New Kawi Cowboy

[Süsser Tod]

I have a VN900 and I kinda hate it.

The quality of the paint is questionable at best. I haven't seen a bike with more rust issues than the VN900 (not even my old Kawa ER-5, that was known to be prone to rusting, rusted as much as the Vulcan). Then we have the fact that almost everything on it is plastic, on the VN900 the only painted body part that is metal is the tank, the plastichrome is strong on it too, only the exhaust, handlebars and right engine cover is metal, everything else is plastichrome (left engine cover, gauges, head covers, air filter, etc). Then we have the issues that are due to the fact that it is a cruiser, like the riding position, that keeps your spine straight and perfectly positioned to take a beating, the seat also sucks, and because you are sitting upright, with your arms extended, when you ride it past 50mph you feel like a sail, and the wind pushes you back strongly.

I like the engine, that is why I chose the VN900 over a VStar 1100 or a Suzuki M50, it's a gem. Narrow angle V-Twin with a counterbalancer, SOHC heads with 4 valves, belt drive, etc. Sounds quite similar to a Harley, but not quite, as no HD will ever run that smoothly. The engine revs smoothly up to redline, a bit of vibration in the upper rev range, the powerband is linear and never surprising, and while it doesn't make a lot of hp (only 48hp), torque is abundant everywhere in the rev range. The engine isn't that big either, it's the fake cooling fins and the plastichrome over it that makes it look big, but if you were to remove that, I'd love a standard bike with that engine, it would make for a really nice powerplant for a real world bike.

I got it because I thought it would be a good bike for touring, wich I've found it isn't. Also I had never owned a real cruiser, only two Chinese 150 and 250cc cruisers, so I thought I had to give cruisers a chance. And I've come to the conclusion that... Cruisers are not my thing. If they were I would look into a Mustang seat ($400), a windshield (maybe $200) and a rear Progressive Suspension shock ($420).... oh, and maybe fix the rust.

I have advertised it everywhere for the last week, and I haven't got a single call... Should have bought a Harley, at least those sell quickly, but it seems that metric cruisers have very poor resale values, only made worse by the fact that no one wants them (I've seen that many people, like me, have found that painted plastic and plastichrome only looks good, but unlike me, they do like cruisers, so they end up replacing their metric cruisers with Harleys).

[Süsser Tod]

Proof of rust. This is the first rust spot I found on the bike, the paint on the frame was bubbling up, I just scratched it and put it a bit of paint in there:



Then, while I was changing the oil, I was on the right side of the bike removing the drain plug, and saw rust on the frame, around the radiator. I scraped it all with a wire brush and had at it with a rattle can as a temporary fix. On the picture you can also see that the radiator guard also has rust on it:



Then as I was on the left side of the bike filling it up with oil, I saw rust under the steering head and the engine support... And I didn't bothered to try to do anything about it... I kinda realized at that point that the bike has to be stripped down to the bare frame...





There is also another rust spot where the ignition key is. I thought that the rust on the vertical frame tube was due to the PO's key chain (I still think it was the keychain that scraped off the paint), but... that doesn't explain the rust BEHIND it, nor the fact that I also fixed a rust spot on the exact same place, on the other side of the frame:



And well, since I'm posting pictures about rust... Why is there rust UNDER the lower triple tree? There is little rust on the upper side, where water is trapped, but how the heck does it rust under it?




And I know Lauren will hate me, she even tried to blame me for an overtightened/seized bolt inside the head of my ER-5 (which also had pitting on the cams... and it's a known issue on Kawasakis since the 80s). So I guess I'll get blamed on the rust issues of my bike for actually riding it? Yet none of my other bikes, Hondas, Yamahas and 1 Suzuki (won't bring the Chinese ones into the talk, as those may have been painted with toxic lead paint, which is harder and more durable) have had similar rust issues.

I just can't wrap my head aroudn the idea of stripping down a 4 year old bike to have the frame rust fixed and completely repainted. If we were talking about a vintage bike, maybe, but a 4 year old bike?