Greetings everybody!
Just wanted to introduce myself. I have been a longtime “lurker” to the excellent COG website but now I wanted to repay the website for all the great advice and tips offered by the forum and COG members by becoming “official”. I’m in the NE region and my member # is 13145. I look at the membership fee as being a bargain given all the great information available to Connie riders and now all motorcyclists.
I’m 65 now but got my start in motorcycling in the early Seventies when my dear father bought me a yellow 90cc (2 stroke with kickstart!) street Kawasaki which I believed was called a Samurai (?). Needless to say, it had a tough time keeping up with traffic so I kept to the back roads. It was a good introduction to motorcycling but college came and the bike was sold. But I was bitten by the “bug” and I always had in the back of my mind to get back “in the saddle”.
Fast forward to 1987 and I heard about a new sport tourer introduced by Kawasaki. I then went to a local dealer and saw a silver Connie. I thought “wow” and it must have been love at first sight! Someday I would own one I promised myself.
The time had come and in 2003 went to a dealer and they had a new leftover 2002 model (silver!) which was promptly purchased and I have her to this day. This was a big jump from a 90cc to almost 1000cc but I took it easy and I no longer have trouble keeping up with traffic ; ) Life responsibilities did intercede, however, and I haven’t been able to put many miles on her with only 17.8k miles on the odometer. I have just retired and hope to put more miles on the odo and maybe do a COG ride.
I believe part of the fun of motorcycling is doing your own maintenance. I became a fairly good mechanic when my parents gave me a new Fiat as my first car when I wanted a used “muscle car”. I therefore spent probably every weekend during my late teens trying to keep that Fiat running. I personally understand why they say Fiat stands for “Fix It Again Tony”. So I bought the Kawasaki shop manual and the Clymer manual and have done all maintenance / troubleshooting since 2003. COG members have also been a great help. So I hope to add my 2 cents into maintenance and repair issues.
Ride safe everyone!
Dennis
Just wanted to introduce myself. I have been a longtime “lurker” to the excellent COG website but now I wanted to repay the website for all the great advice and tips offered by the forum and COG members by becoming “official”. I’m in the NE region and my member # is 13145. I look at the membership fee as being a bargain given all the great information available to Connie riders and now all motorcyclists.
I’m 65 now but got my start in motorcycling in the early Seventies when my dear father bought me a yellow 90cc (2 stroke with kickstart!) street Kawasaki which I believed was called a Samurai (?). Needless to say, it had a tough time keeping up with traffic so I kept to the back roads. It was a good introduction to motorcycling but college came and the bike was sold. But I was bitten by the “bug” and I always had in the back of my mind to get back “in the saddle”.
Fast forward to 1987 and I heard about a new sport tourer introduced by Kawasaki. I then went to a local dealer and saw a silver Connie. I thought “wow” and it must have been love at first sight! Someday I would own one I promised myself.
The time had come and in 2003 went to a dealer and they had a new leftover 2002 model (silver!) which was promptly purchased and I have her to this day. This was a big jump from a 90cc to almost 1000cc but I took it easy and I no longer have trouble keeping up with traffic ; ) Life responsibilities did intercede, however, and I haven’t been able to put many miles on her with only 17.8k miles on the odometer. I have just retired and hope to put more miles on the odo and maybe do a COG ride.
I believe part of the fun of motorcycling is doing your own maintenance. I became a fairly good mechanic when my parents gave me a new Fiat as my first car when I wanted a used “muscle car”. I therefore spent probably every weekend during my late teens trying to keep that Fiat running. I personally understand why they say Fiat stands for “Fix It Again Tony”. So I bought the Kawasaki shop manual and the Clymer manual and have done all maintenance / troubleshooting since 2003. COG members have also been a great help. So I hope to add my 2 cents into maintenance and repair issues.
Ride safe everyone!
Dennis
