I got to ride a new Liter bike
05-13-2005, 09:51 PM
#1
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: South Texas
Posts: 2,553
I got to ride a new Liter bike
I got to ride today a brand spanking new 2004 ZX10RR, kawasaki green of course. A fellow local rider just bought it saturday and let me have a test ride today while we swapped bikes. He hadn't ridden my SuperHawk yet either. It only had 540 miles but he's doing the "ride it like you stole it" break-in proceedure.
Truth be told, I wasn't that impressed, let down actually.
Let's get it out of the way first, yes it has a friggin' motor from
hell. But that's about the only plus I can think of from my all too
short ride.
The mirrors are beyond a joke. Why mention this first? Well, usually one says of poor mirrors that all you can see is elbows but with these all you can see are your ribs! I actually had to steer a slight weave to see where the owner was on my bike on the straights. I'm not kidding.
The riding position truly feels like the proverbial monkey-f$#^ing-a-football cliche'. The heels of my palms could all most
touch my knees (OK, it was about a 4 inch distance). Your knees grip
the wide frame (has guards) instead of the tank. The mono-seat felt better than it should but then again, it was a short ride. From a stop, when I went to raise my feet to the peg height I'm accustomed to on my VTR my calfs would hit the pegs! Holy moly.....
The top of the windscreen is about even with your navel! It has
absolutely no wind protection. I thought I was hauling *** the first time I went through the gears (cautiously mind you) but was shocked to see 74mph on the speedo. I thought I was over 100 because of the wind pressure. You HAVE to lay on the tank if you get-on-it hard.
I kept trying to find 7th even tho' it was spinning about the same or
maybe even less rpm than the superhawk at cruising speed (hard to tell with the tach). No buzz and very smooth but it has an almost turbo type lag of delivery in 5th/6th gears compared to our bike. I was shocked but I do have a 15t so factor that in.
Radial brakes were nothing to write home about (? but I do have 6 piston) and the tranny sucked; real notchy but it's new right? I then remembered a track introduction article in which it was noted that many of the press bikes had bad shifting and a fix would be issued.
Digital circular tach sucked big time; an answer to a question nobody asked. :-)
The suspension is quality stuff but is "race-inspired" as the rags like
to say and is too stiff and uncompliant at normal street speeds. The
couple of turns where I was able to wick it up, it felt better but by then the
windblast was aproaching critical mass. Like I said, if you wanna' ride
this thing fast be prepared to get in the race tuck and stay there. No
thank you!
I was very surprised that the stock exhaust is loud by OEM standards and sounds great, IMO just right. OK, that's two "pluses"!
Bottom line for me: these latest RR's are long gone past street bikes. I have lusted after a new "liter bike" but no more. I was very glad to get back on my SuperHawk/FireStorm/VTR1000F.
Doug
PS I am hoping to get another ride in the twisties where I know it will be a lot more fun.
Truth be told, I wasn't that impressed, let down actually.
Let's get it out of the way first, yes it has a friggin' motor from
hell. But that's about the only plus I can think of from my all too
short ride.
The mirrors are beyond a joke. Why mention this first? Well, usually one says of poor mirrors that all you can see is elbows but with these all you can see are your ribs! I actually had to steer a slight weave to see where the owner was on my bike on the straights. I'm not kidding.
The riding position truly feels like the proverbial monkey-f$#^ing-a-football cliche'. The heels of my palms could all most
touch my knees (OK, it was about a 4 inch distance). Your knees grip
the wide frame (has guards) instead of the tank. The mono-seat felt better than it should but then again, it was a short ride. From a stop, when I went to raise my feet to the peg height I'm accustomed to on my VTR my calfs would hit the pegs! Holy moly.....
The top of the windscreen is about even with your navel! It has
absolutely no wind protection. I thought I was hauling *** the first time I went through the gears (cautiously mind you) but was shocked to see 74mph on the speedo. I thought I was over 100 because of the wind pressure. You HAVE to lay on the tank if you get-on-it hard.
