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TexBiker
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This was my wife's first bike. Bought it used from a dealer in Garland the day after she finished her MSF class in October 2006. At first, she walked right by it to look at the small cruisers similar to what she had ridden in the class. She wasn't happy with them, so we walked out and started to drive away. As we drove by the front of the shop again, she told me to stop. She got out and walked over to the Sherpa.
I had heard of the Super Sherpa, but had never seen one in person. At the time, I was riding a Triumph Sprint ST and dual sports were of no interest to me. She sat on the Sherpa and the dealer asked her if she wanted to give it a spin around the parking lot. She made a few laps around the lot and decided she wanted it. Then she pulled out a few Franklins and signed the papers.
Now the fun part. She had just finished the MSF class about 12 hours prior and wasn't ready to ride in Dallas traffic yet. So I perched my 6'5", 220lb frame on this little 15hp bike and wondered it I could get home without becoming a hood ornament on a soccer mom's Suburban.
Luckily, traffic was light and the little Sherpa had no problems hauling my oversized carcass home. My wife promptly put a couple hundred miles on the thing zipping around our neighborhood and doing drills in the local elementary school parking lot. We read stories about people riding around the world and planned a trip to Montana the following summer. This sparked my interest in DS bikes, so I traded the Triumph for a BMW GS and she bought a BMW F650 in February 2007. One week later, we found out she was pregnant!
So the trip to Montana was cancelled and the F650 left the stable, but she didn't want to get rid of Sherpa. It stayed in the corner of our garage, even after our son was born and we moved down to Crockett in 2008. With little to no time for riding, I almost forgot about the little Kawasaki until I was reorganizing the garage a couple of weeks ago and brought it out into the sunlight for the first time in years.
The battery was dead, tank was rusty and the carb was gummed up solid. The chain and sprockets were almost fused together with dried lube. Every night after the kids were in bed, I headed out to the garage to work on the little bike for an hour or two.
Now it's finally running again. Actually running better than ever after adding the Dr. Jekyll jet kit and adjusting the carb so it's no longer running so lean. I also added a set of lightly used Battlewings, 15T front sprocket, Tusk lever guards and had the rear shock and forks re-sprung (comes setup from the factory for 150lb riders). A quick test around the loop with GPS showed the top speed in 6th gear was 77mph. Dropping down to 5th upped the speed to 81mph, but it had to be close to the redline. Shifting back to 6th and slowing to 70mph was smooth sailing. Felt like it could hold that speed all day long.
We are planning to take the kids camping in Mission Tejas state park later this summer and we'll probably take the Sherpa with us. Hopefully, some trails will be open for us to ride. As far as I know, the tires have never touched dirt, which is a shame. For now, the little bike will have to be happy making occasional trips to the grocery store in the evenings.
I had heard of the Super Sherpa, but had never seen one in person. At the time, I was riding a Triumph Sprint ST and dual sports were of no interest to me. She sat on the Sherpa and the dealer asked her if she wanted to give it a spin around the parking lot. She made a few laps around the lot and decided she wanted it. Then she pulled out a few Franklins and signed the papers.
Now the fun part. She had just finished the MSF class about 12 hours prior and wasn't ready to ride in Dallas traffic yet. So I perched my 6'5", 220lb frame on this little 15hp bike and wondered it I could get home without becoming a hood ornament on a soccer mom's Suburban.
Luckily, traffic was light and the little Sherpa had no problems hauling my oversized carcass home. My wife promptly put a couple hundred miles on the thing zipping around our neighborhood and doing drills in the local elementary school parking lot. We read stories about people riding around the world and planned a trip to Montana the following summer. This sparked my interest in DS bikes, so I traded the Triumph for a BMW GS and she bought a BMW F650 in February 2007. One week later, we found out she was pregnant!
So the trip to Montana was cancelled and the F650 left the stable, but she didn't want to get rid of Sherpa. It stayed in the corner of our garage, even after our son was born and we moved down to Crockett in 2008. With little to no time for riding, I almost forgot about the little Kawasaki until I was reorganizing the garage a couple of weeks ago and brought it out into the sunlight for the first time in years.
The battery was dead, tank was rusty and the carb was gummed up solid. The chain and sprockets were almost fused together with dried lube. Every night after the kids were in bed, I headed out to the garage to work on the little bike for an hour or two.
Now it's finally running again. Actually running better than ever after adding the Dr. Jekyll jet kit and adjusting the carb so it's no longer running so lean. I also added a set of lightly used Battlewings, 15T front sprocket, Tusk lever guards and had the rear shock and forks re-sprung (comes setup from the factory for 150lb riders). A quick test around the loop with GPS showed the top speed in 6th gear was 77mph. Dropping down to 5th upped the speed to 81mph, but it had to be close to the redline. Shifting back to 6th and slowing to 70mph was smooth sailing. Felt like it could hold that speed all day long.
We are planning to take the kids camping in Mission Tejas state park later this summer and we'll probably take the Sherpa with us. Hopefully, some trails will be open for us to ride. As far as I know, the tires have never touched dirt, which is a shame. For now, the little bike will have to be happy making occasional trips to the grocery store in the evenings.
