My bubble has been burst.....

Have owned an SV650 for two months now but done over 4'000 miles and am happy as Larry. I do love the SV for pure fun and thrills but I've always wanted a Kwak Z1000. Well.............my mate bought one two months ago pre-regged for smidge less than 5K which is not a bad deal at all. He let m have a ride on it today and after wanting one for over 3 years I'm quite dissapointed. He is still running it in meaning I could only take it to 5k rpm which is an unexciting 75mph in top gear but the acceleration is quite good even upto 5k. The handling is alot different to the SV in that it makes you feel as if you need to lean it right over to get round corners quick, which for an upright bike I guess you do. The seat was my biggest bugbear though. For some reason it felt wrong. The seat is huge and it made me feel like I was sitting on a rather large moped rather than 'on' a bike. I'll take it for another spin in the morning on my own to see if I can fall in love with it. But not good so far. I've always wanted one and now I just don't think I could live with it after riding sportier bikes (position wise) fo so long. Sigh.

Yeah...I had a go on a Z750 and I felt very exposed.

No fairing and quite wide. Felt as though I was perched on top of a hippo rather than part of the machine.

No ta.

5:30 am today I decided to give the Zed thou another go. I've loved the look of this bike for years so I owe it that much. After doing 45 miles this morning through some gorgeous twisties I have come to the conclusion.................that bike is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Not sure why I didn't get on with it yesterday. Perhaps the different riding position needed a bit of time, also I only really managed to go down a boring dual carriadgeway.

So....the good bits:

Brakes are just awesomely powerful and very resposive. Make no mistake they stop you and stop you shockingly quick. Stoppies will be easy.

The engine is also something of a marvel. A ZX-9R engine bored out to around 998cc and 're-tuned for more low/mid-range grunt. I had it wheelieing every time I took off in first. Wow. And I really can't wheelie for toffee. The engine can be a monster or as tame as you like. The throttle response is smooth once you get going but pauses a little from idle giving you the impression you need to give it more gas and thus inducing a few traffic light wheelies. Nice. Couldn't really test out top end as the bike was still being run-in but had it to about 110 and was still accelerating like a freight train with two more gears to go.

Suspension. It felt very stable under braking, acceleration. Even the accidental mid corner wheelie casused no alarm for the stiff suspension setup. Ace. Front end was solid as a rock and the bike really loves to be leaned into corners. Some nice flicking corners with th help of counter steering made for a grin inducing ride. Overall very impressive, almost like riding a super sportsbike. Knee downs like a dream.

Bad points. Fuel consumption could be an issue with the heavy right wristed but oh so worth it. The riding position takes some getting used to but that's a personal preference. It sure is comfy enough though.

In short this will be my next purchase. Simply awesome just doesn't cut it.

thinking of insurance issues, would the z750 be almost as much fun?

I like the big zed thou, looks good and the ZX9R engine was always a peach, so a big bore version would be boss.

You have just given a perfect example of why I never test ride cars or bikes when buying new.

You don't learn anything on a test ride. All you pick up on most of the time are non-existant flaws like minor discomforts that usually disappear once you get used to them. At the same time the real long term faults are not noticed on a short test.

its a lovely bike, I dare not test ride one tho as I don't wanna buy another bike for a year... its the z1000 or the buell 12r for me

[northwind]

Depends on the testride... If it's one of those dealers that barely let you get the tyres warm, what's the point? Harley dealers tend to be quite enlightened, when I took the CityX out I realised just as I was about to ride off that they'd not said how long I could take it out for. "Well, we close at half 5, but there'll be mechanics in till 7 so just get it back by then. And refill it if you drain the tank, would you?" Now that's a testride worth doing. I could have got to a different continent in that time.

Then when I took out one of those Yam 400s, they actually told me "keep it below 25 miles". If I'd had any intention of buying the bike, I'd have not been too impressed with that. But since I was on a totally spurious joyride at their expense I suppose I shouldn't complain.

One of the absolute best things about testrides, is if you take out some glamorous and exciting piece of metal- Daytona 650 (before the 675 came along), SP1, GSXR- and you get back on your own bike and think "that's better" It can really help remove the doubt. When I took the Daytona out I'd not long before done the front end swap, and I was still in "was it worth it" stage. Discovering that my suspension and brakes were better than a new supersport bike was nice to know (though the chassis and turning characteristics of the 650 wee all over an SV, it has to be said)