Winnipeg ...maybe...

[CollingsBob]

My beloved 1000cc Vstrom was being trailered last Saturday to the dealer when the tow vehicle & trailer was side-swiped..While I wait for the insurance company to offer me an outrageously low offer I'm looking for a replacement bike..There's a 2001 ST4 at the local Kawasaki dealer in Winnipeg listed for $6995.00 with 38,367 Km on it...Good idea?...Bad idea?..The dealer here in Winnipeg is notoriously hard to deal with, and tends to be expensive. Can I do the work myself?...Will it need a huge amount of maintenance? Is the maintenance expensive? Of all of the "ST" models...which one has the lowest maintenance?

[The Goochman]

Bob,

I have a 2002 ST2 with 89,000 km on it.

The price looks a bit high, but it is not too far out of line especially if the bike is in good shape. Watch the early ST4 engines, if memory serves me correctly they suffered from flaking rocker arms but I could be wrong on that.

I would get on Kijiji or something like that and see what comparative pricing is like.

FWIW, I love my bike, 1000+ km days are very doable, with certain mods of course.

IF you are serious about the ST series, there is a Yahoo mail list that includes a lot of people world wide who are crazy about their bikes. Most of them are still mad at Ducati for dropping the bike. The Multistrada is just not the same. st2_owners@yahoogroups.com

As far as maintenance goes, there are just like any other bike except for the desmo valves. If you know which end of a screw driver is which, you can probably learn how to adjust them yourself. I do all of my own maintenance on the ST2. Some special tools are required.

Lowest maintenance is the ST2, because it is a 2 valve engine.

If you buy the bike, make sure you find out when the last time the cam drive belts were changed. If you don't know, change them. (Goes for all of the belt driven cam Ducatis)

Get a service manual (http://www.duc.nu)

Good Luck

Dave G
aka The Goochman