After lusting for so long...

[Red01]

I finally pulled the trigger on a new bike.  A 2010 Kawasaki Concours 14.  I got tired of waiting for Suzuki to build a ST machine with hard bags and a shaft.  After reading of the improvements made to the '10 C14, there was no longer any waffling in my mind between the FJR & C14.  I actually bought it on July 30th, but didn't post anything because I was going on a ride with some guys from the board - some of which no longer own Bandits - and I wanted my new bike to be a surprise.





There would be more pics, but I forgot to bring my camera along on the 6 day trip and just got home last night.

[MattMan]

Holy eff!  That thing is beautiful!  I love the C14.  I wanted the 08/09 model, but after reading all the updates to the 10 I decided I will need to get one asap.  It is a gorgeous bike and I love it in black, very sleek for sure.  What are your thoughts on the bike?  Did the new "econ" mode surprise you with 80 mpg lol.  Hope you enjoy it and congrats on the purchase!

-Matt 

[txbanditrydr]

Congrats on the new mo'sheen - looking real sharp.   

[mademiriam]

congrats on the new ride! was a treat to ride on your journey I'm sure

[Red01]

Holy eff!  That thing is beautiful!  I love the C14.  I wanted the 08/09 model, but after reading all the updates to the 10 I decided I will need to get one asap.  It is a gorgeous bike and I love it in black, very sleek for sure.  What are your thoughts on the bike?  Did the new "econ" mode surprise you with 80 mpg lol.  Hope you enjoy it and congrats on the purchase!

-Matt 

If you still want black (or red), Kawasaki is making killer deals on left-over '09's.  I really liked the red '09, but considering all the upgrades the '10 got, I wanted them more than I wanted red.  The icing on the cake was my dealer had ordered 3 '10 C14's and Kawi sent them 6, so they were selling them (at least the first three) at cost, so I got the bike for $2300 below MSRP.  The blue is nice, and from 20-30 feet away, it looks black.  I'm really loving the bike so far, it's smooth as melted butter. It does like to be revved more than the B12 and the B12 feels like it pulls harder in the 2-3000 rpm range, but if you row the gearbox to keep the VVT in the sweet spot, it will dust the B12. The seat is actually pretty comfortable, but as noted in some tests, it does tend to slide you forward, so I may end up getting it reshaped a bit just to level it out better.  My only other gripe is the angle of the grips is swept back more than I would like and I haven't seen a fix for this yet, but I'm still searching.  There is a machinist on the COG forum that is looking into making a riser that will put the angle a little flatter, if so, he'll be getting some money from me.  The Econ mode is awesome!  I've seen the "Current MPG" display awesome numbers up to its max of 99.9... just like the display will do in my MINI Cooper (you can see my MINI in the background of the key turnover pic above).  What is more impressive is the economy the bike gives in Econ mode when you're running for a whole tank at a constant speed.  Yesterday, I spent most of the day droning across the state coming home from all the fun roads.  Wanting to get home quickly, I took a straighter route with a lot of freeway riding and it returned an average of 48 mpg for two tanks of gas.  That's 8-10 mpg better than the B12 would have done!

It was a lot of fun on the trip, but it did take some getting used to - especially since I've got 9 years and >52K miles experience on the B12.  By the end of the trip I was tossing it's extra 100 or more pounds around pretty good.  There's no chicken strips on the rear tire anymore and I even managed to scrape a toe of my boot on the last day of twisties.

[MattMan]

Oh no, they're not offering the 10 models in black?  I thought yours was black in the picture until you said dark blue!  I might have to wait a model year or two to get a black one lol.

Sounds like you got a sweet deal on the bike.  More money in your pocket is always good.  I think 48 mpg is more than reasonable for a bigger bike with a 1400 cc motor.  Dare I say great?  lol.  How tall are you?  I'm 6' 2" and change, so fit on bikes and having cramped knees bugs me.  Hopefully you can find some sort of mod to fix the bars.  They seem to have a good height, but its unfortunate that they botchhed the angle.

[Red01]

I'm 6', maybe a 1/4" or so shorter as we seem to shrink a little as we get older and I haven't measured my height in years.  The bit about the handlebar angle may be more just me as I've only seem one other C14 owner complain similarly over on the COG board.

[Bobcat]

Does it wheelie?

[Dave 02 1200]

IMHO, motorcycles should fit their riders instead of requiring the rider to fit the motorcycle.

It looks like an opportunity to design some mounts for traditional tubular handlebars.

If the mounts could be bolted to the top triple clamp in place of the OEM "bars", you could easily change handlebar position and taylor the ergonomics to your preference. 

Pretty bike.

[jeffw]

Nice bike, been looking at those myself.   

[Red01]

IMHO, motorcycles should fit their riders instead of requiring the rider to fit the motorcycle.

It looks like an opportunity to design some mounts for traditional tubular handlebars.

If the mounts could be bolted to the top triple clamp in place of the OEM "bars", you could easily change handlebar position and taylor the ergonomics to your preference. 

Pretty bike.

Thanks, and I wholeheartedly agree with your first statement, sadly few bikes offer much, if anything, in that regard.  What I really don't understand is why ALL bikes don't have adjustable ergonomics.  What's the newest car you can think of that doesn't have a fore/aft adjustable seat at a very minimum?

The tubular bar option is already available, and it may end up where I'll go, but I'd rather keep as much of the OE setup as possible as it does a great job of quelling harmonics.

Does it wheelie?

  Probably, but I'm afraid it'll blow the fork seals when it comes back down. 

[Sven]

Well, there ya go....congratulations!  Having just gone through all the reviews (and decided on the FJR rather than the C-14), I know you'll be happy with it.  And I really like that midnight blue color!

[smooth operator]

  Nice bike! And a 6 day trip to break it in,awsome.

[pmackie]

  Congrats on the new ride Red!!! Looks great. 

I'm bummed that I missed this years ride. Even Cargo7 & I haven't got it together for even a long weekend, and I even had to pass on a day ride today...I need to get my priorities straight again.   

How was the 5 day Oregon trip? I was on the site looking for some pics/write ups, but nothing yet.

[Red01]

The trip was great!  There were lots of miles of twisties.  The only downsides were gas stations were few and ones with premium even fewer.

I thought I forgot my camera, only to find it on the morning I headed home stashed in a pocket of one of my bag liners that I thought was empty  so, I didn't take any pics.  I don't think Matt took any pics either.  Mike took a few, but he, Freddy & my son all took off Sunday morning and headed home - missing perhaps the best roads of the trip.  I'll see if I can get him to post 'em.  I was hoping he'd bring his bike cam, but he didn't.

We rode most of the roads highlighted on the Eastern Oregon map (top one) here:
(some of them two or more times)
http://www.comeridewithus.net/About_Us.html
(Ctrl + to make it big enough to read)