I just picked up a lime green 2015 Concours after spending considerable time and money trying to turn my 2013 14R into a sport tourer. My ideal was the power and handling of the 14R with sport touring ergos. There is simply no way to get the bars high enough or the seat comfortable enough in relation to the riding position or the pegs low enough. So I'll keep the 14R for it's intended purpose.

My decision to buy the Connie surprised me. I have ridden nothing but sport bikes on the edge for my entire adult life (I'm 51). When I decided to add a sport touring bike to the garage, I did the obligatory internet research and made an appointment to test drive the bike I was sure I would love and ride home, namely the BMW K1600GT. After all, the magazines proclaimed it to be the top in this category with everything else competing for best of the rest. Well, I have never been so underwhelmed. I simply do not understand the accolades this bike gets. To me it felt heavy and ponderous with virtually no road feel. Even the much vaunted straight six was decidedly unimpressive. Shifting was very clunky and unrefined. Sure it has plenty of torque, but it seemed unhappy being revved close to redline, something that all the Jap fours I've ever owned seem to love. I really didn't care for the looks either. So I called my local Kawasaki dealer and arranged to test drive the 2014 they had on the floor. I was nearly sold by the time I'd left the parking lot. It felt like I was riding a comfortable, detuned 14R. So, I rode back to the dealership and stroked a check for the green 2015. Costco price was $14,559 OTD. To me, that was a helluva deal compared to the BMW. Plus I get to avoid the inevitable unscheduled repair stops at the nearset BMW service dept. Yea, I wish it had cruise, but it is a motorcycle, not a car.

Yeah, the K16 is a heavy girl but it pulls like something bearing the "Chessie Systems" kitty logo. Dad's developed a leak in the water pump at 2000 miles. Scooter was down for 5 days. He paid waaaaaaay too much for that bike.

I think you did the right thing getting the Concours. I tried talking him into one but his wife didn't like the bitch seat as much as the K16.

Wow, nice!

...and, you got the best color: Team Green!

You thought you had choice delimmas before? Now you go to the garage and say "What will it be today? Two up with Best Friend (you are still on speaking terms after she saw the Connie delivery bill, right?), or Fast as Lightning up the mountain?"

Yup, decisions... decisions... these are hard decisions.

Perhaps you didn't delve into making the ZX comfortable for 2 up touring enough?

You thought you had choice delimmas before? Now you go to the garage and say "What will it be today? Two up with Best Friend (you are still on speaking terms after she saw the Connie delivery bill, right?), or Fast as Lightning up the mountain?"

Yea, dilemmas! I've never had two bikes at the same time, but I am jazzed about being able to take long distance rides without so much discomfort. My wife was surprisingly supportive. I've already ordered a full exhaust and I will be sending the ECU to Guhl for a flash. It will never be a 14R buy it appears that 160 at the rear wheel is pretty easy to accomplish.

* Last updated by: BerndV on 4/24/2015 @ 9:54 PM *

Great choice! I came the other way, have over 120,000 mi on the Concours 14's, the full pipe and flash (AreaP and no-flies here though) really wakes her up and is so much fun yet so comfortable, the Rostra cruise control is very nice too (about $225). Just added a new 14r to garage to compare, waiting to break her in to see how much more fun it is. With the K1600, I preordered one because of the reviews, took demo's home several weekends, wanted to want it very much but it was so dissapointing compared to the Concours that I just cancelled the order got another new Concours, so glad I did!!! Any recommendations to a new 14r for easy mods? (flyless?)Am looking for nice stupid fast compared to kinda stupid fast (I am already a hair faster than the 1000 sport bikes I ride with on the street)

Have you and Grn met yet?

Ha!, maybe our wifes have!, maybe it is nice to have both in this part of the country, just awesum riding for both bikes!!! The Lolo highway close to Kalispell is sweet for either one!

The only dyno 160's I have seen have been measured in std instead of the normal sae but converting is still over 155 rwhp and those have been with a custom tune or fuelmoto's tune they include with the PCV. All the flashes I have seen have been usually about 145 max sae. AreaP and fuelmoto had a deal where you could buy both from either one of them and it was about $1200 for both. When I ride with Concours with the flash way, I always kind of walk away from them, the AreaP full system is very nice and just have not seen as nice of dyno's rwhp with other exhaust systems!

