Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Yeah, but do you like it.

Yup...marshmellow free zone

err....maybe Wadda!!!

Found it!

"2002 Naked Bike Shootout
We Like to Play the Emperor's New Clothes
story by John Burns, Photograph by Daniel O'Connell, Created Aug. 21, 2002
BACK TO THE ARTICLE PRINT
We Like to Play the Emperor's New Clothes
Fontana, California, August 20, 2002 --

When the dog bites. When the bee stings. When we're feeling sad. Etcetera etc. These are a few of our favorite things: Big ol' bikes--some bigger than others--with handlebars that don't make us assume the position, bikes that are happy under any circumstance, bikes that are nice to our tender little bottoms.

We love them dearly, but we gots ta know: Will we be embarrassed when it comes time for a track day?


Now that our friends at Fastrack (fastrackriders.com) have broken the code to Mr. Penske's lovely facility right down the road in Fontana, California, we're there more than we're home, seems like--a win/win for ourselves and our loved ones. And so we gathered together friends and motorcycles to see how things shake out.

What fun would it be, though, without something thrown in to make our attempt at scientific method, fairly unscientific?

We actually went to Fontana twice--one Friday using the big, AMA circuit--ie, the infield and part of the big superspeedway. Then, about a week later, we rode the smaller, tighter infield course. That's because, due to circumstances beyond our control, the Ducati couldn't make the first day. On day two, also due to circumstances within our control sort of but not really, a bunch of the other bikes couldn't make it due to it being a Monday and people having jobs and stuff--and us having but the one clapped-out van. The bike that did make it, to duke it out with the Ducati, was the Kawasaki ZRX, for the simple reason that our fastest tester (that would be me) went fastest on it on day one. Does this make any sense at all?

Dang, guess I already gave it away. The Kawasaki ZRX ain't exactly sophisticated, but the fact it's got 165cc more than the next biggest bike makes up for a lot of that; 80 foot-pounds of torque at under 7000 rpm overcomes the fact that the Kawasaki is the heaviest bike in the group too. Also, the big circuit is pretty dang smooth, which seems to de-penalize the big Kawasaki's old-fashioned steel tube frame/dual shock chassis. Not that it's not an exciting ride just the same.


Lively is a good word when speaking of the Kawasaki at speed. Too lively for many tastes, in fact.

The bars feel a tad light blazing down Fontana's long front straight at 150-whatever, but if you go limp and trust in Allah, nothing nasty ever comes of it. Down off the banking there's a tight left followed by a slow kink that leads into a big, fast left.

In it, I don't think Kawasaki's people did the bike any favors by fitting cheater D208GP Dunlops, as the bike gets into a big dirtbike clawing-for-traction mode while the rider attempts to keep the throttle wide open whilst sawing at the wide handlebar.


Stimulating if you're accustomed to that type of thing. Offputting if you've grown used to modern bikes. (Wes Cooley sometimes liked street tires on his old Yosh superbike, he told me, `cause they'd slide instead of tying up the chassis. Now I understand.)

Six-piston Tokico calipers have no trouble slowing the bike, even if their feel isn't the absolute best, and the long, low Kawasaki fully uses the grip of the D208s once in the corner, where it has more ground clearance than any other bike here. It's a big beast, but with excellent weight distribution; the rider sits up close to the not-too-wide bar, and that big crankshaft is low and close to the front wheel.





"Corner exits, though, are its stock in trade; hang on when the tach gets past about 4000."

Next quickest for yours truly would be the Yamaha FZ-1 --indeed my fastest low-1:47 lap on it is right there with the ZRX. We left the standard tires on all the other bikes--standard on the Yamaha being Bridgestone BT020s--but even with sport-touring rubber the limiting factor on the FZ was ground clearance: the series of fast lefts that dumps onto the long front straight is critical to a good time at Fontana, and every time I had a good one going, the FZ's left peg would dig in, bounce me off-line a tad, and there a tenth or five would go.

Aside from that, the FZ really does no wrong. If it doesn't have quite the Kawasaki's punch out of slow sections, it makes up for it with greater revvability and a slick six-speed gearbox (instead of the Kawasaki's five-speed). Its R1-style monoblock-caliper brakes are the finest in the field, and while the FZ's suspension is on the soft side for track work (hence the dragging problem), the bike never, ever feels uncomposed, decomposed, or even the least bit loose, in the Kawasaki way.

The Triumph Speed Triple is of course, a long-time favorite. As with nearly every Triumph we've ridden lately, the Speed Nipple's suspension engineers have performed an excellent job; this one's a tad firmer than the FZ-1, but just like the Yamaha, the Triple is absolutely stable and composed all the way around Fontana, and also equipped with powerful, modulable brakes that will get the front BT010 Bridgestone hopping and locking in Fontana's hardest-braking area; no worries, thanks to the wide handlebar. The Triumph steers light and quick but not too--just right, really--has good cornering clearance and, at 480 pounds wet, nearly ties the 919 for skinniest-chick honors.


The Triple feels like it has the widest, most easily deployed powerband, too. Why, given all that, did I go a bit slower on it? Don't know. Must be down to the fact that the engine is a mere 955cc, and while it feels torquey in the midrange, our Dynojet says it sort of isn't compared to the Kawasaki and FZ-1. Matter of fact, the Triple doesn't get past about the 60 foot-pound mark until past 7500 rpm, and if you've been riding fours all day it's easy to smack into the rev limiter shortly thereafter. So what if it's a second slower; the Triumph sends up such a cool howl, and has such a nice chassis it barely matters.

