January 27, 2011

A Fond Farewell To the Cypress 86er

It's with a bit of sadness and a bit of relief that I bid farewell to the Cypress 86er. A nickname given to a misused and abused 1986 Kawasaki VII Voyager.



After many hours of work on her I found out late one evening that she had indeed been crashed at probably a high rate of speed. You see I had a front tire that wore out in what one would call a bacon strip pattern
Weirdest thing I'd ever seen! The entire rest of the tire was in perfect condition except for a strip about an inch wide just off to right of the center of the tire. Of course I forumed the guys at several voyager sites and final get an answer as to what to look at. They mentioned air pressure, brake drag, wheel bearings, tire type and on and on. But those turned out to be okay. One last forum posting mentioned check the fork length and the triple clamps. Bingo! There it was hidden behind all that fairing crapp. The triple clamps looked as though they'ed been welded on and the forks lengths weren't the same at all. That made for a few days of, "How stupid could I have been" and "Dammit, what am I gona do now" thoughts. In the end I found a fellow who wanted the bike regardless of it's condition because he was gona strip it down to the frame and rebuild it. All in all I can say me and the Ms. enjoyed the heck out of riding the Cypress 86er and will probably find another voyager to buy someday.

See Ya Old Pal!

1 comment:

  1. It is difficult saying good bye to a reliable fun ride. Good luck finding another one to ride.

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