The only dyno 160's I have seen have been measured in std instead of the normal sae but converting is still over 155 rwhp and those have been with a custom tune or fuelmoto's tune they include with the PCV. All the flashes I have seen have been usually about 145 max sae. AreaP and fuelmoto had a deal where you could buy both from either one of them and it was about $1200 for both. When I ride with Concours with the flash way, I always kind of walk away from them, the AreaP full system is very nice and just have not seen as nice of dyno's rwhp with other exhaust systems!

Yep and I've learned from all the threads about dyno runs here the most important thing is getting the highest number. Look, you have your bike, and it reads out 155hp, and then take it to a different dyno and it reads 3,942 hp it's going to be way faster.

Great choice! I came the other way, have over 120,000 mi on the Concours 14's, the full pipe and flash (AreaP and no-flies here though) really wakes her up and is so much fun yet so comfortable, the Rostra cruise control is very nice too (about $225). Just added a new 14r to garage to compare, waiting to break her in to see how much more fun it is. With the K1600, I preordered one because of the reviews, took demo's home several weekends, wanted to want it very much but it was so dissapointing compared to the Concours that I just cancelled the order got another new Concours, so glad I did!!! Any recommendations to a new 14r for easy mods? (flyless?)Am looking for nice stupid fast compared to kinda stupid fast (I am already a hair faster than the 1000 sport bikes I ride with on the street)

You don't need to remove the flies on the 14R. I would recommend full exhaust and the Cblast flash. I went with the Ivan flash and PCV route but would get the Cblast flash if I were to do it over.

I've already ordered the Area P for my Concours and I will be sending the ECU to Don Guhl. He is supposed to have the best flash for this bike. I'm not going to bother with taking out the flies or putting a PCV on it. If I need lots of HP I will hop on the 14R. I have also ordered the MCCruise for the Concours, as I really do want cruise and theirs is the best albeit rather expensive. Still way cheaper then the K1600.

Have you and Grn met yet?

Yes, we have ridden together several times. He has a couple of youtube videos of us riding together last year. He consigned his 14R at the dealer after he picked up his H2. I'm obviously going in a different direction than an H2. I just love my 14R too much to get rid of it for something that looks like the H2, regardless of how fast it is. I'm sure we will still ride together.

Ha!, maybe our wifes have!, maybe it is nice to have both in this part of the country, just awesum riding for both bikes!!! The Lolo highway close to Kalispell is sweet for either one!

Yup, the Lolo Pass is awesome. The NW Concours Owners Group is doing their first event of the year at Kamiah, ID which is on the west side of Lolo Pass. I'll be there. One thing I really like about the whole touring/sport touring scene is that it is so easy to connect with other riders for group rides and events. A lifetime of sport bike riding and most of it has been solo. It has always seemed that there are rarely organized rides, events, or groups for sport bikes. Everyone is a lone wolf and attempts at organizing rides always becomes fragmented and there is never any sustained organization. Then you have guys that ride really fast the whole time and others that might as well be on a Harley. The exception for me was when I lived in central Florida and there were enough guys that always met up on the weekends for rides. There simply aren't enough sport bikes here in Montana for anything like that. However, there are plenty of touring bikes for whatever reason. So I am really looking forward to riding a lot more with other guys and making new friends as a result.

Congrats! I've been considering doing the same!

Before you get the Guhl flash, consider reading these 2 extensive, current, ongoing threads on one of the Concours forums debating flash vs simply removing the secondary butterflies (free!). Here they are:

Secondary flies... a different take

Secondary Bufferfly Removal/Disable

And now guys on the zggtr.org C14 forum are raving about the C14 flash being done by Steve From Sunny Florida. My good bud of almost 30 years had Steve flash his a few months ago and is raving about it.

I have just recently sent my C14 ECU to Steve for his flash. I haven't ridden it yet due to winter weather, but I am eager to get it on the road and see how it feels.

