Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

So today is my 3rd day riding the big girl (im talking about my bike), and to be honest it’s the first time I ever get on and ride a bike any bigger than a 250. Well if you count my brothers GT550, it’s the second, but this one actually goes.
Anyway late afternoon Sunday the missus comes back from being called into work, and since I couldn’t go to the supers, I thought id go for a solo run of the old road and ride my own pace to get acquainted with my new bike. Thanks to the lovely lady at the RTA, I was give my unrestricted licence 4 days early, so I couldn’t let it go to waste! Had a good run, scrubbed in the tyres and I can clearly see my chicken strips…scratch that…chicken fillets and how much more I have to go…
Anyway the ride felt smooth and the power wasn’t overwhelming, although at times of hard acceleration my ass will slip back and hit the back of the seat. Something to get used to im sure, the 250 didn’t have enough ponies to do this so I guess ill have to adjust my wrist action.

Yesterday was my first ride to work and in morning traffic. I felt confident enough to make my way to the front of the line, and it didn’t help that I was running late :/
Caught off guard and forgetting I was on a bigger bike, my immediate reaction when the lights turned green was to fang it as hard as possible to get some distance between me and the cars which I have just pissed off because ive cut the queue.

Well at this point I had shit my pants and suffered 3 heart attacks all in the space of 3-4 seconds. Front wheel came up, and my first thought was, “hey…steering is so light”
Second thought was “holy shit I am on one wheel!”
Closely followed by a “ok off the throttle and light pressure on the rear brake”

When I looked back I was well and truly far enough from traffic to say the least, and after I regained my composure I had a bit of a grin on my face.

I just have to remember that I can reach my 250s top speed in second gear on this one, so the wrist will have to get used to doing fine movements as opposed to FULL ON / FULL OFF.

Since then ive learnt how to take off quickly without lifting the front, so an unintentional repeat performance shoulnt occur again.
I was curious however, have any of you had a similar experience when moving on to a more powerful bike? If so how did you have to adjust your riding style?

Can I give you some advise.....

On a 250 you cant open the throttle quick enough to lose traction on the back wheel.... on a 600 and up you can .... My advise (ignore at your own peril) is to let your tires warm up (at least 3-4 mins riding) before opening the throttle quickly...

front end was getting light on the bonang chasing marty, phil and mick C, but thats all ive managed... no wheelies as yet... you musta really got on the gas quick!!!

oh and please tell me you didnt get shinkos!!!

Congrats on the bike & first un intentional wheelie in time you will get used to the bike it will get easier to ride & less intimidating

going from the Z thou (which wheelied nicely) to the ZX10r was an eye opener...

it wheelies but quite violently...

i'll never forget the feeling redlining second gear the 1st time, it was like when you gain speed the bike just keeps pulling harder and harder and everything going all blurry...

WARP SPEED! it was awesome. i just could lever get the grin off my face after that, i loved the Crim

MrWasabi wrote:I just have to remember that I can reach my 250s top speed in second gear on this one, so the wrist will have to get used to doing fine movements as opposed to FULL ON / FULL OFF.

A 10r can do it in first

yeah mate we all have that first sensational of outright ballyness of the new found power curve. Moving from mainly dirt to road I found myself bein puche back in the seat alot the first few times.

Once your used to it your front wheel coming off the ground wont mean much at all. It's when your rear wheel spins at the same time you start to leave darkies in your undies

Stereo wrote:Can I give you some advise.....

On a 250 you cant open the throttle quick enough to lose traction on the back wheel.... on a 600 and up you can .... My advise (ignore at your own peril) is to let your tires warm up (at least 3-4 mins riding) before opening the throttle quickly...

I know you cant treat the 600 like the 250, and ive been very careful when coming out of corners and taking off, this one time tho it caught me off guard. I guess it will take some time to get used to it, but i hardly rev the thing and barely give it any gas, i feel like im learning all over again

Six Addict wrote: oh and please tell me you didnt get shinkos!!!

No i didnt, ended up getting the pirelli's

my crim used to do sick wheelie in 2nd'... Good thing i never did them! Just the bike did

Blurr wrote:

MrWasabi wrote:I just have to remember that I can reach my 250s top speed in second gear on this one, so the wrist will have to get used to doing fine movements as opposed to FULL ON / FULL OFF.

A 10r can do it in first

yeah mate we all have that first sensational of outright ballyness of the new found power curve. Moving from mainly dirt to road I found myself bein puche back in the seat alot the first few times.

Once your used to it your front wheel coming off the ground wont mean much at all. It's when your rear wheel spins at the same time you start to leave darkies in your undies

Im probably a long way away from that but by the sounds of it, its not something ill be doing in a hurry
Todays ride back home was a lot more comfortable. Getting used to the unf and sliding back a lot less. Bring on the next track day

Go find the balance point, then 2nd, 3rd.

Know the feeling well (and recent)
With the TRE I had better get used to it ......and fast

I was coming out of the first 45k/h left hander down the old road after the right hander with the white lines leading up to it, and was in third gear at about
7500rpms and the front just came up with ease and i hadnt even straightened up yet so as you could imagine i shit myself but had a massive grin on my face all the way to the slab.

Wattie wrote:WARP SPEED! it was awesome. i just could lever get the grin off my face after that, i loved the Crim

+1
love the crim

MrWasabi wrote:Well at this point I had shit my pants and suffered 3 heart attacks all in the space of 3-4 seconds. Front wheel came up, and my first thought was, “hey…steering is so light”
Second thought was “holy shit I am on one wheel!”
Closely followed by a “ok off the throttle and light pressure on the rear brake”

MrWasabi wrote:When I looked back I was well and truly far enough from traffic to say the least, and after I regained my composure I had a bit of a grin on my face

The grin on your face is a common occurrence after the front wheel comes off the deck.

Jumping from a ZZR250 to a ZX9 got the heart rate up every time I twisted the throttle. Since then all the bikes have not been much of a shock until the ZRX1200. What surprised me was the throttle response from down low and how hard it pulled from anywhere in the rev range and I've never ridden anything that lifted the front wheel so easily. At some point I would like to try a 10 to see what all the fuss is about.

MrWasabi wrote:ground wont mean much at all. It's when your rear wheel spins at the same time you start to leave darkies in your undies

Im probably a long way away from that but by the sounds of it, its not something ill be doing in a hurry
Todays ride back home was a lot more comfortable. Getting used to the unf and sliding back a lot less. Bring on the next track day

I remember when i had my zx636 i was the same, i remeber the first time the front came up i was like WTF AHHHHH and shit myself!
Now i can't get enough power wheelies and high speed hooning!

You will gradually get better and better when you learn good throttle control, you can also do clutch ups!!

take it easy mate ,,,,the 12r is on 1 wheel everytime i get over 7,000rpm