Thinking about a Concours 1400

Tim, welcome back! Its very much what you want. The bike handles a passenger like they are not there. VERY smooth, and deceptively fast. You'll be mad at everyone else for driving so slowly.

Dirt cheap to insure., and low used prices. Good saddelbags. Endless accessories.

I thought about selling mine, but found out what the bike is really for. After that summer ride I' pm'd you about, I wont sell it.

Perfect compliment to an fz09.

The c14 also has headlights that are adequate at 150mph, at midnight. Nothing ever goes wrong with them. Kawasaki offered cheap, warranty extensions, so it would not be uncommon to find a 2010 model, still covered under a full warranty from Kawi.

Bad part? The 08 and 09 have heat issues when its over 90 degrees. A bike that is designed to cruise at 130 never was never tested much in stop-n-go traffic. The bike does just fine, but the engine throws a lot heat onto your lower legs....above 90 degrees, at slow speeds. The stock seat is garbage. Thats almost expected from a company like kawasaki. Way more concerned with an extra 5hp than your comfort.

Also, low rpm power is seriously restricted in stock form. This bike does well with removing the secondary butterflies and adding a pcv. I think doing this adds 30hp at 300 rpm's..something crazy like that, anyway.

The bike is overkill in an area where archaic speed limits exist...Like all of the usa. The bike comes into its element at aroudn 110mph....the suspension starts to work, the wind protection, etc.

If you get one, be sure and drain a tank of fuel in 20 minutes. You'll see what it was meant for. Its th e most awesoem experience ever...well, nto to a pilot, but for us mortals. 20 minutes has gone by and you are facing a fuel light, and your 54 miles from when you were , 20 minutes ago.

With the shaft drive.....gearing changes are all but impossible.

Also, the low end grunt has been programmed out of it. To get around it, easily, you remove the secondary butterflies and add a power commander.

If you dont go with a full exhaust, you wont get the gain, up top, but the bottom end comes alive. Its really all you want. Even in stock form, its plenty. Its what you get when you try to turn this high horsepower, quick reving zx14 motor into something for touring. You can only do so much, but in ways, its whats so charming about the bike and gives it personality. Still, very rideable in stock form. You just want 1400cc's to feel like it. If you ever get the chance to really let it do its thing, look out.

The shaft drive, by the way, is awesome. You feel zero effects from having it. If they had this shaft drive design, back in the 80's, all bikes would be shaft drive. You can change its oil in about five minutes.

The heat issue is very real, but workable. Its not enough to make me not like the bike, and if your at 75, or 80 ambient, you'll never notice it.

I rode mine around in St George Utah. It was 106 out, and I got by. I'd much rather deal with some heat as to have my brakes linked.

If you go nuts, and do a full exhaust, its worth 36 hp up top....

rcannon409 said:

Why choose this bike vs Hondas 1300 or an fjr? Both of those are great bikes too....

So, why this one? Thats easy..the 6th gear.

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The others match the comfort, and have plenty of power, but that OD 6th gear is worth having, and the others dont have it.

Click to expand...

Having ridden an FJR1300 for many many miles, I do have some bias in that direction. However, I have ridden and do recognize that the C14 has become a fine machine that is just different enough from the FJR to warrant an honest discussion of each bike's relative merits.

The FJR1300 never needed a sixth gear. C14's sixth (1.074) is shorter than FJR's fifth (.929) although the final drive ratio will add another factor. Adding a gear and shortening the distance between them doesn't make sense on the FJR, it has plenty of torque to use it's five gears well. It would space the gears too close together, which is something I don't like about our N1K. On the other hand, the C14's higher revlimit and increased high-RPM power definitely benefits from the 6th gear. Stock, the C14 makes more power than the FJR, and can easily be modded to make even more. There are no simple mod's that will boost the FJR's power to that extent (but you need a PC to mitigate the off-idle "lurch"). Nevertheless, the FJR never feels weak; even during spirited riding it was seldom necessary to wring it's neck.

In other words, it isn't the availability of 6th that makes the biggest difference between the FJR and C14, but rather the way the engine makes power and being mated to an effective transmission ... for that engine.

FjR brakes are fantastic. Based on older R1 tech, they are linked, but minimally so. I wish my N1K had brakes as good as the FJR (and I'm hoping better pads this spring will give me some of that).

For 2-up riding, an argument can be made that an abundance of low-end torque and wider spaced gears will be more comfortable for the passenger than frequently shifting and getting the engine RPMs up. I'm assuming that you're not going to be pushing the bike to it's limits when you have a passenger.

Another consideration is passenger accommodations. The C14 has a taller rear seat than the FJR. I would expect this to affect comfort levels, exposure to buffeting, and distance to the footpegs. As you're considering this for 2-up riding, the passenger's comfort is likely going to be a significant factor.

And finally ... I hear that checking the valves on the C14 is a PITA. The panels are difficult to R/R and there isn't much space in the engine bay to do much work.

As for the ST1300 ... while I have a soft spot for the V4, the rest of the bike isn't competitive.

EDIT: for clarity.

The way the gearing ends up, all said and done, on the road is at 80, the c14 will be turning about 500 rpm's less than the fjr. At 80, the fjr will be turning right at 4000 rpm, the c14 3500. Not a major deal. Well, anyone who added a tooth to the front of the Ninja will get some idea of what even 300 rpm's feels like. For gearing, give me more. I'll take 7 if they offer it.

Still, it snto as if that tall 6th gives massive mielage increases. Its just a very relaxed feel.

This class, overall. Its not based on whats needed. We've already left "whats needed" behind 5000.00 dollars and 200 pounds ago. As BMWs incredible bikes show, its not about "what I want". By the way, bmw's 1600 is THE bike in this class. Is it in the class being so much more expensive? Maybe not.

I found the fjr to be a very nice motorcycle, and a great option. In my area they never show up for sale, used. The c14's are always available.

Dont worry much about the seat. The c14 seat has to be developed by the guys who did our Ninja seats. I dont know if it sucks, but its not any good at all. Sargent is a nice option, and not that expensive. When you get a comfort improvement from switching to a zx14 seat, soemthing went wrong.

You could easily use a c14's transmission with gears 1-5. 6th gear is for the occasion when your at 80mph and have 100 miles to cover. You drop a gear to pass. It gets back to the original use of the motor. Truth be told, the bike is faster in 4-5th gear than it is in 6th. Even modified, it wont take 6th to the redline...or 5th, at my elevation.

Its not a perfect motorcycle. It has some serious personality flaws and I'd never consider one at 15,000....or 10,000. Honest, the bikes here are huge. For me, give me a Ninja 100 and soft bags.

But, when you factor a passenger in who likes to take stuff with her. Its way too high strung to be a touring bike, which makes it fun.

If we argue, its splitting hairs, and definitely in fun. That new fjr, with active suspension, is very cool. Kawasakis 2015 c14 with candy green paint....man, that would match my ninja....

Valve adjustment? I know it takes about 1.5 hours just to find the motor. Its in there, somewhere.

I'm lucky in that my dealer went into mine at 3000 miles to replace a defective o ring.....Actually, thats a great bargaining point. Many of them have a tiny oil weeping thing right above the header to cyl connection. Its not bad enough to fix, but I was within warranty. It wont amount to even 1 drop between oil changes.Take a flashling, find that weeping, then ask for a discount.