Which bike for Europe.....

Hi ladies and gents,

I have a conundrum. I reallt don't know which bike to take to Europe with me. I have an' 04 Hornet 600 and an '05 Kwak Z1000. I've only just got the Z1000 and it's got low miles (below 1500) and is in showroom condition. My Hornet on the other hand gets ridden pretty much everyday all year round, it's got about 13'000 miles now but has got new tyres and chain recently. My trip will take me from Calais all the way to the Nurburgring in Germany where we have booked a few laps. Will then take a nice slow route back home taking in some sights, a nice 7 day break. When I bought the Z1000 and collected from South Shields, some 312 miles from where I live I noticed the seat after about 2 hours gets really, really uncomfortable, also it being new to me I'm not quite as confident on it as I am on the Hornet. Another worry is what if I drop it. Maybe a silly question but IF I had to choose I would rather bin the Hornet than the Z1000. BUt then the Z1000 has a lot more extra grunt which could be quite useful on the Nurburgring, it also looks a hell of a lot nicer than the Hornet as well. I'm thinking practically I should take the Hornet, I can still hang off the thing like a baboon and in fact I'm probably faster on it anyway due to being used to it. What do you think?

Dan,

You bought the Z for enjoyment, aiming to use the Hornet as your workhorse, why change ?

Take the Z. I got my 'Blade about 4 weeks before my last big trip to Europe, the first two of which I was on holiday with the family, so only reallly had 2 weeks with it before I went.

Like you I was pondering "how" I would get on, but the week away gave me the chance to bond with the bike. When & where else are you going to have the chance to ride your bike, 6 hours a day, for a week ? What better way to get to know your bike...

If you're really worried about the seat, get one of the Bagster gel seats for it that way you know it'll be comfortable.

Hmmm Nurberg on a Hornet, or on a Z ?? I'll let you figure that one out

.