1990 Concours, Just Purchased Now

I have seen where there is a possible fixer bike. I would just like some input, some of you guys have them or know about them. I saw one of the forums and looked around a bit. Definitely not KZR, but some info there.
Anyway its the 1000 model, and needs some TLC. Just considering a long drive with the truck to look and possibly retrieve for the right price.
Sport Touring opinions, handling, reliability, comfort, power, fuel economy, etc.

They are the entry level for sport touring bikes. I had several of them through my shop. Pain in the butt to change the rear tire, gotta pull the right? exhaust IIRC to do it. Lots and lot of them, parts are pretty much everywhere. There are some issues with them, the Connie site lists the main ones IIRC.

If it was cheap and me, I would snatch it. Not bad bikes for the right price.

I personally have no experience, but my wife's cousin has an old 1000cc Connie, and he loves it.

Thanks for all the input guy's. I just have been doing some further reading on the Connie Forum. Looks like a lot of Hydro-loc problems, some over heating issues, and buzzing vibration. All of that can be over come. Most of the guy's seem to like them, but of course it's all on what you're looking for in a bike.
But I'm sure I can get it for under $1K, so I might have to go look, as it sounds like a decent bike that needs TLC, not running at the moment, partially disassembled, not quite a "Basket Case".
I'm thinking fix ride flip, unless I really like it. It won't be long and the weather will change where there won't be much riding, and very hard to re-sell till spring. So it would be Mine till then anyway.

My '92 Concours had well over 60k miles on it when I finally sold it, and I spent some time on a '97 as well. I'm 6'3" and about 220lb. I found both to be very comfortable for 300 - 500 miles per day. I road a 600 miler that left my bum a bit tired. Never had vibration problems, but some folks claim to. Only one mechanical problem ever - an alternator failure, which may have been caused by a short in the battery, mechanic could not tell which came first.
The Concours was cutting edge when it came out, but as Kawi so often does, there were dang few changes along the way. Removing the rear wheel did not seem at all difficult to me. Yes, the right muffler must come off, but if you put some silver anti-sieze on the connection between the muffler and mid-pipe, removal is a piece of pie. Two bolts and she's off.
Al in all, I found it to be a very reliable and fun to ride bike. Yes it is rather unsophisticated compared to the current crop of sport touring mounts, but taken on its own terms, it is a pretty dang good ride. Oh, did I mention that I once got 52 mpg? Low 40s was more typical and high 30s when gettin serious.

I never had one either but they were made for many years, i believe from 1986-2004 virtually unchanged! So almost all of the parts are interchangeable. I have a ZL1000 that basically shares the same motor. Major differences between the Zl and Connie motors were the trans gears and carbs.

I bought a new one back in 1990. Never did like it. Really hard to work on, lots of heat on warm days, the stock seat was a pain in the rear. Everything I tried to take apart was like it was working against me. Fit and finish of the bodywork was pretty poor. I was going to use it to replace my 79 KZ1000 that had 70,000 miles on it, but I liked the KZ1000 much better so only kept the concours for 1000 miles.

Thanks again guy's, as I trust your reviews.
Well went up north to look, they advertised $900 OBO. Well I never even made an offer, and it still followed me home. $260, they wanted it gone. If anyone is interested at all I'll post up a few pic's. She needs some work, but clear in state title and looks all there. WTF? Had to. :woohoo:
Here is the Spec's and a write up I found: www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/kawasaki..._zg1000_concours.htm
That makes the Connie sound pretty good.


I found and downloaded a pdf factory manual, so that's done.
Do you guy's have any good links for parts for the Connie? As I'll be needing some, I've seen a bunch on Feebay. But since Z1 doesn't list it, although some parts would be the same as maybe the ZN, is there a good supplier for the Connie?

Edit: Z1 is getting the majority of parts for me through "Special Request" Gotta love Z1, got there sticker on the trunk of my K2. Been across to the west coast twice with it on there!

I would say that is a good deal! Pics?

I looked at the link to the specs. The bike weighs 270 kg. That equals 595 pounds. You paid $260. So you paid less than $0.44 per pound. You can't buy chicken feet that cheap, so there's no way you can go wrong on that deal. Congrats! Ed

260 bucks- can't beat that!

Me and Connie are getting better acquainted at the moment. Valve adjust, replace O-rings on Coolant neck, see if the battery will take a charge, less than a year old AGM. All these years and I finally need a 12mm plug adapter for my test gear, have to go to the store for that, then comp and leak down will be done. Looks like air filter foam completely disintegrated, box to Air horn rubbers shot, every piece of plastic on the bike is broken somewhere. Fork seals leaking, and this year no drain screws, rear shock needs rebuild, and so on. Like I said Lots of TLC. Price well, they basically saw I would fix it up and tried to give it to me. I'll post a few pictures of the wounds later.
Edit: Found the fork drain screws, that will teach me to type what someone else typed before actually looking! :ohmy: