Warning - Long one!
After what was the longest of all house insurance payouts, they finally settled on the flood damage which happened in November last year! When the water was pissing through the roof and going through the bed, and into the cinema downstairs, they refused to pay for Flood Damage as apparently the wind speed wasn't high enough
Long story short: I paid for the repair to the roof out of my bike fund which should have seen me mobile by March this year on something 'special'. Those of you that followed the Pint of Milk thread knew I inadvertently bought an ancient CBRthou on a whim to try and passify the lack of bike that I had budgeted for carefully. I depleted all my savings making good the repair and so could not buy the bike I wanted.
Today they settled
I made my way over to
Bournemouth Kawasaki, courtesy of my friend Tom that got the emergency roll call to take me down there at 10:30 and was promptly here at 11:00am. Arriving at 12:30, my new lover was waiting for me, dressed in a little skimpy metallic green number and flashing her eyes at me.. all four of them
I sat down with Peter - the most patient sales manager on the planet, who held this bike for me for nearly a month.. with just £500 and a Gentlemen's agreement. The buying experience was just fantastic - customer service was top notch and I felt like royalty during the transaction. The bike was spotless, and looked 'as new' not showing any signs of wear from the 7997 miles it had covered under the first owners' careful maintenance. If you've never seen a ZZR1400 in Lime Metallic Green in the flesh before, they are stunning IMO. After a detailed guided tour of the bike and its functions, we said our farewells and he left me alone to do the off (which was quite nice because I was bloody nervous!). The bike has Beowulf cans fitted and they sound a little menacing on tick over and are a reminder of what lurks beneath. I cautiously pulled off and immediately was surprised at how light the bike felt - this is a 1400 after all, and I was prepared to haul the bars if necessary but this simply was not needed. I revved through to around 2500 and grabbed another cog; the box is ok when you're moving but the first time you engage first there is a heavy clunk and apparently this is how they are
On the move the bike felt much lighter than the ancient CBR. So it should do - its aluminium monocoque is stiffer and lighter than the old steel tube of the Honda. Having a weave around I was surprised that no weight was apparent, and even the bars didn't notice the 265KG at anything over 5mph. So far so good then?
Following a slug of traffic I waited at the lights to take me back towards Ringwood and favoured a different route home. I had a satnav but it was not mounted so just figured I would ride about looking for prominent signs which point me back at London. Following the direction Peter had given me, I found the petrol station and pulled in to fuel up. I managed to get 18 quid in it and was again surprised expecting to get a load more in - small tank! Leaving the garage I was on a dual carriageway and had to go up and back on myself, well that was a good excuse to have a play. Gently I wound the revs up.. not hard just gently up to 3500. Silky smooth, I grabbed another cog then another.. f
k me I was doing a ton
Scrubbing off the speed was easy but I was extremely worried because getting back up there was just as easy. I pulled over and told myself off saying I would be more careful and pay more attention, but the bike is soooooo smooth and it does not matter what gear you roll on it, they may as all be first gear - it just pulls it!
Don't ask me how but now I was in Hayling Island.. again! Mid week and it was busy. A lot of cars and no bikes but the big Zed was catching a lot of attention. I pulled up in the same burger bar that I visited with the CBR and the first pic I posted. The guy remembered me and had my cuppa and sausage sandwich ready in no time. I took this picture which would have been great but some dopey cow pulled along side me as I took it. I mean there was 100 square feet and she chose to park next to me
I left Hayling and headed for the A3M. Finding some traffic I noticed that the Zed is quite intimidating and people were pulling over for me even though I was keeping a good distance between me and the car infront. I was starting to get a little cocky now as roll ons at motorway speed are the same as 1st gear.. there is what appears to be a limitless bucket of torque that urges you to twist more.. you MUST resist!
Sadly I didn't and after rinse and repeat in almost every gear I had to have another word with myself to reign it in. It is not easy trying to be sensible. Here is a bike which presents you with hyper performance yet feels as light as my old GSXR 750. The worst thing is there is little wind noise or any indicators that you are travelling at insane speeds other than the speedo. The speedo IS crap BTW. The number smitten clock is almost unreadable as the needle moves so fast you cannot focus on it. Already I have considered blanking out every other ten so it reads 30,50,70, 90 etc.. far too fussy and it's crying out for a digital.
Today? Well I had a load of packages arriving today so needed to be here to sign for them.. that didn't happen. Just popping out for a ride, I did some miles. The bike had 7997 on the clock when I bought it and now...
228 Miles, a second fill up and 100 miles left in the tank.. Loomies for breakfast then! If anyone else is about let me know. You will spot me easy.. look for the bloke with eyes popping out of his head and a grin like a man possessed.
This bike is amazing. It's not like any bike I've owned before and I have had 47 of them. It does EVERYTHING well. I can't see me changing it unless I buy a newer one. So glad I bought this
Sorry for the lack of decent pictures.. I've been busy
That's good self control!
