Kawasaki W800

[MaxPete]

Good on you to plan to ride to Newfoundland! What bike will you take?

There a lots of not-selling older bikes on the market here in BC. Definitely a buyer's market. My son is picking up his first bike, a 2018 Suzuki GSX250-R, on Thursday. $2500 with less than 8500 kms. That seller started advertising it at $4k.

Howdy Van-I:
I'll be riding Gretel - a 1983 BMW R100RS with about 119,000 km on the clock. Gretel is stock except for the paint job and a headlight and taillight modulator (all of my bikes have those) plus I have mounted a 1982 GL1100 top box on the little BMW rack using some little brackets that one of my former grad students 3-D printed for me. The tiny BMW rack isn't very beefy so I just use the box to hold my helmet and jacket if we go into a museum or something. Otherwise, the box holds light stuff like my raingear, tie-down straps for the ferries and perhaps a bottle of adult imbibement for the evening "Healing Circle".

I did have a very nice 2007 Honda ST1300 for long trips but she was getting heavy and I had always wanted an R100RS since I was a boy in the 70's so I found one and bought it. Gretel is a great bike - quiet, smooth, decent handling and brakes, "lawnmower" simple and easy to repair (although I have never had to fix anything), dry in the rain, 55-60 mpg at a buck-20 all day and she is as reliable as a chunk of granite. I did a review of Gretel on this forum under the title "ACHTUNG!!" a while back - here is a linky: https://www.xs650.com/threads/achtung.58252/



BTW - that snazzy new red 2021 Honda GL1800 Gold Wing on the right used to belong to my cousin, and he paid more in HST on it than I paid for Gretel - all-in.

Anyhow, Gretel is up in Sarnia at MMMotoWerks getting new tires and tubes and a thorough going over for the spring (which had bloody well better come soon or I will lose my sh!t....).

I will leave here and ride about 550 km to the home of my riding buddy who lives in Peterborough, ON. He will be on a 2020 H-D Road King Chrom-a-saurus of some type and there are three other guys going to Nfld. from the Essex-Kent CVMG Section who will be riding a 2017 Suzuki SV650A, a 2006 (?) H-D FatBoy and a 2014 (?) BMW R1200GS. Those three guys are trailering to North Sydney to catch the ferry and my Peterborough buddy and I are riding all the way from here.

The trip is being organized by Newfoundlander Jim Gow who has an excellent YouTube channel called Old Guy on a Bike and it should be a blast. Jim and some of the other riders (I think there are about 8-10 bikes all-told) will be camping while we Southern Ontario weenies will be hotelling-it. Jim tells us that the provincial parks all have hotels / B&Bs nearby and we are already set with reservations including the ferry both ways etc.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[Mailman]

There a lots of not-selling older bikes on the market here in BC. Definitely a buyer's market.

Yeah, not just where you live. Our market here in Phoenix is just flooded with used bikes, classics, Harleys by the score, late model bikes…you name it. Great deals too. Bad time to be a seller.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Wow Pete she is a real beauty! Thanks for the links. I will check them out!

 

[Charles13]

The new garage / workshop looks great Raymond - very nicely done indeed!

As for old bike prices...yup, same here. Our vintage bike group has a serious problem, IMO as the average age is creeping up and younger people are simply not taking up riding...anything. As I understand it, motorcycle sales have really tanked across Canada and bikers are aging-out.

The Essex-Kent Section of the CVMG (Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group) of which I am a member, has about 60-65 registered members of whom about....20-25 ride reasonably often but some sections are smaller and as I said, the average age has to be upwards of 65-70. I think that I am the second youngest in my Section and I'm 66. The youngest guy is, I think, 64.

That inevitably must mean that there will be a glut of nice used bike coming onto the market over the coming decade or so - which as a "younger" person, is a good thing - but for the hobby as a whole, it cannot be seen that way at all.

Anyhow, I am having fun and am planning a good long ride out to Newfoundland this summer - so lucky me!

Pete

I went out there for a summer and did not want to come back, there are only 2 big main roads;!1 from Port aux Basques to St John’s and 1 running north from that road, so I would want something with some off road capabilities when I go back

 

[MaxPete]

I went out there for a summer and did not want to come back, there are only 2 big main roads;!1 from Port aux Basques to St John’s and 1 running north from that road, so I would want something with some off road capabilities when I go back

Yup, NL is really nice - BUT - short damp summers and very hard winters….so, perhaps not quite the paradise that some folks may think.