I kept trying to find 7th even tho' it was spinning about the same or
maybe even less rpm than the superhawk at cruising speed (hard to tell with the tach). No buzz and very smooth but it has an almost turbo type lag of delivery in 5th/6th gears compared to our bike. I was shocked but I do have a 15t so factor that in.
Radial brakes were nothing to write home about (? but I do have 6 piston) and the tranny sucked; real notchy but it's new right? I then remembered a track introduction article in which it was noted that many of the press bikes had bad shifting and a fix would be issued.
Digital circular tach sucked big time; an answer to a question nobody asked. :-)
The suspension is quality stuff but is "race-inspired" as the rags like
to say and is too stiff and uncompliant at normal street speeds. The
couple of turns where I was able to wick it up, it felt better but by then the
windblast was aproaching critical mass. Like I said, if you wanna' ride
this thing fast be prepared to get in the race tuck and stay there. No
thank you!
I was very surprised that the stock exhaust is loud by OEM standards and sounds great, IMO just right. OK, that's two "pluses"!
Bottom line for me: these latest RR's are long gone past street bikes. I have lusted after a new "liter bike" but no more. I was very glad to get back on my SuperHawk/FireStorm/VTR1000F.
Doug
PS I am hoping to get another ride in the twisties where I know it will be a lot more fun.
05-14-2005, 02:04 AM
#2
Senior Member
Superstock
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 318
Re: I got to ride a new Liter bike
Thanks for sharing your experience.
it is nice to hear other people's experiences on bikes that we all dream about.
I must say... those who like Superhawks are hard to please with other bikes. Why? we are spoiled with relatively great comfort, a fantastic torqy engine, and overall one of the best real world bikes out there.
On a recent ride, I had an opportunity to switch bikes with two other riders, one a Yamaha FJR1300 and one was Triumph Sprint (995). I must say that even though I liked them both, I did not/would not want to buy either (I know, FJR is a different class, but still engine wise you are talking 1300 cc's.)
Superhawk is one of the best bikes out there, in its own interesting way.
it is nice to hear other people's experiences on bikes that we all dream about.
I must say... those who like Superhawks are hard to please with other bikes. Why? we are spoiled with relatively great comfort, a fantastic torqy engine, and overall one of the best real world bikes out there.
On a recent ride, I had an opportunity to switch bikes with two other riders, one a Yamaha FJR1300 and one was Triumph Sprint (995). I must say that even though I liked them both, I did not/would not want to buy either (I know, FJR is a different class, but still engine wise you are talking 1300 cc's.)
Superhawk is one of the best bikes out there, in its own interesting way.
05-14-2005, 07:37 AM
#3
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MotoGP
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: South Texas
Posts: 2,553
Re: I got to ride a new Liter bike
Faz,
I too recently got a short ride on a Triumph Sprint RS, '01 I think. Some reading led me to believe that this might be the direction I would go in my next bike.
Total lack of roll-on ummph left me disappointed and when I found out it all ready had a 1 tooth lower front sprocket, I was crushed. It also had higher pegs than my lowered peg mod superhawk but the bar reach was less.
The triple felt much more closer to an IL4 than a twin; kinda' like an IL4 in need of a carb synch.
It had a factory accessory CF muffler and sounded great, IMO.
I too recently got a short ride on a Triumph Sprint RS, '01 I think. Some reading led me to believe that this might be the direction I would go in my next bike.
Total lack of roll-on ummph left me disappointed and when I found out it all ready had a 1 tooth lower front sprocket, I was crushed. It also had higher pegs than my lowered peg mod superhawk but the bar reach was less.
The triple felt much more closer to an IL4 than a twin; kinda' like an IL4 in need of a carb synch.
It had a factory accessory CF muffler and sounded great, IMO.
05-14-2005, 09:28 AM
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
i sold my hawk to buy my deceased freinds 03 gsxr1000 last month. i will definalty be getting higher clip ons and a double bubble, but thats about it. the gixxers have way better low to mid power than the other litres, pulling hard from as low as 3000rpm. the veeter used to feel so fast, now it feels like a mustang or camero compared to my new ferrari, more noise less power. i do see another veeter in my future, set up more for long highway rides. after owning one you know why honda hasnt messed with it over the years (ok suspension upgrades would be nice).
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