My times upon it were actually marching steadily downward when I, um, got tired and salty of eyeball and parked it. With fresher rubber, a loud-ass exhaust pipe and a little reprogramming, the Speed Triple might be the one.

Alas, the Honda 919 is a pleasant little animal but one which comes up short in our racetrack competition by dint of a measly 919cc engine cranking out a paltry 100 horsepower--not enough of either to hang with this crowd at Fontana. The 919 steers quicker and lighter than the other bikes (not a real advantage at Fontana but a big one in the Street Competition, to come when we get around to it). Also, the Honda is the only bike here which makes no provision for suspension adjustability. The fork is too soft or needs more compression damping or both; it's easy to get the front end plunging/chattering in Fontana's hardest braking zone in an almost alarming fashion, and sometimes quick transitions (if you're used to wrestling the Kawasaki especially) get the Honda into momentary spasms. Of all the streetbikes here assembled, the Honda is most suited to, how shall we say--being ridden at a streetbike pace. Less experienced pilots, riding at a more casual pace, like it fine (which is what we in the biz call "damning with faint praise").

JohnnyB's Times
ZRX 1:47.1
FZ-1 1:47.2
Speed Triple 1:48.1
919 1:48.5






copyright (c) 2008 Verticalscope Inc. Story from http://www.motorcycle.com/shoot-outs/20 ... 15403.html "

Woohoo!!! Got an email this morning...my Hepco and Becker luggage has turned up in Oz!! Knowing my luck, they will turn up here at home, after I leave for the next Sydney trip!!!!

Strika wrote:Woohoo!!! Got an email this morning...my Hepco and Becker luggage has turned up in Oz!! Knowing my luck, they will turn up here at home, after I leave for the next Sydney trip!!!!

Where'd you get it from?

http://www.motorcycleadventure.com.au


But I wouldn't wx lyrical about the service..............AS THEY STILL HAVE NOT ARRIVED AFTER BEING PROMISED THEM SINCE THE 8th OF APRIL!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the Rexess club!

Fit a fork brace, might make a bit of difference.

Bill.

billwest wrote:Welcome to the Rexess club!

Fit a fork brace, might make a bit of difference.

Bill.

he needs more than a fork brace

Wattie wrote:

he needs more than a fork brace

Yeah, some training wheels more likely!!!

I did a little bit in the shed this arvo. When I say a little bit, I really mean a little bit.... My Oggie knobs arrived this morning, so I thought I'd have a little look see at how much FAT I had to pay in fitting them! Thanksfully, these ones must have been the FAT free oggies, as they required nothing more than ten minutes and some tools. Easies thing I reckon I have done to a bike! Of course it helps when it's semi naked to start with. I will post some pics when it's all back together. The Oggies were one's I found on th net. The cheapest one's I could find on the net to be precise. As it turns out, they look like really good quality in terms of the bolts, brackets and the guts of the spools. The particular oggies (Frame sliders, Spools, Crash knobs, crash bobbins, crash bungs whatever you wanna call em) are finished with a carbon fibre look. I have seen some of these look really ratty after a few kilometres, so we will see how thy hold up. They look pretty good ATM all new and shiny, time will tell hey. They also double as makeshift highway pegs for those occasions when I have to slab it somewhere.

I can't remember how much these were, but I think they were something really silly like $30 or $40 dollars??? I could be wrong, I just ordered the cheapest I could find at the time. They were on Ebay, but they have a store also at http://WWW.D2Moto.com which has loads of other stuff too.

Ignition Advancer from Ted:

http://www.zrxoa.org/webpages/market/pr ... Parts.html


Ideas from:

http://www.zrxoa.org/forums/

billwest wrote:Ignition Advancer from Ted:

http://www.zrxoa.org/webpages/market/pr ... Parts.html


Ideas from:

http://www.zrxoa.org/forums/

Search for strika on there BW and see what ya find!!!!

I stand admonished!

The bits finally arrived today. Kawasaki promised 14 days and they arrived in 16, so not too bad really!!! I took the decals down to the painters so they can finish off the tank and fairings. They reckon Wed next week, so I will probably bank on friday. If all goes well with that, then we can expect to see a flying Rex back on the tarmac not too long after that. He will have the headlight ready for me (it broke a mount tab off which he has made a new one for) so I can mount that up.

I spent a few minutes in the shed at lunch time, reinstalling the radiator (had to straighten the mount) the new fairing bracket, the instrument bracket, the rad shrouds and the new switchblock. I hooked up the fuel tank from the racebike to the Rex and started it too. I wanted to see if the oil and water pumps were functioning ok. If so I was going to leave the graunched eng cover on it and keep the spare and the gasket for the next off!!! It all worked fine, gaining oil pressure immediately and reaching op temp till the fan kicked in etc. All good!!! Even the stale 12 month old fuel in the racer tank was fine!!!!!!

While fecking around in th shed, I started glueing littl rubber pads into the areas where plstics will join or things mount, like the mirrors for example. The idea being to remove the mirror buzz which happens from 100-140kph! Right where you need em!! I'd be happy if I could just move them to 115 before they buzz.

It's starting to take shape. All things being equal, I might be up for a ride next weekend. Mind you, the ribs are still giving me grief, so it may be a short one at that!!

Was about to ask how the ribs were going after all talk of progress on the bike, my bet is if you are up and running this week ribs or no ribs you won't be able to help yourself and you'll do a half dayer at the least.

Strika,

I use one of these on my Rex and my ZZR:

http://www.murphskits.com/adap/bergadap.htm

The standard Kawi spin-on filter fits just right.