Remember, you can sit at a pub in St. John’s and watch icebergs drift by the harbour entrance while sipping your adult BEvERage. .

 

[Charles13]

Yup, NL is really nice - BUT - short damp summers and very hard winters….so, perhaps not quite the paradise that some folks may think.

Remember, you can sit at a pub in St. John’s and watch iceberg drift by the harbour entrance while sipping your adult BEvERage. .

It’s actually a very sheltered harbor and you’d have to have a perfect vantage point to see the ocean, but anywhere else on the east coast you can see them all day, probably why very few newfies learn to swim.

 

[arcticXS]

Yup, NL is really nice - BUT - short damp summers and very hard winters….so, perhaps not quite the paradise that some folks may think.

Remember, you can sit at a pub in St. John’s and watch iceberg drift by the harbour entrance while sipping your adult BEvERage. .

I think St.Anhony is the best place for seeing icebergs. I did a road trip of NL by car in 2018. Across from St.Johns to Rocky Harbor/ Gros Morne, then up the West Coast to St.Aetnthony and L'Anse Aux Meadows to see the Norse archeological site, then south to Port Aux Basque, and the ferry to Nova Scotia. We actually detoured a bit here and there while crossing from St.Johns to the West Coast. A really enjoyable holiday for my better half and myself.

 

[MaxPete]

I think St.Anhony is the best place for seeing icebergs. I did a road trip of NL by car in 2018. Across from St.Johns to Rocky Harbor/ Gros Morne, then up the West Coast to St.Aetnthony and L'Anse Aux Meadows to see the Norse archeological site, then south to Port Aux Basque, and the ferry to Nova Scotia. We actually detoured a bit here and there while crossing from St.Johns to the West Coast. A really enjoyable holiday for my better half and myself.

Ahhhh....a Norseman visiting Newfoundland - how fitting!

Just catching up with some older relatives?

 

[arcticXS]

Ahhhh....a Norseman visiting Newfoundland - how fitting!

Just catching up with some older relatives?

I was working offshore NL, doing a seismic survey in July/ August, and we had crew change in mid August. So I just postponed/ re-routed my homebound trave, and had my GF fly to St.Johns, so we could do this trip. She has a strong interest for history, so visiting L'Anse Aux Meadows was a given. As I mentioned, we took a few detours on the way west, one of them to Boyd's Cove and the Beothuk Interpretation Centre. We stopped at a lokal grocery store/ general store, to get some food. While walking around in this store, discussing what to buy, an elderly gentleman approached and said: "Er dere norske" and proceeded to tell us about when he worked on norwegian whaling ships . Small world!

 

[Raymond]

Side stand has been gradually seizing up, hardly surprising after a winter of salt. Today, pulled it to clean and decided to remove the safety switch at the same time. Funny how jobs can grow?





Tomorrow, wipe off - might even paint - lube and slap back on. I'm assuming the side stand switch just requires continuity? Snip the two wires at the wee connector and solder them together to remove 'nother potential source of failure . . .

 

[Its been a long time]

Side stand has been gradually seizing up, hardly surprising after a winter of salt. Today, pulled it to clean and decided to remove the safety switch at the same time. Funny how jobs can grow?

View attachment 345496View attachment 345497
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Tomorrow, wipe off - might even paint - lube and slap back on. I'm assuming the side stand switch just requires continuity? Snip the two wires at the wee connector and solder them together to remove 'nother potential source of failure . . .

I have just shorted the wires together when doing this. Test it before snipping!

 

[Mailman]

I'm assuming the side stand switch just requires continuity? Snip the two wires at the wee connector and solder them together to remove 'nother potential source of failure . . .

My first encounter with a side stand switch, I had never owned anything but bikes from the 70’s, I bought a brand spanking new Triumph from an out of state dealership ( in 2007 ) , part of the deal was he had a delivery guy who dropped it off right in my driveway. After the delivery driver drove off, I fired up my Triumph to pull it into the garage and every time I put it in gear it would die! I was so aggravated, I thought he sold me a bike with a problem right outa the box.
I called him up , ready for an argument and he just calmly told me to put my kickstand up!
That was all it took….who knew?

