From: joe@rider.cactus.org (Joe Senner)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: ZX-11, transmission
Date: 23 Dec 92 04:42:52 GMT
Reply-To: joe@rider.cactus.org
Distribution: world
Organization: NOT

rcrandall@sc9.intel.com (From: rcrandall@sc9.intel.com) writes:
]Has anyone out there had problems with their ZX-11 transmission as I have.
]I'm interested in settlements with dealers, rectification, etc...

yes. my 90 zx11 lost its second gear. when you read all that niceness
about kawasaki replacing it for free, think again. I called kawasaki
myself. their position was that there was nothing wrong with the bike,
I had raced it thereby bringing on the failure. I've never raced it.
I've ridden hard. I've abused other bikes a hell of a lot more.

basically, you should plan on paying for the repair, period. *IF* your
dealer feels like kissing your dick you MIGHT get them to RECOMMEND that
kawasaki cover it under warranty. then they CONSIDER it. kawasaki does NOT
in any way hold the position that there is anything wrong with the bike.
they'll do it if they feel like it on that particular day. after the kawasaki
factory rep got through explaining to me how I had driven the bike to abuse
it, I was told that they will only consider this if the dealer recommends it.

my phone conversation went like this:

[lots of 'it's not our problem retoric' from the rep]

rep: "in rare cases there have been problems with second gear, but
      in those cases the bike has been abused or raced."

me: "so basically I'm guilty until proven innocent?"

rep: "yes."

that's word for word.

you will have to let the dealer tear your bike apart and inspect it. at this
time they'll make their descision (keep in mind, THEY *WILL* LOSE MONEY ON
THIS, this direct from the kawasaki factory rep). if they decide not to,
they'll be happy to reassemble your bike for a few hundred bucks (after you
pay them the few hundred for tearing it down of course).

the determining factor the dealer will use is to check for a bent shift fork.
according to the kawasaki rep if the shift fork is bent, no warranty, your
problem.

so you'll have a better understanding of what position this places you in,
I'll add a little more detail. this particular failure is caused by the
edges of the little tabs on the gears rounding off. eventually they round
off to the point where the normal force of acceleration causes them to
push away from each other rather than holding together. this starts out
feeling like the bike is skipping a tooth on the rear sprocket and eventually
becomes complete popping out of gear. the ONLY thing holding the gears in 
their proper position is the shift fork. when the gears push apart, something 
HAS to give. I'll let you guess which, the hardened steel gear, or the cast 
aluminum fork. so, basically you have a situation where the shift fork 
cannot possibly survive the gears pushing apart, yet unless the shift fork 
is undamaged you won't be getting any warranty for your bike.

I've been through this process. I know. I've had my transmission apart,
I've talked to independant mechanics and professional MC transmission
builders. if you are able to get kawasaki to cover this, and I truly
hope you do, I salute you. the 90 and 91 models fall into the bad second 
gear category. the dealers fix is to replace the gear with one from a
92 model. it's also worth noting that for 93, the lubrication system was
upgraded to provide more oil flow to second gear.

this is why I no longer own the ZX-11. I approached my dealer and kawasaki
with a problem, in good faith. the dealer (where I had also purchased a
92 CBR600f2 a few months before) REFUSED to even CALL kawasaki and ask
them about this problem, and even insisted they knew nothing of this
problem, which is total bullshit since it was published in that month's
Motorcyclist. they told me they would call the factory ONLY AFTER they
had dissasembled my bike. this is why I no longer deal with kawasaki.
this was a major factor in my choosing BMW as my next bike. I have no
problem whatsoever dropping $10,000 - $15,000 for a bike. as it turns
out, BMW was substantially more interested in earning my patronage.

if you find yourself having similar trouble, let me know. I would gladly
join any efforts to bad mouth kawasaki in the media or any other forum.

-- 
Joe Senner -- joe@Rider.Cactus.Org           aDoF#?                Austin, TX

    'When I asked Unix to make the witches burn I got:
         mcad.dunham-frodo[ 10 ]%make witches\ burn
         Make:  Don't know how to make witches burn.  Stop.
     Ergo, it must be the wizards.' -- Jerry Dunham