Why I Sold My Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- My fist motorcycle was a Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD, and while it was a great bike, I decided to sell it to buy the Vulcan S 650. This video is about why I sold the Vulcan 500 and why I bought the Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD in the first place.
Funny thing I finally found my deal on EN450 Kawasaki, that I had always wanted, with awesome belt drive. I just drove 1,000 km back and forth to Great Falls Montana! Had been parked from 2010 to 2024. I drained the tank and carburetors of old gas, replaced with new, started easily. It also changed the coolant. It was parked with new oil which still looks good, so why change? Brakes work with no issues, fluid looks clean, plus it has plenty of compression anyway -- I don't find myself using the brakes all that much to be honest. Forks & seals good, cleaned up the chrome with NevRDull and put on some fork gaiters with a good wipe of grease inside.
Previously (many years ago) I started with CB750, moved "up" to CBR600, Bandit 1200, and the pinnacle: YSR80. Same thing with my Kawasaki, had to correct lots of nicks and scratches due to it being somebody's "learner" bike.
"Sticking valve," what?! What valve do you think was sticking? There is no such thing as a "sticking valve," which I think you imagine is in the cylinder head: those valves either "break" or they "work," and there's no in-between.
What you -probably- possibly had was a weak ignition coil or ignition control module, or loose/frayed wire, or something like that. No big deal to diagnose & fix.
(An issue that self-corrects when it warms up seems more like one carburetor had an issue with its idle circuit, and that might be fixed as easily as mixing some carb cleaner product into the gas tank.)
I love my Vulcan 500. I only bought it because it was basically free. Now I really really love it.
Oh yours was only running one, I was confused for a second. They'll easily easily get to highway speed.
The valve would stick intermittently so it would sometimes run on both cylinders and sometimes only on one. I would have fixed it but I didn't have a good place to take the engine apart.
@@themotorcyclegene I normally am working on my stuff over grass or dirt. Very annoying and easy to loose stuff. Eventually I'll learn how to adjust my values. Probably before my bike hits 20k. At like 12 now.
Sold my VN750 for the Vulcan S. That siamese carb was hell to work on. I miss the look and feel of the bike but after 10 years it was time for someone else to use her as their first bike. Like you, I'm not a mechanic, enjoy riding more than working on it, and the old bike got to be a little too far out of my wheelhouse.
The S has similar dimensions and a little more power. It feels familiar in a good way and different in better ways.
Eric, thanks for taking the time to watch and reply. At first I missed the Vulcan 500, but after riding the Vulcan S for a while it would feel slow and I am not sure if I would still like it, but then again, I may still enjoy riding it. Do you still ride the Vulcan S?
@@themotorcyclegene You're welcome. Yeah I still ride the S. Had her for almost a year, put almost 4k miles on it and I like it....I just don't exactly love it yet. It's weird. Still wanting that Vtwin sound and low end grunt the 750 had. I don't miss the "are you gonna start today routine" so for now the S is a breathe of fresh air.
May have to get a bigger bike in another year or so to kind of fill in that niche. Been swaying towards the Indian FTR or Scout Twenty. Both offer a lot of good looks and power for a fair price.
I heard the 750 is awesome performing bike but it’s a pain to own due to certain issues? Any advice on looking at one?
@@charleswilson4526 Yes the VN750 was under-rated by Kawasaki. The HP and Torque they stated was always 10 to 15% under what you could get out the bike. A total blast of a motorcycle. Loved going head to head against cruisers twice it's size.
The kickstand sensor went bad, the siamese carb is a real beast to tear down when it gets gunked with new types of gas (Seafoam will become your new friend) and the gauge cluster started to get moisture intrusion from riding in the rain all the time.
If you don't mind having to tinker with the bike they're great. Factory parts on Bike Bandit are cheap, easy to find because of how the site is laid out and readily available because that model was made for over 20 years. The VN750 forum is chock full of dedicated and extremely knowledgeable owners. Find one for under 3k with moderate mileage and go for it.
@@LordMcKrakenVonLittleBits I’ve always dug how they looked (same with the viragos and intruders of that time) but I’m not very mechanically inclined. However, I did own a Vulcan 800 and never had to touch it except for the chain and sprocket which I hated because of the maintenance
I paid $1800 for my 07 vn500 and thought that was a good deal. I also started on a vn1500 then downsized to the vn750 which I’d pulled staters 5x from, and this is my favorite one. I am concerned about longevity tho and reluctant to drive it over 6 hours from home fortunately it fits easy in my e150.
I kind of wish I had kept the VN 500 LTD just to ride around town, but I would't have taken it on a ling trip. I have an Indian roadmaster now and I don't worry at all about taking it on long trips, but I don't always want to ride a 1000 pound bike to work or to the store and think it would be nice to have a smaller bike just to ride around town.
Yeah, ME TOO. Those scratches are from the previous owner of the bike. Uh huh.
It was a learner bike for someone before i bought it. They dropped it a couple of times. Honestly I wish I had kept the bike.