Kawasaki Ride Day

[Brett]

The fleet of Kawasaki bikes will be in Mackay on 12 September for a ride day.

I believe they are bringing bikes from across the entire range.

If you are interested in a ride give them a call and book your spot.

4942-4300

Tell them I sent ya


Brett

[zrex1200au]

Sounds good.

I might go test a couple of 1400's.


Only way I will ever get to test ride a NEW Kwaka in Mackay.

Thanks for the heads up Brett .

[Brad]

I wonder if it's a roadshow, will they come this far north?

[NJS]

Fucking crush. That's 2 ride days now.

[Brett]

I think you have a doctor's appointment Nathan..

[Joker]

Fucking crush. That's 2 ride days now.

Tell them you need stress leave.

[Brett]

I would like to ride a GTR1400, ZX14, Z1000, Z hang on, I would like to ride all of them....lol

[zrex1200au]

Well I am booked in for a 10:30 on the GTR1400 & 11:30 on the ZX14 .

If U want a ride U better book soon .

Tell em' Brett sent you. I did & they told me to pi-- off .
















No they didn't the girls @ Kwaka are far to nice to use that language .

[NJS]

Could do a sickie except it's also Bron's birthday

[RustyGT]

Go for a look tamorra.
See what's left to ride...

Last ride day in town, i shot down the back road from Farleigh to Sugarshed.
On a Trump Daytona 675 @ XXX ks.

Think i'm banned from Bullets now.

[outbackbiker]

Go for a look tamorra.
See what's left to ride...

Last ride day in town, i shot down the back road from Farleigh to Sugarshed.
On a Trump Daytona 675 @ XXX ks.

Think i'm banned from Bullets now.

Nah I did the same!! Then they rang the next day & asked what thought of it!

[zrex1200au]

Go for a look tamorra.
See what's left to ride...

Last ride day in town, i shot down the back road from Farleigh to Sugarshed.
On a Trump Daytona 675 @ XXX ks.

Think i'm banned from Bullets now.

Speaking of which there is also a BMW Demo ride day @ Mackay M'Cycles same day. I had planned to go there & ride the R & K 1300's.....
I really like the idea of being able to change suspension settings on the move, but you gotta pay for that sorta techamanology.

[zrex1200au]

Could do a sickie except it's also Bron's birthday

Nathan,
Just explain to her you are going to take her for a ride on a Brand New Bike for her B'day,...... That should fix your dilemma.




One way or another.............

[NJS]

Sat on the er6-n when I was down on Tuesday will have to be satisfied with that.

[plane]

Well I am booked in for a 10:30 on the GTR1400 & 11:30 on the ZX14 .

Let me know what yoiu think of them Errol... I can't make it down there, but I'm interested in your opinion.

Cheers,
Pete

[Brett]

Hey Pete.
Errol has a woody//lol

I had a great day .
Rode several bikes//couldnt manage to get on a sports bike though.

I had a ball on the Z750, enjoiyed the GTR1400,,,they were all good.

Errol had a crack at the ZX6..

looked like a bear humping a rabbit..lol

One thing I will say is thqt this ride day is one of the better ones I have been on.

We went on a decent ride and were guided through some corners at speed ( within the limit of course) and covered 20km or so each ride.

Sausage sizzle was layed on too.

Well done Mackay Kawasaki.

[plane]

Hey Pete.
Errol has a woody//lol......

Errol had a crack at the ZX6..

looked like a bear humping a rabbit..lol

I honestly don't think I could picture Errol on a ZX6 Brett! I hope his wrists survived.

I'm pleased that they put on a good show, I also had a good experience with Mackay Motorcycles recently at their Harley ride day here in Airlie.

Maybe dealers/distributors are cottoning onto the fact that if they make the product more available for testing, they'll sell more units!


Did anyone get any pictures?

Cheers,
Pete

[zrex1200au]

Well,
Turned up to ride a #1 GTR 1400 @ the 10:30am session.
Nice Bike, some personal tuning on the front suspension may have made this my #2 Bike Of The Day,

The #1 ZX14,.............. The only bike that I rode that made me want........., well........................, I want one, maybe two .

#3 Z750, nice within limits, broad limits, IMO.

As it fell,#2 went to the Z1000 .
What a capable bike. I rode the first model way back when, & was underwelled after 12 mth's of ZRX1200 ownership. The current Z1000 has come a long way .

# 10 VN1700, Ok this scared me, not sure where the motorcycle relationship is, I guess the 2 - wheeled genre is BROAD .

#4 ZX6R
looked like a bear humping a rabbit..lol (quote Brett)

Well......, Pretty much how I felt, I even sorta envy Bears .


Did I mention I would take a ZX14, if anyone has one that may end up homeless

[RustyGT]

Well i had a crack at both.

Went the kwaka first and rode the Z750.
Nope, did not get that figured out at all.
Suspension was too choppy for our roads.
Enjoyable pace rips your head off and wide bars make you a wind sock.
Gerry made a good comment about having to adjust your arse cheeks to the seat...

