VincentHill
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posted January 28, 2007 06:49 PM
 Edited By: VincentHill on 28 Jan 2007 18:50
A Very Serious Question for the ZX14 Owners?
A friend of Mine just called me about a Friend of his that the Front end (Steering Stem Housing that is welded to the Frame) broke "OFF" the Bike and a Very Low SPeed. I Plan to get some pictures to see if it was the Weld or the Metal behind the weld because I do not know.
The Story is, He is not a hard Rider and made a quick trip around the Block with no Helmet only a Hat on. He had just gassed it and the Front was starting to rise (as it had always done) but he had to let off because he was about to lose his hat. It was at that very Moment the front broke away and he fell at very low speed. He was not hurt and the Bike (Other than this) has very little damage.
He states that Kawasaki is telling him that he abused the Bike to cause this. He asked me If I had heard of this happening to any other ZX14's? Me Personally I have never heard of this happening to "ANY" Kawasaki Ever (Even after a Serious Accident). Has anyone here heard anything like this?
Please, I am not beating the 14 and as soon as I get some Pics I will post them. I just want to know if anyone else has seen or heard of this happening to any other 14?
  
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osti33
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posted January 28, 2007 07:07 PM
Vince you will probably get more hits if you post this in the 14 section. I don't know how many of those guys check this side of the board.
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Y2KZX12R
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posted January 28, 2007 07:13 PM
Oh geeze. Here we go. Vince, you better put your helmet on, the 14 boys are gonna be swarming about this post. There gonna call ya names. 
Get those pics up fast. 
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Y2KZX12R
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crashtech
Zone Head
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posted January 28, 2007 07:33 PM
A buddy of mine bought one ( '06 ZX14 ) new and his steering stem bearings were loose! Probably Kawi's rush rush to get it on the market before they were sued for deposit returns. The only thing like this I have heard of is on one of the years of gsxr 1000's after a design change. Never buy a first year anything is my take.
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VincentHill
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posted January 28, 2007 07:48 PM
Y2K Trust me I had second thoughts but this was just too serious to say nothing. I hope to get some Pics early this week to put up with my DIgital Camera. He has Photo Prints. I almost would have preferred if this was a ZX12 or better yet another Suzuki Problem! The Good News is the Bike is in Excellent COndition (Other than that) and so is he). Almost a good thing he was not wearing a Helmet because he would have been going a LOT Faster.
Thanks Crash Tech but this is Waay more than that!
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VincentHill
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posted January 28, 2007 07:52 PM
quote:
Vince you will probably get more hits if you post this in the 14 section. I don't know how many of those guys check this side of the board.
Osti, I do not post there any More! They are different than over here where everyone is a Lot more Tolorant of Everything including me!! Hopefully this is some freek thing and not like the Problems the First Model year of Hayabusa had with the rear Sub Frame.
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fish_antlers
Administrator
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posted January 28, 2007 08:05 PM
mirrored to the 14 side...
WEAR A HELMET!
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What business is it of yours where I'm from, Friendo?
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smokinZX14
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posted January 28, 2007 08:22 PM
Edited By: smokinZX14 on 28 Jan 2007 20:42
The wrecked zx14 i got for parts has a cracked frame around the air box ...I was caused by a high speed 12:00 wheely that went very wrong..The bike slamed the ground hard , so hard it bent the front rim and broke both front motor mounts !!!! ...... I looked that frame over pretty good and saw NO welds by the steering neck ..It looked to be all cast at one time ...
With that being said i must add i have has some killer wheelies that came down so hard at the track that i allmost lost the bike ....This has happened a few times, more like 10 times at the drag strip and a 3 or 4 times on the street ...I have no signs of and cracking on my bike ......It seems to me that your friend got a lemon or he is not telling the hole story ..Kinda like the drunk that told the cop he only had one beer.....I only did one little wheely and the bike frame just busted for no reason...
Seeing who made this post i'm very suspect of the hole story....and that friend of a friend statement.........please..... 
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INTIMIDA2OR
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posted January 28, 2007 08:24 PM
Whoa now that is a major bummer!!! 
Keep the info comming!
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smokinZX14
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posted January 28, 2007 08:50 PM
quote:
A buddy of mine bought one ( '06 ZX14 ) new and his steering stem bearings were loose! Probably Kawi's rush rush to get it on the market before they were sued for deposit returns. The only thing like this I have heard of is on one of the years of gsxr 1000's after a design change. Never buy a first year anything is my take.
Loose steering head bearings are nothing new . Every ZRX owner from 99 to 2005 knows at the first oil change to tighten them .. That should go for any bike ...
