Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

The time has come for me to start looking for a new bike. My restricted license ends at the start of september

At the moment i have semi decided to get either a z1000('10) or a zx6/10r('06, '07)

I'm not sure about the older z1000's i have seen nice ones but i much prefer the '10, '11 model

I will be using the bike to commute and weekends and maybe the occasional track day in the future...

If anybody says that they are too fast for a young rider etc etc i hope your first born child is infested with the fleas of a thousand camels

I'm thinking zx6/10r,

Pros;
looks awesome!
some wind protection
good for the weekend/ track
price
fast

Cons;
riding position
older/kms

z1000

Pros;
looks good
upright/ comfortable
faast

Cons;
no wind protection
price

anybody who has been down this road before or own either of these bikes have an opinion/ advice?

ZX10R and a bottle of Jim Beam.

oldman wrote:ZX10R and a bottle of Jim Beam.

at the same time though? sound advice oldman

Dont you have a z1000?

I reckon it depends on how much commuting you do, compared to how much weekend riding you do....... if you do more commuting, get the Zeddy, if it's more weekend riding get the Gumby, but really it would be just your preference.
I wouldn't put either on the track. These days you can pick up a cheap 600 Track bike. Here is a good example here
http://www.ksrc-au.com/phpBB3/viewtopic ... 16&t=32820 Seriously though, you don't want to be chucking your pride and joy around a track, especially if you need it to commute on the next day. You can buy a track bike for what it will cost to repair your thou if you bin it......... been there done that

I like my zx6 twins! They bring a smile to my face everytime I ride them. I owned a 06-07 zx10 during and after my restricted licence and FMD it was a quick bike. Too quick for me and always felt I was never actually riding the bike but more like the bike was the one in control. But thats just my experience. I reckon the 600 is a great piece of gear and fun all the same. When the moons align and my Mrs decides to stop punching
out kids, the current z1000 would be my next bike but that wont be this decade at this rate HTH

Yep I'd go the zx6 also, there a great bike.
How many klms commuting do you do???
I it's alot then I vote the z1000,z750 on the road an a zx6r on the track, same reasons as above
Good luck an have fun shopping

An 04ZX10-yeah baby

yeah it's a hard choice, i commute 40kms a day so its not a huge amount.

At the moment i ride a zxr250 which i only get fairly uncomfortable on after a 250kms weekend ride!

I do spend more time commuting however...

Also the track bike idea is something im sure the misses wont like maybe i could keep the zxr250 for the track for the time being? is it worth tracking the 250?

i owned a Z750 then went to a ZX6 (both were 05 models)
i rode both bikes on the track - the ZX6 i did a lot of track days on.

At that time i was not commuting though so the zx6 was great cause it was a better track bike.
the only thing i didnt like about the z750 around that time was the wind factor.

Now in hindsight i know i was being a sook and i should harden up a bit

If things go well i plan to be looking for a new bike later this year and i have been already looking at options and ive decided that i would more than likely buy another naked bike.
One of the reasons why is for the wind factor

the wind factor is a good indicator of speed and i found my cruising speeds on those bikes varied greatly beacuse of the wind.
the z750 i tended to sit around 120 or less but the zx6 wanted to sit around 140 when cruising open roads.

now that i really need to keep my license (live in the country now) i would much rather cop a fine for 120ks than 140.

So as smithy5 already said above if your mainly commuting go the Z but if your mainly trackdays etc go the zx.

Like others have said, it depends on what you want to do with it most of the time. I got a 05 zx6 after my ninja 250 and couldn't be happier. It may not be the best thing for peak hour commuting but you can still do it. The z will be much more comfortable commuting.

If it is not the only transport you will have, then I reckon a zx6 will be my advice. The 10 may be just a bit too much given you are going to come off a 250. Just my 2 cents.

i'd be happy to put some money down on the Z1k being the better bike for you.

the 600 will be more or less ok but more revvy than a 1000. and that = more fuel. with the 1000's fatter torque you'd quite likely get better fuel economy when tootling along at lower rpm. wind protection shouldnt be an issue really, just get a little bikini fairing for the headlight and rug up warm with a good quality winter jacket for the cold days.

fuel economy wise, my GSXR1k with 93,000km gets me 310km to a tank (17 litres with a litre to spare) quite easily, commuting only. i dont know of any 600's out there getting very far past 200km.

A 600 will be quick enough for the road. Comes down to the fun factor and how you want to ride. I'm on an ER6 which is a different animal but its about corner speed on a 600 whereas the litre bikes are a bit more point and shoot (or it looks like that riding with them)

Mate, what look do you like?

A sports or an angry naked ?

I love my Zed, however i do massive K's.

Plus its fun running the sport bikes

Good luck either way.

if all else fails, stick to the 250 and bump up the rear sprocket by 2 teeth, that will help considerably with acceleration off the lights.

dilligaf - 1000's arent quite point and shoot, maybe its the people you see riding them. also the OP has said the majority of his riding is commuting along with a weekend ride thrown in for good measure.

FWIW, ive commuted on both 250's and 1000's and ive just been able to relax more on the bigger bike when filtering and changing lanes in between cars due to the amount of torque available on hand to get myself out of trouble if needed. with the smaller bike you'd need to work a bit harder to get going. and i find people tend to notice bigger bikes better than smaller ones too.

ZX6R 09+! I might be biased though...