I've been at a bit of a loss ever since trashing my old R1 earlier in the year: what, if anything, do I replace it with.
I've still got a CBR1000RR for track thrills and road riding seems increasingly devoid of fun in comparison especially with my wee incident still in near memory. All the same, I can't get to the track as often as I'd like due to work commitments so I'm thinking that some responsible sports riding is better than nothing so when I do make it to the track my riding is only surface rusty rather than corroded to the core.
But what to buy? My budget initially started at $10k but that was soon stretched thanks to my prettier half tiring of my groans of frustration and endless bleating (sounds like a typical horny Saturday night now that I think about it...) and a whole new realm of possibilites opened up.
Cutting to the chase, I always thought Kawasaki's were a bit, I dunno, unsorted I suppose.....raw....rough around the edges....not quite up to the mark.....hard work etc etc. And I absolutely fuggin' hated the arse end on the 06 ZX10R's with that wheel barrow handle look to the pipes. How could Ducati (748-998), Yamaha (04/5 R1) get it so right and Kawasaki get it so bloody wrong? Yup, loathed it with a passion....until I saw the first pics of Akrapovics makeover with the twin carbon cans...forget "pretty", forget "elegant", it just looked brutal and business like.....and I loved it.
So when I spied one for sale with a set already installed, and nearly within my budget I just had to see if my preconceptions were right. It was the black/flamed limited edition thang that wasn't really to my taste, but it was in good nick although didn't have a PC111 fitted to really maximise the full exhaust system that had been fitted.
The first thing I noticed when sitting on it was the screen is loooooow. I'm just over 6' when I stand up straight to peek down a chicky-babe's top and was peering at the speedo through the screen unless I ducked my head. No biggeee, the instruments were still easily legible, but you'd wanna be careful when fitting a a tinted screen. And comfy, you could easily tour in relative comfort, the low screen actually helps the wind blast suppport your body. It's no Pan-European but you won't be crippled after a day's riding either.
Aaaah fuggit, who am I kiddin' with the extraneous crap....the thing was a HOOT! I seriously was not prepared for just how much fun it would be. The pipes sounded magnificent, stereo crackling on the overun, and even without perfect fuelling it just felt incredibly urgent, like it wanted to be somewhere, didn't care where, just anywhere but here. Yup, if you're allergic to horsepower this is not the bike for you, the postie bikes are down aisle 4, sir.
Forget any misconceptions of ill handling beasts either. Sure Stalker Walker and co may have struggled on it at WSBK level but at mere mortal levels of talent a ZX10R is a sweet thing. OK, the front was a bit soft for my liking but it didn't put a foot wrong even over manhole covers mid corner (forget about the skirt, concentrate on the road, fella!).
My only real concern was the brakes. Apart from feeling a bit wooden (fixed with a pad change no doubt) I'm thinkin' one of the discs was slightly warped, with a barely noticeable pulsing at the lever as you pulled to a stop with a quiet oscillating squeal. This wasn't noticeable at normal speeds, just as you came to a halt, but would definitely niggle over time.
All up though I've gotta say it's a helluva bike, with serious attitude. Not "I'm gonna killya!" schoolyard bully attitude, more like the cool slightly offbeat kid at school who no-one wants to mess with but can't quite say why, kinda attitude. If you want European character but are stuck with a Japanese budget take one for a squirt, you might just find yourself grinning inside your helmet. I was.
Oh yeah, I actually rang up to make an offer on it later that day but the bike-monger had knocked off for the day. Later that night I was made an offer to good to refuse on something else....I haven't even ridden it yet.....I hope it's as much fun as that big kwaka was.
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Originally Posted by peasea
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