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Hey all... I haven't posted here in AGES... glad to see the site is still around.
I am doing a total cosmetic rebuild (get to that in a minute) of my '06 Kat that I am the first owner on and have owned since '07...
Posting this part about the dealer not only because I am ****ed at them for being shady, but kinda as a new buyers guide also.
For most of my life I had ridden dirt bikes, one day I decided I wanted to start riding street bikes. so I did the usual browsing of dealership websites and craigs list. I had a very limited budget at the time so my range of bikes was limited. I wont lie, I was going for looks first at time because I knew that while I was experienced with dirt, the street is a new game and that performance would likely just get me in trouble. so I looked for the best looking cheapest NEW bike I could afford, I didn't know much about working on bikes at the time, and didn't want to inherit someone else's headache with a used bike.
So fast forwarding about 2 months I decided that the Katana was it for me I loved how the turn signals were integrated in the fairings giving it a sleek look and everything... So after a night of having a few beers with a friend that owned a CBR1000R at the time he "decided" that I have done enough research and that I should get this bike if I really wanted it so we could ride together... the next day I went to RideNow Powersports in Chandler AZ. I looked around the show room some, found my '06 Kat and decided to pull the trigger... I was very anxious to get this bike and get out riding. So I have the sales guy draw up a financing for me, he comes back with $199/mo for 5 years which was at the brink of my financial capability at the time. Then "LUCKILY" for me he says "BUT, if you get our service plan your payments will only be $149 a month". at this point I am like Sh** sign me up! go to the financing room and fly through the paperwork like a moron... What happened here, is they signed me up for the "GE Funancing" credit card (no longer exists) and put the balance of the bike and the service plan and probably whatever else they could squeeze onto the balance of this card. ($10k max they loaded up $9,999). Where I really screwed up is I came from the world of auto loans where you cant just open a credit card and throw a brand new car on it for the customer... So I didn't bother reading the papers figuring I was at $149/mo for 5 years like the guy implied.
After the first year my interest rate sky rocketed to 21.9% shooting my *minimum* payments up to $249.
Long story short, I have been paying on the katana since May 2007 and still owe $4k on it.
About 4 years back I got cut off then brake checked in the rain (perfect storm right?) and high sided the bike because I grabbed too much front brake and here in AZ when it rains oil likes to come up off the road. It threw me face first into the curb (props to my now dead scorpion exo and my alpine stars leather jacket) and the *** hole drove off... The bike was mechanically good, just all of the fairings were jacked, the bike slapped down so hard it cracked both the left and right side fairings, the bracket that holds the headlights, ripped some pegs out of the headlights, bent the upper fairing stay etc. so I ripped all that junk off and put on some street fighter headlights... looked ok, but a Kat with no side fairings a tail and some dual halogen headlights just looks sad. A few months after that a buddy of mine died screwing around late at night on his GSXR600 (riding a wheelie on a main road, oncoming SUV didn't see his headlight and a near head-on collision happened). Even though that accident was due to irresponsible riding it kinda put me off from it, so I haven't really ridden my bike in 3.5 years.
Now I am ****ed about STILL making payments on the katana and want to ride again. I saw on eBay that chinese companies are making aftermarket fairings for the Kat and selling the whole set for $500. So I am determined to rebuild my bike.
I bought a wiring harness (had to cut/splice for the streeetfighter headlights) and some of the busted/bent brackets I needed. Got a new speedo gauge cluster (I stupidly threw mine away not knowing how much they are worth and how rare low mile ones are on ebay) and now I just need to get the fairings and a bolt up kit for them. it will be a pretty fun experience rebuilding the bike, especially now that I know more about working on them (from dirt bikes) I am pretty sure I will need to take out my carbs and clean them then sync them since the bike has sat for so long, rust wont be an issue since I'm in Arizona.
Does anyone have any input on those ebay fairing kits? Also I plan on getting a D&D Exhaust set because I want to be as loud as possible so people know im on the road with them, hopefully avoiding another crappy experience.
Hah, I just wrote a mini-novel, enjoy.
