Beautiful... With about 45 minutes into the carbs, the bikes running and idling fine. It's time for a ride, but after a quick inspection of all the major systems. Brakes? Check. Lights? Check. Tire Pressure? Add some air, Check... and so on down the list. Good... Everything looks fine. We're ready to ride. It's 10pm already and the Kerker is not a neighbor's best friend so it's fortunate that we don't have many. Snapping the throttle open, the bike revs up pretty well and doesn't hesitate or stumble, with just a little wisp of black smoke coming from the exhaust. Is it black or is it blue? It's dark out and the only "fresh" gas I had kicking around was 2-stroke pre-mix... Maybe it's set up right? "This thing should be a monster," I think to myself. High compression, big bore, high-lift, free flowing old school muscle... Okay, GO already!
The very first thing I notice after throwing a leg of her and maneuvering out of the driveway was how heavy it is. Compared to my 1978 KZ650B, the 1000 is a tank. Actually, it's more comparable to it's GL1200 stable mate than the 650 in the mass department. At somewhere close to 600lbs full of fuel, it's definitely not light, but the long-ish Suzuki GS swing arm exaggerates it's heft in the driveway for sure.
We're riding now... The front tire has taken a set from sitting so long to it's dancing around a bit, but it's more annoying than unsettling. Being a bit unsure about what type of monster I have here I didn't want to unleash the beast on cold tires so I put a few miles on before going WFO. Cruising down the road at 55mph the engine is turning just over 3000rpm and it has decent but not overwhelming power when rolling on the throttle. Unfortunately, this bike, like it's smaller brother KZ650, is a premium fuel only bike. If I open it up too much at low RPM with 87 octane it pings and knocks like a Jamaican metal drum convention during an earthquake. I sure hope premium fuel solves that so I don't have to retard the timing... roll-on power is what this bike is supposed to be all about. Because the pinging is so prevalent, I can't really get a good feel for the KZ's real-world road power. I guess I'll just have to see how it spins out tonight...
The anticipation is killing me: GO WFO! The 7750 redline comes and goes pretty rapidly in 1st gear. Then again in second, and in third. Brakes... Legal again... Okay, yeah, it's faster than the KZ650 and KZ750. But I'm not blown away by it. In fact, to be honest, I'm disappointed with how flat it feels up top. It pulls well, it goes good, but not like I feel it should considering all the work that's been done to it. After a few backroad runs, my best seat of the pants guess would be about 85-90 rear wheel horsepower. Whoopee. Isn't a stocker supposed to be in the 80s? Definitely nothing like a stock Suzuki Bandit 1200 (115-ish rwhp) or even a Buell S1W Lightning(94rwhp). I'm not 100% convinced that I won't have more fun on the nimble little 650 even without the grunt. Is there something wrong with this bike?
Maybe... Did you catch what's up with it? Although I haven't tested my theory yet, there are a few hints in this post and the last one. It has to do with the PO's friend switching over the carbs. And it's not that the pilot jets are too lean... (cue Jeopardy theme)
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