing to the original fitment I could find.Being at the back of the garage its running began to deteriorate again so during the last year it has had another service and carb clean and is useable. I still enjoy being out on it when it runs well, none of the other bikes “sing” to me like the six cylinders of the Z1300 and none of the other bikes are as likely to attract admiration down at the local café.It still needs work though and here I am at the point of deciding whether to persevere with it or sell it on so that someone with the talent and enthusiasm can sort it out. I’m not happy with the clutch operation, I think it is probably just an adjustment issue, but having renewed the cable this week I notice that the return spring on the actuator arm seems to have lost some of its “boing” and that’s probably why I seem to have slack at the end of the lever. On the last ride out with it I noticed a new oil leak – I haven’t pinned it down yet but I suspect from the engine top cover, probably just a gasket but outside what I would want to tackle. There again there is the possibility that I slightly over-filled the oil at the last top-up so for the moment I’ll just monitor it. In terms of appearance it looks quite good. The biggest let-down are the chrome engine casings. They have been re-done once but I have been told that as the chrome and casing alloy are different metals they will always be inclined to expand and contract at different rates as the engine heats and will be prone to separate. It’s not an impossible task to remove the casings have the re-chromed and refit them, but again I’m not sure I have the motivation for it. There’s bit of surface rust on the swinging arm / shaft case, I did rub it down once before and apply some black “Smoothrite” which tidied it up, I could do the same again but ideally a full strip-down and a powder-coating of the frame etc. is wanted for a proper restoration.So that’s where I am at the moment – do I see it through or sell the Z1300, Z1000 and GTR and put the money on an H2 tourer?I’ve yet to get to grips with including photos on this site, but here is a link to some photos of my bikes on my Flickr account:
www.flickr.com/photos/rynglieder/albums/...15/with/52151330226/
