How To Sound Like A Harley

If you want to hear a small Vulcan that sounds like a BIG Harley, click the arrow in the center of the video window.

More Accessories

One accessory that may not be a necessity for all is a sissy bar-attachable bag setup. I have found this to be very useful for weekend trips, but I have never used it for an extended trip. It will hold all your basic items, and can contain external pockets for quick access. The external pockets are especially handy for items like cell phones, that you may want quick access to, but don't want to cram in to your pockets. A rain cover is a must.

Accessories - Chapter 2

Some accessories can be difficult to find. It may take time to find exactly what you are looking for. It may also take quite a bit of searching. My floorboards were a fluke; I was asking for information on floorboards and found someone who made them himself. My light bar I can’t recall where I purchased it, but I know it is a Kawasaki Fire and Steel accessory. By far, the best find of all was my seat. I had made a couple long runs last summer (300 miles or more) and I made two 800-mile weekend trips this year. The first nearly killed me – or my butt, I should say. The factory seat is comfortable around town and OK for trips of 200 miles or less. After about 60 miles, your butt starts to feel it and by 100 miles you will have to stop. After the first 800-mile weekend, I decided to try and find a better seat or sell the bike. (The latter would be a last ditch effort to save my a**!) I looked high and low. Neither Mustang nor Corbin makes a seat for the VN750. I had pretty much given up hope, when I decided to go to my old standby - VROC. In a forum there, a contact gave me information on how to get a custom seat from Saddlemen. They still make several models of gel seats for the VN750, but do not show them in their catalogs or online. I had to call Saddlemen to get product numbers from them. You can then look up the product online and purchase through their website. I purchased the Classic Explorer for the list price of $379.They don’t charge anything extra for these seats because they are not special order. They still have the forms for producing these seats, they just don’t unless they are ordered. And, even though they warned me that it may take up to four weeks, it only took two. Installation was a breeze and it fit perfectly. My second 800-mile weekend was far more pleasant with no major butt aches.

Accessories

It may seem, at first glance, that there are not many accessories for the VN750. After all, it was discontinued in 2006. Why would there be a lot of accessories available for a discontinued model? Because it was very popular and virtually unchanged for 20 years. Kawasaki’s Fire and Steel line of accessories still provides a few items including windshields, light bars, engine guards and other items. If you look below in the latest picture, I have accessorized my bike to some extent. When I bought it, it was ‘naked’ – void of all accessories. My first two additions were the windshield and saddlebags. It was all downhill from there. Next came the light bar and engine guard with highway pegs. Then I added floorboards, different mirrors and custom grips. The coup de gras was the custom gel seat from Saddlemen. All were fairly simple to find, except the floorboards. I went on many forums, only to be told that floorboards for a VN750 didn’t exist. However, in one forum on the Vulcan Riders and Owners Club website, a gentleman from Illinois answered my post about floorboards stating he made some himself in his workshop. He made a set for me for $75. I thought this was a heck of a deal, since most people told me they didn’t exist! The beauty of these was, for installation, all you had to do was remove the two screws holding down the foot peg pads, remove them and replace them with the floorboards, and replace the screws. And they work great. I’ll never go back to foot pegs.
Accessories:
Kawasaki Fire & Steel OEM Windshield - $175, Cruiser Customizing.com.
Carroll Heavy Duty Saddlebags - $150 Sportsman’s Guide
Kawasaki Fire & Steel Engine Guard - $95 Cruiser Customizing.com
Kawasaki Fire & Steel Light bar - ?
Saddlemen Classic Explorer seat - $379 Saddlemen
Emgo Elite Roadhawk Grips - $11 BabbittsOnline.com
BikeMaster mirrors  - $14 BabbittsOnline.com

Mechanical Quirks - The Dreaded Vulcan Tick.

One of the quirks I’ve experienced with my Vulcan is the dreaded Vulcan ‘tick’. This is the clicking noise that comes from the engine when the bike is started and idled cold. Once it warms to operating temperature, the ‘tick’ disappears. When this first happened to me, I changed the oil and to see if it would disappear, since it started shortly after the first oil change. It didn’t, so I took it to a dealer. The mechanic told me the valves were out of adjustment and that I needed to leave it so he could take care of it. I told him that it has automatically adjusting valves and that couldn’t be it. He gave me that “Oh, I guess I’m not going to fool you look,” and then said he didn’t know what it was. I went on the forum at the Vulcan Riders and Owners Club and found out this ‘tick’ is common. The apparent problem is with the Automatic Cam Chain Tensioners. Wouldn’t you know it, just as I’m building up some mileage on mine, (I’m up to 12,000 miles.) the tick appears to have stopped. It’s due for an oil change now so I’m going to use synthetic oil (Royal Purple, Amsoil or Mobil One) and see if the ‘tick’ stays away or returns. More news later.

Why Buy a Vulcan 750?

The 750 Vulcan is an economically priced, excellent-performing machine. It has good mid-range performance from a torquey, liquid-cooled V-twin. It also has the benefit of being a very low-maintenance machine. About the only regular maintenance that must be done is oil and coolant changes and an occasional lube job. It also has a very full line of “Fire and Steel” accessories available from Kawasaki. Gypsy Michelle covers this topic very well in her review at http://ridemyown.com/articles/reviews/kawasaki_vulcan_750.shtml .  It does however have some quirks. I’ll cover several of these in the next few blogs. So, stay tuned! Same bat time, same bat channel.

The VN750 - A Short History

The Kawasaki Vulcan was first introduced to the public in the fall of 1984 as a 700cc machine.(http://www.breyn.com/vn750/vn750models.htm) This is probably due to the fact that it was developed from the ZN700 LTD model. Actually, the first Vulcans look like a ZN700 LTD with a V-twin engine. (The ZN700 LTD had a “straight 4” engine.) What really set the bike apart from other motorcycles was the fact that it was a high-tech bike with automatic valve adjusters, shaft drive, 4-setting air-assist shock absorbers, dual front disc brakes, positive neutral finder and full instrumentation, including a fuel gauge.  These items were unheard of on a motorcycle this size. The following year, 1985, the bike was changed to a 750cc engine, and the Vulcan, as we know it, came in to being. It has been virtually unchanged from that point until the final VN750 was produced in 2006.(http://motorcyclecruiser.automotive.com/67214/0604-crup-kawasaki-vulcan-750-suzuki-boulevard-s50-honda-shadow-spirit/index.html)