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Tampa Bay , FL .. Brocks Performance Dealer ..
Gen 2 ZX14R Best ET 8.43 , Best MPH 164.95
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LandspeedLarry
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posted January 28, 2007 08:57 PM
Smokin is correct, the steering head is part of the frame. From the pics of wrecks I have seen, the motor mounts go first then the frame cracks. The bike would have to hit something solid like a curb to have major structural damage. 
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stevewfl
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posted January 28, 2007 09:27 PM
Vincent....you didn't know....ZX14's are falling about every minute! If you are quiet at night, you can HEAR them breaking next to the FORDs you hear rusting!
Vincent keep coming back, Kawasaki needs you man!
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zxlnt
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posted January 28, 2007 09:34 PM
Man that is very interesting. It seems more and more bikes are being built lighter and lighter, but I can't see how it just fell off. Unless there was a factory defect. As above thats a solid cast piece, not a seperate piece welded to the frame. I have seen many crashed bikes come into my friends shop with the front of the frames buckled. But I have never seen any Kaw frame broken into pieces. Several Suzuki frames and a couple Yamahas and even a Honda that was crashed hard. All the Kaw frames were bent badly but were still in 1 piece..
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kawasaki_rick
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posted January 29, 2007 04:55 AM
Ive wheelied mine pretty serious. No problems at all. Vincent , thanks now im gonna have nightmares. That would be the craziest shit if the front end fell off during a wheelie. Hope you can keep it up a long time. Ill be checking mine now b4 every ride.
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VincentHill
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posted January 29, 2007 05:36 AM
Good Pic of the Neck and I do not see any place for a weld to break either. I know that Kawasaki Knows about this and told him that "He ABused" the Bike to cause this. I am Carrying my Digital Camera with me so that as soon as I can get a look at the Bike and take some Pics I will put them up. I also want to really ask him "EXACTLY" How he rides the bike and if anything has happened that we should know about (Like a serious accident that he repaired and now this happened?)
The real thing is to KNOW Exactly where it came apart so that anyone will know to look there. It is still hard for me to imagine this happening for any reason period.
Karl, you said what I have said. I have seen Torn off front ends but it was the steering stem or the fork tubes that broke first.
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mano 2
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posted January 29, 2007 05:58 AM
Lighter and lighter?
Give me -50 more please for next year.
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mano 2
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posted January 29, 2007 06:07 AM
Probably overstressed due to being too heavy a design to avoid lawsuits.
Weight is the enemy
Maybe the factory should've made the 14 another 40# lighter and added the saved weight to the mufflers?
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MadMike
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posted January 29, 2007 07:22 AM
it was probably stressing and this was just the final straw that broke the camels back...
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entropy
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posted January 29, 2007 10:00 AM
quote:
...
Karl, you said what I have said. I have seen Torn off front ends but it was the steering stem or the fork tubes that broke first.
do you mean "Tony"???
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GUNNER
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posted January 29, 2007 10:15 AM
quote:
All the Kaw frames were bent badly but were still in 1 piece..
I've seen a couple of 10R frames BROKE!!!!!!!! right behind the neck.. ALL were involved in a squid related wheelie gone bad!
Anything can be broken in the hands of an idiot..
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VincentHill
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posted January 29, 2007 01:42 PM
quote:
quote:
...
Karl, you said what I have said. I have seen Torn off front ends but it was the steering stem or the fork tubes that broke first.
do you mean "Tony"???
Correctumundo I meant Tony. My Friend gets Home at 10:30 PM so a Little late tonight but as soon as I can because this is Killing me to see EXACTLY WHat the deal is?? My hope is that maybe the Steering Stem maybe came loose or something Stupid!
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12r1
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posted January 29, 2007 02:27 PM
I took my "first year" '00 12R into a guardrail about 80mph...frame's fine. Looks to me to be a very stout frame, the way it's constructed.
My steering nut was also loose, when I bought it.
Still got the salvage title frame, maybe I'll happen across a good donor 12 someday...
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stevewfl
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posted January 29, 2007 10:56 PM
WoW----I just heard a parked one across the streak break!
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Brent Davis
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posted January 30, 2007 04:06 AM
WHERE ARE THE FUGGIN' PICS AT???????????????????????????
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VincentHill
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posted January 30, 2007 06:11 AM
As soon as I can arrange to take them! The Bike is not next door to me and we all still work for a living. I want to see this more than anyone. At worse it will be this weekend when we both have time (Me drive to his place and he be there) and I will e-mail them to Fish to Post.
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