[quote]I just picked up a lime green 2015 Concours after spending considerable time and money trying to turn my 2013 14R into a sport tourer. /quote]

I'm just curious. I thought the 14R/ZZR1400 is a sport tourer straight out of the crate. At least that's how it's sold and recognised on this side of the pond. OK, a softer seat and bar risers can improve things slightly but it's still more tourer than sport, 60/40 maybe. The Concours/1400GTR is definately full tourer, certainly more capable than a Goldwing or full dress Harley but there's nothing 'sporty' about it. I guess it's just different markets, different tastes?

* Last updated by: pegscraper on 2/7/2016 @ 3:28 AM *

Peg - a few things: Of course the C14 comes with luggage. And shaft drive. And a big ol' windscreen. And higher bars. But the main thing, IMO, is that the ZX has a very sport riding position to be considered a tourer. Of course a person can tour on anything that want; fortunately the gubmint has not started regulating the terms "tourer" or "sport tourer" ... yet. Anyway, when I had my previous Honda RC51 and was thinking about switching to the ZX, I photoshopped the ZX over the RC to see how much more comfortable I could expect the ZX to be; well, there's not much difference. I'll post that pic as soon as I can find it.

The funny part: Go over to the C14 forum, and you'll find that most of those guys go right out and modify the C14 to make it even more tour! ... bar risers, pullbacks, lower pegs, bigger windscreens, aftermarket seats.

I think guys just like modifying their bikes!

14/14R is a versatile bike. But buying a 14 as a tourer never has made sense to me. Some light touring? Sure. Kawasaki has the Connie and N1000 which are made and better suited to this purpose. N1000 is a great bike, has adjustable screen, more upright riding position, and even comes with factory optional hard bags. But it's still got a sporting credentials with it's chain drive. Coniie steps it up a notch as a sport tourer with shaft drive and even more effective touring fairing with a sporting heritage.

Another way to look at it is you should only buy a 14 as a tourer if you think it's reasonable to buy an H2 as a tourer. Yes, one is single seater but essentially they are the same motorcycle in terms of purpose and specifications. And the 14 is comfortable, but I can't imagine many passengers wanting to sit on it for a 3k mile cross country adventure so it practically is a single seater for that purpose anyway.

The secret to a motorcyclist..
"I think guys just like modifying their bikes!"
extrapolator

I'm curious to know how many people on this forum would've bought the Concours had it come out with the new engine that is in the current ZX14R? I think that and a few other modern upgrades might have swayed me, especially Since I already own a literbike.

Not sure why Kaw didn't change to 1441. It doesn't need the power, the 1352 is already detuned a little vs. 14. Already plenty of power, just a little different focus. Maybe the ran into some of the same challenges as buidling 14 Gen 2 as far as heat and what not.

If I was in the market for a sport tourer, 90cc wouldn't stop me from buying a Connie. I like the similar to 14 Gen 2 styling of the '15+ Connie but for ST Connie's always been a good looking ride. Touring's not really my thing though.

True, but I think Kawasaki lost a lot of sales by NOT updating in a 'timely' manner. Owning the fastest bike available was an absolutely definitive enticement at the time I made my purchase. Had the Con also been based on the latest and greatest (instead of waiting what - 3 or 4 years and counting?), I think I'd have been at least AS happy with it as I am with my 14. As it stands, I'm putting money into making my bike more 'versatile'. Had I known how expensive a proposition it would be, I might have waited for the next gen Con.

I'm just going on how I find the 14 after all my previous 'sports' bikes, R1's, 1198SP, Fireblades etc and it's like an armchair by comparison. I've done 800 miles in a day no problem. No doubt I would find the Concours/GTR even easier and it would definitely carry more luggage and be a better ride for a pillion but, at the present time, I wouldn't even consider one. For me the 14 is the (almost) perfect halfway house between full sports and full tourer, sport tourer! That's right where K have pitched it IMO. Certainly nothing wrong with tweaking a bike to suit your personal preferences though, that's one of the joys of ownership and riding but if you're trying to turn it into something it can never be you've bought the wrong bike. JMO

It's not a matter of regret - I love my 14. At the end of the day, its still about the thrill and freedom of two wheeled getaways. I am looking forward to 2 and 3 day rides on her this summer!

* Last updated by: kixxit on 2/7/2016 @ 9:33 PM *

I might have bought a C14 if they had the 14r derived motor (IE 170rwhp+), and cruise control.

But it doesn't fit in my storage area :( .