Donk was turbine smooth but no flywheel and no bottom end.
Goes when you stir it up but the wind blast stiffened my shoulders up and i couldnt turn the thing.
Like i said couldn't figure it out.

Went to Mackay MCs and rode an R1200R next.
Riding position and switchgear much better.
Had high hopes for this having ridden airhead boxers for years.
Mmm...

Bastard vibrates like a sportster at idle.
Smoothes out at mid rev range then gets harsh again at higher revs.
Gearbox is slicker than the old dears, but motor isnt.
Tall first gear is an odd one, and the fuelling is snatchy down low.
Never got a shot at usuable corners.
Nakeds like this would make not make a good all day job without at least a bikini fairing or screen.

Rode the F800R next.
Interesting motor but again harsh.
Bluddy japanese switch gear.
Many dont like BMs 3 switch indicators. I do
Whats wrong with self canceling indicators anyway? ffs.
Naked again, same comments as above.
Still like to try the F800 GS.
And some better roads for both.

Back to the kwaka fest.
Whats left?
Big GTR. Erh OK.

Man had a blast. Best thing i've ridden.

Could i live with it?
No. Some serious heat coming out from under the tank.
People say K bikes are bad for that.
May have just been the way we were riding, squirt stop squirt stop.
But it was hot.
Too big, too fast ... erh what was that again?

Handled beautifully though.
Errol asked what my problem was.
So i repeated my comment 'this thing steers'!
Quite a revelation.
The K bike handles like a hovercraft by comparison...

Lots of other observations i could make about it.
But it was fun.

Twas an educational day.

Spoke to some interesting blokes.
Also rode with some real gumbies...

Hey Brett, did i hear you say you were going back out one afternoon next week?
The lads said they'd have the bikes for a week.
Might be a show to take the 'sports' out for a trot.

LMK.

Cheers R.

[plane]

Went to Mackay MCs and rode an R1200R next.
Riding position and switchgear much better.
Had high hopes for this having ridden airhead boxers for years.
Mmm...

Bastard vibrates like a sportster at idle.
Smoothes out at mid rev range then gets harsh again at higher revs.
Gearbox is slicker than the old dears, but motor isnt.
Tall first gear is an odd one, and the fuelling is snatchy down low.
Never got a shot at usuable corners.
Nakeds like this would make not make a good all day job without at least a bikini fairing or screen.

I reckon you had a dodgey one Rusty. I rode my mates R1200R a year ago and it was deceptively fast and (I thought) smooth for a twin. Very comfy bike in my opinion, but not that much better than the rex that I would rush out and buy one.

Hey Brett, did i hear you say you were going back out one afternoon next week?
The lads said they'd have the bikes for a week.
Might be a show to take the 'sports' out for a trot.

LMK.

Cheers R.

Is this true???

If so I might have to take my lid down with me on Tuesday morning......!

Looks like I'll have to give them a call!

Cheers,
Pete

[goose68]

So Errol have you stopped smiling yet.

[zrex1200au]

The smile is dissipating slowly as the reality that I will probably never own one sets in .

But, our test ride consisted of some 25klms of mixed roads, corners, Hiway, backroad high speed sections. All mixed with Mackays famous rough roads.

The ZX14 was just SO capable & comfortable & easy to punt along.
Even rounding up the ZX10 in the fast sweepers, I was not the only one who found themselves backing of the 14 not to run over ZX10 pilots. When following the 10 & 14 on the Z1000 I noticed how stable the 14 sat on the road while the 10 skittered it's rear around. One concern I did have with the 14 was, it pinged like a bastered when given WOT from around 3500 rpm. Asked if they had put premium in it but no-one new for sure, is this a common trait, & do U have to run them on premium?

The GTR 14 was nice enough, great seat, screen would possibly be handy in torrential rain or cold weather, but the feeling of power/grunt was down compared to the ZRX.

The ZX6, well mildly uncomfortable for me, could never contemplate one as my one & only do everything bike like the ZRX. Great power when I could commit enough concentration to where the tacho needle was, but skitty as hell both ends on the rough corners & bends. Could conceivably be tuned out of the suspension I would imagine. Made it real obvious to me why I could round up the ZX10 & 6 riders on the ZX14 & Z1000.

When I road over to the demo day I was thinking it will be nice to ride some new bikes with nice suspension. I road home thinking geez the ZRX rides nice all things considered, and the only bike there I rode that had the drop on it for power & grunt was the ZX14, the Z1000 felt close. I never rode the ZX10.

Nah.......... Still smiling .

[plane]

Got to have a ride on the ZX14 last Monday and am still trying to figure out a way of slipping one into the garage without Cath noticing!!!

I went there with the attitude of trying to find something on the bike to stop me buying one. Only gripe I had was that it got hot in stop start traffic......

Took it out to Marian and back to simulate the majority of the riding I would be doing on it and I could not fault it other than a slight hesitation at 3500rpm as you wound it on in 6th to go past traffic.

Very comfortable and capable sports tourer.

Sorry about the crappy photo, only had my old phone with me!

Cheers,
Pete