{"id":8604,"date":"2020-05-17T06:09:28","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T13:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=8604"},"modified":"2020-05-17T06:09:28","modified_gmt":"2020-05-17T13:09:28","slug":"zed-miles-of-smiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/05\/17\/zed-miles-of-smiles\/","title":{"rendered":"Zed: Miles of Smiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

During this Covid-19 lockdown I\u2019ve been racking up the miles of Zed. I fill the tank before I leave home and gas up once mid-ride making sure to rinse my hands with gasoline to kill any virus remnants left on the bowser keypad or handle. For those of you who are concerned about my crashing the bike and adding to the overwhelmed medical staff, fear not: I am riding easy like Easy Rider. Also Southern New Mexico is at the very beginning of the infection curve so the hospitals have plenty of room.<\/p>\n

Since the last oil leak was stopped Zed has done 650 miles and she\u2019s dry as a bone. I checked the oil level and it has not dropped. I feel confident that zed\u2019s engine will take me anywhere. It feels like the bike is running a wee bit too rich but my riding area goes from 4500 feet elevation to 9000 feet. The jetting is stock in Zed\u2019s carbs so if I chose to ride only in New Mexico I\u2019d re-jet the thing. As it is I get a fairly steady 40 miles per gallon, mostly highway miles @ 70 to 80 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not going to stay around here. Berk and me are going to ride down to Mexico when this thing is all over. We\u2019re going all the way to the end of the road, man. We\u2019ll pick up Big John on the way. We\u2019ll drink Modelo beer in the evening and eat Mexican food until we burst. Berk has a new 650 Royal Enfield that will get enough miles per gallon for both of us. I\u2019ll bring my syphon hose. Orlando has a Texas Hill Country ride planned and I\u2019d like to get down there. I\u2019ll be interested to see if Zed\u2019s fuel mileage improves at lower levels. I tried the magic gas treatment on Zed but unlike the 10 MPG improvement I see on the fuel-injected Husqvarna the magic sauce doesn\u2019t seem to do anything for the carbureted Z1. Maybe there are just too many carbs.<\/p>\n

Riders today think all bikes handled badly before they came on the scene. The Z1 was reputed to be ill handling, not as bad as the two stroke triples but still deadly. I\u2019m not feeling it. At sane speeds the bike is steady and it corners with a delightful, easy steering. The bike does not show its 500 pounds. Winding it up to 110 MPH reveals no wobbles. Hitting a bump mid-corner induces a tiny wiggle but it\u2019s no worse than other bikes I\u2019ve ridden and quite a lot better than some late-model heavy weights. Maybe modern bias-ply tires are better than they were in the early 1970\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The front brake squeals at slow speed. The aftermarket pucks did not have the threaded hole to screw the thin, anti-vibration shim to. I thought I could get away with leaving it out. Looks like I\u2019ll have to try some of that disc pad backing goop.\u00a0 Or, once all other options are exhausted, get the correct pads.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried to social distance on my rides but in the Carrizozo Park my perimeter was compromised by a scraggly looking dude walking two scraggly dogs. \u201cNice day for a ride!\u2019 he exhaled a dense stream of almost pure Covid 19 virus across the picnic table. I staggered to stay upright, it was a water main gusher. My to-go hamburger was glowing with a faint greenish light. Covid dripped through the expanded metal tabletop peeling the paint from the metal as it went. \u201cYep, It doesn\u2019t get any better\u201d I said scooting farther down the bench. \u201cWhat ya riding? A 200?\u201d the wind was at a better angle now, the covid pooled by the dog with one front paw in a sling, who sniffed at the greenish mass with nothing like enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s a 900cc.\u201d I said. Scraggly squinted at the bike. \u201cThat\u2019s a small bike, 900 you say?\u201d He didn\u2019t believe me and I didn\u2019t want to prove it with a tear down and bore inspection. \u201cI\u2019m a Vietnam vet!\u201d He said. \u201cI\u2019m crazy but it\u2019s not my fault.\u201d He had one bad eye and used it to glare at me. \u201cIt\u2019s the stuff they made me do, and now the VA won\u2019t help me!\u201d I said I thought the VA was supposed to be getting more money. He laughed; a chunk of grey, spongy lung flew out of his mouth. \u201cThat\u2019s all a lie! That money is going in their pockets.\u201d He stuck his right hand in his pocket for emphasis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis town sucks, there\u2019s no prostitutes!\u201d he shouted. I looked around and had to agree that this section of town did not have any working the street. \u201cI hate it here. I\u2019d like to go back to Vietnam and kill people!\u201d I was beginning to suspect Scraggly might really be crazy. I quickly ate my burger and stood up. I told Scraggly, \u201cWell, I\u2019ve got to hit the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, I\u2019m leaving in 28 days, going to Georgia.\u201d We shook hands; at that point I was already covered in Covid. Back at the bike, I stuck a paper towel inside Zed\u2019s gas tank and used the cool gasoline to wash my hands and face. Then I cleaned my arms and then lit a match and set the whole shebang on fire.<\/p>\n

The brakes on the Z1 are not awe-inspiring. It takes 4 fingers to get the front tire to break traction. The rear is pretty good but who uses rear brakes? The front suspension clatters as it tops out over bumps but after a few cycles they quiet down. The back shocks are original and I assume 45 years old but they keep the tire from hitting the fender and that\u2019s all I can ask from shock absorbers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Me and my riding buddy Mike took a long, 280 mile ride. The Z1 ran perfectly. Mike was on his Fatboy Harley. The Zed hits reserve kind of early. Like 100-110 miles. I still have a lot of gas so I may shorten the pick up tube a bit. I don\u2019t like drawing from the bottom of the tank if I don\u2019t have to. The 104 cubic-inch Harley gets 50 miles to a gallon! Zed is a thirsty beast.<\/p>\n

Next up is an oil and filter change on Zed as soon as my oil arrives from Amazon. I\u2019ll be checking the spooge closely for any odd bits of metal. That is, assuming I\u2019m not on a ventilator by then.<\/p>\n

\n

Read the story of Zed’s resurrection here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During this Covid-19 lockdown I\u2019ve been racking up the miles of Zed. I fill the tank before I leave home and gas up once mid-ride making sure to rinse my hands with gasoline to kill any virus remnants left on the bowser keypad or handle. For those of you who are concerned about my crashing … Continue reading “Zed: Miles of Smiles”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1080,1053,38],"class_list":["post-8604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-joe-gresh","tag-covid-19","tag-kawasaki-z1-900","tag-new-mexico"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8604"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8633,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8604\/revisions\/8633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}