As I worked through the front end on the substantial Concours I found example after example of Kawasaki's overly engineered approach to the bike which has piled on the weight, but you can't fault their work, nor the design. While the C14 is an incredibly complicated thing, it's also a beautiful example of Kawasaki Heavy Industries industrial design.
The circular white thing in the photo on the left is the windshield motor. The C14 has an electric windshield that raises and lowers at the push of a button. This one isn't working but the mechanical parts of it seem ok so now I'm chasing wiring in a bike that makes a 747 look simple.
On the right is the battery holder. Any other bike I've owned makes do with a simple plastic open ended box, but not the Connie. It gets an interlocking two piece battery holder with built in wiring harness. The presses that turn these things our are something special!
These are all the gubbins the owner before me had wired into the bike. He had that massive horn hanging off the back and the GPS system was wired into the front and installed on the handlebar.
With the bike having electrical issues, I'm putting it back to stock before I start thinking about adding in the extras again.
While I was in at the battery I cleaned up all the connectors, some of which were quite rusty. It's things like that which will trip up electric windshields.
One of the advantages of fairings is that you can hide the mechanical bits underneath, but even when the bits are never going to be seen Kawasaki went overboard with its castings and finish.
That lovely little round clutch cover at the bottom lives under the fairing and would never normally see the light of day, but even then it's a wonderfully detailed and finished piece that only a handy owner or their own technicians would ever see.
Coffin shaped brake and clutch fluid containers? Why not.
The benefit of this engineering fixation is that the quality of materials used is excellent. Even though this bike is just over a decade old you wouldn't know it. Many parts of it look brand new. Rust on fasteners is all but non-existent and everything comes apart as it was intended.
This is the newest bike I've ever purchased (it's three years newer than my first bike and the KLX, seven years newer than the trusty Tiger and thirteen years newer than the Fireblade). It's so new that there isn't a Haynes workshop manual for it. It's the only bike I've ever owned that is still currently in production in much the same state. The latest Tigers are five generations passed my old 955i.
Next steps are to get the windshield sorted and change out the air filter while I've got the thing in pieces, then it all goes back together and I'll see if my local mechanic can get me in for a safety, then it's time to put some miles on it!
