Kawasaki’s Mighty Sport Tourer

Back in 1998-99, things were going really well. I was living in the Boston area of Sherborn, Massachusetts, and had just turned 40. My business was really strong- we had been named to the Inc 500 list for the second year in a row, and my company car was a new BMW 7 series with the first built-in GPS system I had ever seen in an automobile. I had amassed a nice little collection of motorcycles, maybe a dozen or so older ones, and decided it was time to get something my then-wife and I could take on real road trips.

While my buddy Carleton Andersen owned our local Yamaha dealership, Andersen Cycleworks in Framingham, and was my first go-to for new bikes at that time, Yamaha didn’t really make anything that appealed to me back then. They had a big Royal Star V4 cruiser, the XVZ 1300, but it just didn’t get me the least bit excited. It was big and bloated, and I never liked Japanese “pseudo Harleys” of any type, especially then. Even Carl, who probably had 40 or 50 running bikes himself at that time, rode a hopped-up V-twin full dresser Harley on his road trips (his 5 ft tall 100 lb wife rode a V-Max)!

I always liked sport bikes and my then-wife, Sue, loved going fast on back, so I started checking out what was available from other companies. Back then, we got most of our information from magazines and other riders. The Hinckley Triumphs were giving that marquee a real comeback and they had a couple sport tourers, the Trophy 900 and Trophy 1200, that I got real interested in. So we went over the Framingham Triumph/Kawasaki dealership to check them out. Both were beautiful bikes, and the 1200 especially appealed to me. But if I recall, they sold for about $12,500 at that point and I had never spent that much on a motorcycle.

A Kawasaki Concours magazine ad from the time.

While there, I also happened to see a brand new, gleaming fire engine red Kawasaki ZG 1000- the Concours- sitting on the showroom floor right next to the Triumphs. I had been a Kawasaki man since my first G4TR “Trail Boss” I got as a kid and had probably already owned at least 20 more Kawasaki street bikes by then, mostly 3 cylinder two-strokes. And they had a reputation for being fast. The Concours was based on a 1000cc Ninja, which I knew was fast, but the Concours had a shaft drive, which appealed to me for distance riding. It also had a 7+ gallon fuel tank and detachable hard “briefcase” bags that looked like they should be on a BMW airhead, with an optional dealer-installed trunk bag as well. And it was only $8800 brand new. The decision wasn’t difficult. I put the beautiful Hinckley sport tourers right out of my mind, and wrote a check for the Kawa Concours.

The big de-tuned Ninja-based Concours four had gobs of torque and horsepower, and did prove to be plenty fast. Shortly after getting it and putting a thousand or so break-in miles on by summer, Sue and I decided to take a trip. With no planned places to stay, two new full coverage helmets, new armored perforated black leather riding jackets (still own mine today) and a couple rain suits (neatly packed in our top mount rear box) we took off on a two week trip to Prince Edward Island. We first rode north from Boston to Bar Harbor, Maine, and did the whole drive around Acadia National Park while there. A day or two later, we got on the high speed ferry from Bar Harbor to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We then rode the Evangeline Trail up the west coast of Nova Scotia, highlighted by a stay in Digby, famous for it’s scallops. We rented a room above a gift shop there by a dock where the scallop boats unloaded their hauls. They had a deck out back that would seat about 50 people where they cooked up the scallops and served them with lots of cold beer. Most of the customers were motorcyclists. We enjoyed a memorable evening talking with the other riders and getting information on where we were heading from those who had already been there.

One of the few photos I could find of the Concours. Wish I’d taken more shots of it.

We rode north from there to Prince Edward Island, crossing a metal 8-mile bridge with mesh roadway that was pretty scary. One thing I never liked about the Concours was the front tire that felt too narrow and made it feel tippy at low speed. Let’s just say that 8-mile ride, two-up with a loaded bike on slippery metal that we could see the water through, wasn’t real fun for me!

Otherwise, it was an awesome trip. After some days on Prince Edward Island- which has amazing unspoiled beaches and feels like you are somewhere in coastal England or France- we took the long way home through New Brunswick and then Maine. The roads up there are beautiful in the summer. Half the vehicles are motorcycles and there are no police anywhere. We rode over an hour at a time at speeds of 100-120 mph with no issue. Eventually we got to Maine and it was raining all day. By 2pm we stopped at a cafe way up north in a small town. Everyone in there was a biker, all of them on Harleys. Being as we were on a Japanese bike, they didn’t even speak to us for the two hours we were in there until the rain let up and it was time to roll. They turned out to be a bunch of accountants from Pittsburg with fake pony tails attached to HD “do-rags” and fingerless gloves. We discussed the great riding up north, and one fellow told me he had never had his big twin over 70 mph…. I won’t tell you what I was thinking!

A photo Sue snapped of me while out on our road trip.

In the years that followed, we took a number of other trips on that Concours. What a great bike it turned out to be. It was fast and comfortable two-up and required almost no maintenance. My bikes always ran good because I rode all year round and ran the piss out of them. This one was no exception. In five years of ownership, I don’t recall doing much maintenance other than replacing its tires and doing oil changes. It probably had its original plugs when I sold it.

I did have one minor accident on the bike. One night, Sue and I decided to ride to dinner in downtown Boston. Dressed in slacks and a sport coat, we took off from our home which was in a surprisingly rural area for being only 16 miles from Boston Harbor. Not far from our house, I decided to pass a truck hauling a hay trailer that was poking along about 20 mph on a two-lane road. Just as I started to go around him, he decided to turn left. I locked up the big Kaw and had it stopped but the trailer caught the front wheel of the bike as he turned left and tipped us over. Sue and I were both fine, but my male pride was hurt, and I damaged what proved later to be about $1800 worth of plastic. But the bike was fine otherwise. So we rode back home, quickly changed our now dirty jackets and headed back to the restaurant.

During dinner at our favorite little Italian place in the North End, I felt hot and took my jacket off. To my surprise, my left shoulder was injured and had bled through my shirt leaving a 6 inch diameter blood soaked patch. It looked like I had been shot. I quickly put my jacket back on and we finished the rest of our dinner!

And that concludes my tale of the big red Kawasaki Concours!

*Top photo from a Kawasaki service manual of the time.