Edit: Spelling errors
I am doing a total cosmetic rebuild (get to that in a minute) of my '06 Kat that I am the first owner on and have owned since '07...
Posting this part about the dealer not only because I am ****ed at them for being shady, but kinda as a new buyers guide also.
For most of my life I had ridden dirt bikes, one day I decided I wanted to start riding street bikes. so I did the usual browsing of dealership websites and craigs list. I had a very limited budget at the time so my range of bikes was limited. I wont lie, I was going for looks first at time because I knew that while I was experienced with dirt, the street is a new game and that performance would likely just get me in trouble. so I looked for the best looking cheapest NEW bike I could afford, I didn't know much about working on bikes at the time, and didn't want to inherit someone else's headache with a used bike.
So fast forwarding about 2 months I decided that the Katana was it for me I loved how the turn signals were integrated in the fairings giving it a sleek look and everything... So after a night of having a few beers with a friend that owned a CBR1000R at the time he "decided" that I have done enough research and that I should get this bike if I really wanted it so we could ride together... the next day I went to RideNow Powersports in Chandler AZ. I looked around the show room some, found my '06 Kat and decided to pull the trigger... I was very anxious to get this bike and get out riding. So I have the sales guy draw up a financing for me, he comes back with $199/mo for 5 years which was at the brink of my financial capability at the time. Then "LUCKILY" for me he says "BUT, if you get our service plan your payments will only be $149 a month". at this point I am like Sh** sign me up! go to the financing room and fly through the paperwork like a moron... What happened here, is they signed me up for the "GE Funancing" credit card (no longer exists) and put the balance of the bike and the service plan and probably whatever else they could squeeze onto the balance of this card. ($10k max they loaded up $9,999). Where I really screwed up is I came from the world of auto loans where you cant just open a credit card and throw a brand new car on it for the customer... So I didn't bother reading the papers figuring I was at $149/mo for 5 years like the guy implied.
After the first year my interest rate sky rocketed to 21.9% shooting my *minimum* payments up to $249.
Long story short, I have been paying on the katana since May 2007 and still owe $4k on it.
About 4 years back I got cut off then brake checked in the rain (perfect storm right?) and high sided the bike because I grabbed too much front brake and here in AZ when it rains oil likes to come up off the road. It threw me face first into the curb (props to my now dead scorpion exo and my alpine stars leather jacket) and the *** hole drove off... The bike was mechanically good, just all of the fairings were jacked, the bike slapped down so hard it cracked both the left and right side fairings, the bracket that holds the headlights, ripped some pegs out of the headlights, bent the upper fairing stay etc. so I ripped all that junk off and put on some street fighter headlights... looked ok, but a Kat with no side fairings a tail and some dual halogen headlights just looks sad. A few months after that a buddy of mine died screwing around late at night on his GSXR600 (riding a wheelie on a main road, oncoming SUV didn't see his headlight and a near head-on collision happened). Even though that accident was due to irresponsible riding it kinda put me off from it, so I haven't really ridden my bike in 3.5 years.
Now I am ****ed about STILL making payments on the katana and want to ride again. I saw on eBay that chinese companies are making aftermarket fairings for the Kat and selling the whole set for $500. So I am determined to rebuild my bike.
I bought a wiring harness (had to cut/splice for the streeetfighter headlights) and some of the busted/bent brackets I needed. Got a new speedo gauge cluster (I stupidly threw mine away not knowing how much they are worth and how rare low mile ones are on ebay) and now I just need to get the fairings and a bolt up kit for them. it will be a pretty fun experience rebuilding the bike, especially now that I know more about working on them (from dirt bikes) I am pretty sure I will need to take out my carbs and clean them then sync them since the bike has sat for so long, rust wont be an issue since I'm in Arizona.
Does anyone have any input on those ebay fairing kits? Also I plan on getting a D&D Exhaust set because I want to be as loud as possible so people know im on the road with them, hopefully avoiding another crappy experience.
Hah, I just wrote a mini-novel, enjoy.
Edit: Spelling errors
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