Welcome Brad-Man. You might just have stumbled upon one of the best places in the known galaxy to gather info about the Mighty K.
Once you own one you'll know: they can bake your legs into Southern-fried chicken drumsticks on hot days, tingle with high-frequency, cheap motel room vibes at speed, but especially right where you wish to ride, stop sluggishly with archaic two-piston Brembos more akin to a '70s machine than an '80s/90s, shifting gears is done with more of a solid clunk than as with a hot knife through melting butter, the seat might leave your backside feeling as though it's been ironed on a kiln-dried two-by-four, the electrical gremlins will have you believing in the occult, the sedate throttle response will make you wonder if that four 'zylinder' motor hasn't lost a little 'zyl' to live, with an exhaust note like an electric cricket playing a flute, or a mouse that has terminal flatulation, the wooden suspension will rattle your dental work and force you to be even more determined to get it to turn the way you intended, like an oarman's firm hand on the tiller of an overloaded barge, the motor's whine will have you scratching your chin in wonder at where exactly someone left the kitchen blender on, and the classically dated styling might have you stripping it down for that rather more basic café racer look so prevalent these days. Don't forget the rattle can of flat black paint.
However, if you do succumb to the sweet seduction of the non-too svelte machine, as we lot have, you will be heartily rewarded with a motorbike that tracks as straight as an arrow and which deftly responds to your slightest corrective input (OK, more like a gentle shove), a motor that sings to heaven's highs on a cherubic note all its Wagnerian own, a gearbox that selects gears like a well-ordered metal filing cabinet on steroids, a two-wheeled machine that appears cold chiseled from a slab of ancient Teutonic stone, that easily covers highway or backroad miles (or kilometres) with a relaxed and steady, locomotive-like gait, and most importantly, that is as reliable as a fridge, but not nearly as cool. Just the way we like 'em. Step back a metre or two to admire her flanks and she'll get you right where it counts.
Welcome to the fold. This is a great mob of informed K-philes, and a good bunch of top blokes, with a wealth of info at their feet and a willingness to share in order to overcome some of the long-known design deficiencies, love 'em or hate 'em. You may well feel right at home amongst us. I for one will never sell my blessed and Mighty K.
Last edited by Two Wheels Better on Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:56 pm; edited 2 times in total
Looking at owning one... Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:04 pm
