By Admin
In our conclusion to Cam Vanderhorst’s visit, he claims to go “FULL LIBERTARIAN” over the Kymco K-pipe recall (although he doesn’t, really—you never go full libertarian). We wade ankle-deep into the world of cyclecars for a bit, then veer into Suzuki cars and why they didn’t make it in the U.S., and finally offer our opinions on which of the Japanese manufacturers is the least reliable. Somehow, we end up talking about the sounds sea mammals make.
NOTE: I’ve checked iTunes “explicit” flag for this episode just to be on the safe side, but I believe we’re free of F-bombs this week. And don’t worry, there are no random sound clips this week.
False Neutral – Twin Cams, Part 2
Except where noted in the captions, images are standard press kit/website photos used courtesy of the respective manufacturers.
(photo from Blackjack.com, owner Kurt Vogt)
(from breizhell31.canalblog.com)
(from fim-live.com)
Jeff Glucker 
William Byrd
Skating Away on the thin Ice of a new day.
I had a GS850G for a while. The Flying Couch we called it (I knew the 2 previous owners.) Alleged to have one of the most comfortable factory seats ever made. We fit three people and a pair of crutches on that seat and tooled around Burning Man. I wouldn’t turn another one down if I had the chance.
They are very good handling bikes despite their size and drivetrain, and very sure footed. I smoked the apexes all the way up to the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton on the GS850G even two-up.
Frikkin’ Suzuki always has one failure prone part on their bikes that they won’t let the aftermarket produce. On the GS series it was the intake boots, engine side. I replaced them bi-annually, all four, tithing to Lord Suzuki a tidy sum each time.
I didn’t know that about the carb boots on that bike specifically, but I can’t say it surprises me.
Intake boots that needed pricy replacement every two years?! I’d have been looking at duct tape, witchcraft, and just about anything else to avoid having to pull a bank of 4 carbs that often. My GS550 was 15 years old when I bought it, and the minor cracking those boots had (also unavailable via the aftermarket) was solved with RTV of some sort.
Also an exceptionally comfortable – dead flat – seat.
Right? The GS series was awesome, warts and all.
The K-pipe shift sequence is Neutral Down, 5 Up, right? It seems like the kind of thing that could be dealt with easily enough, except in panic situations where you need to get away quickly. Not the most common thing, but I thought the idea behind having neutral between 1rst and 2nd was so you just keep kicking until you end up in first, making it easy to find a gear in a hurry. I admit I’m a little more comfortable with Big Government, but that seems like pretty good reason for a recall.
No, it’s neutral at the top, 5 down. Backwards from the mandated pattern.
Okay, so that sounds even worse. So, in a panic, you have to keep kicking up til you hit neutral, and then kick back down?