 

[Raymond]

Soldered the side stand switch wires together, little bit of heat-shrink, all back together now.





Even been out for a road test. And when we got back home, the side stand deployed without any bother - wow.

TBH, the W800 needs some serious time and attention an it might even happen later this year, once the XS and Bullet are fully operational. Though fully operational is a temporary state with older bikes . . .

 

[Adamc]

Don’t know how this got here…….

 

[Raymond]

Battery change day. Still running the original, now twelve years old, so it's over due for retirement.

Goodness gracious, they bury the battery deep. First, take off the seat, remove the toll roll then loosen the small plate that holds the ECU cover. The tip is, remove the l/h screw only coz apparently if you remove both screws, the grommets fall into the airbox and are a bugger to extricate. Then you can take away the ECU cover and lift the ECU for access to the battery terminals. The picture shows this stage, the wee plate that holds the ECU cover is just under the tool roll strap - I put the l/h screw back in a thread or two so I don't lose it.





JIS screwdriver, remove -ve terminal screw first, then +ve under a red plastic cover. Mine has the added complication of a charging lead - without, charging the battery is a proper PITA.

Remove the l/h side cover. Two JIS screws, one at the lower edge and one at the top kinda under the frame tube. Wiggle the cover forward to free the locating pin at rear of the cover then lift away. Next, identify two 10mm bolts that secure a strap with lots of lectrickery fixed to it - rear one just in front of frame down tube and the other is further forward outboard of the air box. With the bolts removed, the strap, its attached components and their associated wiring can be gently persuaded to swing outwards





It's tight, but the battery can now be slid out



The new battery is being given a charge, but fitting is pretty much the reverse of the above.

 

[RC4MAN]

Thanks Raymond, very informative, been thinking of picking one up.
Kawasaki seems to make this a challenge. Buddy of mine picked up a used 500 Vulcan. The PO had put some used Sportster mufflers on it and my buddy was having a hard time starting it. I took the seat off and noticed the battery fits just behind the airbox breathing snorkle put as new the battery sits so far down into a pocket that it's nearly impossible to persuade out so the PO had put a 1' thick piece of styrofoam under it to space it up but when he did this it blocked the snorkle. This in combination to adding a couple thin washer under the main jet needle to raise it made it so rich that it flooded easily.
I made a loop out of a piece of old broken tie down strap webbing to put around the battery so once lowered into position it was easy to lift back out when needed, removed the washers from under the main jets and it's been a joy to start for him since.

 

[Its been a long time]

Good grief. Whatever happened to the idea of raising the seat, removing the terminals and lifting the battery out?

 

[Mailman]

Dang Raymond! You got 12 years out of your original battery! I only get 2-3 years out of them. Our extreme heat is death on them.
That was surprising how difficult that battery was to extract.

 

[Raymond]

. . . Our extreme heat is death on them. . .

Over here, we always think it's the cold that does for em. When the bikes are sitting in the garage and temps are way down, I go in there maybe couple times a week, plug in the smart charger and swap it between all the bikes. Usually only takes minutes per bike but sometimes have to leave one all afternoon or even overnight for the charger indicator to go green. But I believe it's well worth the effort.

I used to joke that a motorbike is basically 2000 components all bolted to a battery box coz it is the most central, read inaccessible, part of the bike. Ironically, first made that joke about Hiro Hito, my 1975 Z1B. Looking back, that wasn't fair - as IBALT says, just lift the seat, loosen two cables and lift the battery out. Lot easier than the W800.

 

[Adamc]

Over here, we always think it's the cold that does for em. When the bikes are sitting in the garage and temps are way down, I go in there maybe couple times a week, plug in the smart charger and swap it between all the bikes. Usually only takes minutes per bike but sometimes have to leave one all afternoon or even overnight for the charger indicator to go green. But I believe it's well worth the effort.

I used to joke that a motorbike is basically 2000 components all bolted to a battery box coz it is the most central, read inaccessible, part of the bike. Ironically, first made that joke about Hiro Hito, my 1975 Z1B. Looking back, that wasn't fair - as IBALT says, just lift the seat, loosen two cables and lift the battery out. Lot easier than the W800.

I do the same. Two battery maintenance chargers between three bikes and two spare batteries. Seems to work ok for a bit of effort visiting the lockup occasionally during winter.