Test Riding Goodness!

It has been quite a while since my last post, I know. Now I currently have my 2010 ZX6R (bought new in May 2011) and my 1997 ZX7R which I picked up last year. My original intention had been to ride the 6 until it dies... but then... I was out at Canberra Motorcycle Centre one day last week and I happened to spy the z800. Instant love. What a beautiful machine! I admired it for a bit and then I just had to know how much it cost. I determined to come back out on Saturday so that I could take it for a ride, and get a value on trading in the 6 (which now has close enough to 70,000km on board).

 Saturday morning dawned drizzly and miserable. But before long the rain mostly stopped so I decided to try my luck, if nothing else I could sit on the z800 and make vroom vroom noises while I got a value on my ZX6R so at least I'd know if I could afford it or not. The closer I got to Fyshwick the drier it became, until outside CMC the roads were mostly dry - yay! the clouds were still threatening but my luck held out. And so commenced quite a fun day.

 I headed out on a z800
 
First up I headed out onto the Monaro to see how it felt at highway speed, as I guess that is what I mostly do. I was terribly disappointed, it was waaaaaay too breezy to be comfortable doing that all day. The handling was very nice and nimble and while the clutch/throttle took me a bit of getting used to it as quite nice to ride... until I got over about 80km/h. Oh well, back to CMC with the realisation that perhaps naked was NOT for me.


 Next up was the new ZX6R - they've gone back to a 636 motor and I was quite keen to try it out. Straight up I found this bike *very* easy to ride, but that is probably because it is still very similar to my current 6. I really liked it though it didn't really do anything that my current 6 doesn't do. It has various power modes which I didn't play with and I don't know anything about. I liked it a lot in the end.




 Following the ZX6R I hopped on the Ninja 1000. Now I hadn't really considered this bike before but the salesman thought this might be a good compromise between the faired sportsbikes that I like and the touring type of riding that I actually do. Again it was really easy to ride, hop on and go. As soon as I pulled out of the driveway I could feel the power. My first impression of this bike was WOW. Riding up the highway I could see this bike as being very, very easy to sit on all day, it was extremely comfortable. However I knew it wasn't quite the bike for me as it was a bit too big and too powerful for me to be completely comfortable on (I still need to commute and the occasional little scratch too). I think that in a few years if they put the z800 motor into this style of bike that would be absolutely ideal for me! So I had the thought as I was heading back - what about the ninja 650? When I got back I suggested this and they don't have an unrestricted demo but apparently it is the same bike as the ER-6 just without a fairing which I was a bit surprised about.

So next up was an ER-6. As soon as I pulled out of the driveway I knew this was not the bike for me. I didn't go very far before turning around and coming back. Apparently when I was gone Seb (who I have bought about 1000 bikes from) told Paul (the salesman I was dealing with today) that the ER-6 was definitely not the bike for me. How right he was.






 So I came to ride a VFR800. I didn't like it on paper, I didn't like how it looked and I had heard a description of it being 'jack of all trades, master of none, 'it's a good motorbike like a fridge is good as it keeps your food cold'. But I decided that I would try and give it a fair go. It was a little bit too tall for my comfort so I was a bit nervous on taking off but I got out of the driveway okay and my initial impression was that it was not too bad. Out on to the highway and up to the 100km/h. The fairing worked really well but I noticed that the seat was *very* uncomfortable, it was way wider than what I am used to and I had some pressure spots underneath my thighs that would become very irritable over a longer period of time. I wriggled around trying to find a better spot but I couldn't. I headed out to some roundabouts and OMG this thing handled like arse. Usually I have found that if I can't instantly corner on a bike, then a couple of corners later I get the hang of it - I never did get the hang of this one. I also really didn't like the gearbox, it was all clunky and awkward like my first ZX6R and VTEC was very unimpressive. SO a big fat NO for the VFR800 as I hated it nearly as much as the ER-6. The fairing was quite nice though.

So what to take out next. Initially Paul had wanted me to ride a GSR750 that they had though we had thought the nakedness would be a big no factor but it had a little screen so off I went. This one was second hand and had a fair bit of bling. It was pretty fun to ride but yeah, the nakedness was too much and I wasn't really sold on how the motor felt either. Which left Paul scratching his head as to what else I could have a ride of. I said that today's exercise had shown me that really a 600 sportsbike is what suits me best. Hmmmm. What about a CBR600RR? Well they are on sale at the moment. He wheeled out the demo and it is quite pretty really.

 First impression was it felt TINY but quite okay. It had a fuel gauge which was a bit of a novelty! Rode out very comfortable straight away. Out on the highway, the motor felt *really* good, the gearbox felt *really* good and going through the roundabouts I had a little giggle on cracking it on exiting *big evil grin*. It did feel really tiny though, I was a bit concerned that it might be a bit too squishy. But overall I really, really, really, really liked it.



I got back with a huge grin on my face and took the 636 back out so I could have a back to back comparison of the two. I have to say I think the Honda is a better motor and gearbox and slightly better in handling but the 636 is a little bit roomier and I think slightly better for what I want to do. So we started talking money. Turns out that the CBR is $13350 and the 636 is over $17000 OMG that takes the 636 right out of the equation, I did prefer it but not for that much money. So now I have a decision to make. Do I keep the ZX6R and ride him til he dies and then I have no idea what I do with a dead bike? Do I trade the 6 now while he is still worth something and have a nice fresh bike with a further 2 years warranty etc etc? I will need to extend my loan a little bit though :/ What about the ZX7R? I am really only keeping it for the sake of keeping it. Maybe I can't be bothered? I don't know. I am paying all this money keeping it insured and registered just to have it looking pretty in my sister's garage. I'm not sure. I might have a chat to them through the week and see if they might trade that as well (before I have to pay rego for it!!).