The new bike....

For those who are interested in my recent purchase....

This bike is undeniable proof that there is a God in heaven, and he loves me dearly.
I picked up a 2004 Pearl Blazing Orange ZX-10R on Thursday morning. Had to drive maybe an hour and a half to Kingsport to pick it up. Basically, it had been purchased new, ridden about 5 or 6 times, garaged, and was in showroom new condition. The break in was just completed. It had 1200 miles on it. Bone stock, no mods whatsoever.

Every time I straddle this bike, I feel like a fighter pilot about to go to war. It's just sick. Yeah, R1s are pretty, but this thing... I can't really describe it. It 's just mean looking.

Below 7000 rpm, it's just a really nice, manageable bike. It pulls smooth and clean through corners in second gear from as low as 2000 rpm - my speed triple would lug down trying to pull from that low. It has plenty of torque, but I don't seem to really feel it as much- I think this is due to the difference in ergos from what I am used to.

It does exactly what I ask it to do. Power seems endless. You get behind a line of 5 cars on a 2 lane and that little voice whispers "pass everybody". Well, on this bike, you can. No doubt. In a heartbeat. It accelerates like nothing I've ever been on.
Yes, it handles like a 600. I rode my buddies GSXR 600 and it flicks just as well (to me) only the 10R feels smaller because the tank is narrower.

The tachometer- I really don't see what everybody's big gripe is with this thing. I like it just fine. Maybe racers have more of a problem with it.. at a quick glance you can't tell EXACTLY where you are in the rev range. Maybe if they had made the numbers larger and put them on the outside of the sweep, it would have helped that problem. But it's compact, has a lot of trick little features, and looks pretty sharp at night when it's lit up.
It has a stopwatch on it. This was interesting because I made a video from my SIII one day. I hauled ass from my house to a church a few miles down the road, 4 and a half minutes away. Two years on the triple and felt like I was pushing the bike to the limit the whole time. I rode the same stretch of road on my 10R, the day after I got it. Haven't figured the bike out...just easing along trying to be careful. Did the same distance in the same time. Didn't feel fast at ALL.

2 complaints. On lowbeams the headlights will only let you see about 30 yards out. I might be able to adjust that. Haven't tried.
And my muffler pings loudly every 5 seconds as it cools when you shut the bike off. Sounds like someone dropping quarters in a jar. Kind of annoying because as soon as I get off of it I like to stand there and stare at it for several minutes before I walk off.

Heads turn everywhere I go. I don't blame them for staring. The thing is gorgeous.


All in all.... I'm glad I didn't get the 636.
Or the 06 SIII.
Or anything else.

Everything else is crap!!  

Congratulations casey  

Good write up Casey.  Congrats on the new (for you) bike.  The more I think about it, the more $7500 seems like a heck of a deal.

The pinging is the catalizer (sp?).  Get a slip on, and it'll go away...  A slip on will keep the exhaust power valve so it won't be too loud unless you are really hauling on it.

Enjoy.  


Chris  

sounds awesome casey, grats..

i have the terrible itch of wanting a bike so bad it's all I can think about and I've been reading and learning as much as absolutely possible. everything else in my life keeps *** it up financially though, 1 step forward then 2 steps back always. i'll get there and someday ill come ride Deal's Gap with you guys, St. Louis isn't THAT far  

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Everything else is crap!!

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Congrats Casey-glad you found your new baby.  I'm laughing thinking about how much time you probably spent in the garage this evening just staring at it.  I only say that cause that's how I spent my evening...

How about  pics??  

This won't be the first time I've had to apologize for my stuff being so damn big...... but LOOKA HERA!


I've washed it 3 times in four days.

It's been raining a lot though.  

Tasty.  Looks beter in this color as the usual Kawasaki Green.  Can't comment on specs and stuff, cause never rode one myself.

Have fun and safe kilome..  Miles on it.    

Very NICE Casey.  I like the orange a lot better than the green.  Thanks for the pic-I see why your happy!  

Congratulations! I agree, the orange is a more unique and cooler color than the tradition Kawasaki livery.

Increased rear tire bill in your near future?  

HEY DUDE... You got one of them Ninja's!!!!  

I'll have had this bike a week as of tomorrow. I've put close to 800 miles on it. All I can say is....WOW.

What an awesome motorcycle. I've gotten what I wanted....GROUND CLEARANCE. There has to be times on this thing that I feel like I'm almost horizontal, but I have yet to touch down a feeler. Another major perk is that I can hang off now, with ease... and still steer the bike...without a giant square tank corner smashing me in the grollies like on my Speed Triple.
The seat is comfortable. My ass and legs have yet to fall asleep. My right hand goes numb occasionally, but it seems like this only happens when I get lazy and put my upper body weight on my wrists... if I use my back to hold me up like I should, no problem.
Below about 7000, the bike is an absolute joy. Easy to ride. Intuitive.
Above 8000, the *** just SCREAMS. I'm talking like that scene in Mad Max where he stomps into the supercharger and his car blasts off like a freight train on steroids, and everything in your peripheral vision becomes a blur.
I've only had her up to about 125, and that was on ACCIDENT (I swear). I was minding my own business on the interstate, trying to clutch up a wheelie in second. It wasn't working out for me because of my respect (read: FEAR) of the power on this bike. Finally, cruising at about 60 mph, I got the balls to wrap the hell out of it and work the clutch just like I did on my Triple... I thought for sure at first that I was going to loop it and die...but the front only came up 2 or 3 feet maybe, so I just stayed in the gas. A couple of seconds later, I'm setting a low wheelie down at 125mph.
CHEESE AND CRACKERS!
So I've got this great handling, comfortable, ultra powerful bike. I've also got something I didn't expect or even really want: A massive amount of street cred. EVERYBODY comments on the bike. How nice it is. How awesome the orange is. They can't believe it's a factory color.
All in all, it rocks.

I do miss my SIII though. Time heals all wounds, I guess. It would be nice to yank up a wheelie at 20-30mph again instead of having to go 60 to do it. I thought about this a while...this ZX-10R was designed to go fast around a track, and to keep the front end planted with the massive power it is putting out.
So I'm going to probably gear it down. Kill my top end. Kill my gas mileage. I don't care two poops about going one hundred and eighty plenty. I do want to slow down my wheelies, though.
Anybody that says this bike is out of control, 'too much' wheelie prone, etc., that just hasn't been my experience on it so far. You have to MAKE it wheelie. Even in first.
More to come.  

Thought I'd throw a picture of the skyway on here for ya.  

That's a nice picture of the Skyway. To bad that *** on that crap Yamaha had to ruin it for you by zipping into the frame at the last second.  

Yeah and you know the damnedest thing was after I took that picture there was some terd puttin' by on one of them Ninja's about 2 minutes later.