fish_antlers
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posted February 27, 2004 04:33 PM
 Edited By: fish_antlers on 27 Feb 2004 16:41
Riding impressions of the 2004 ZX10R
How could I turn down the invitation? "Come down to Southern California and take a brand new ZX10R for a ride!".
Swft and I flew in,. At the airport we met redelk! The three of us were taken by extremelean directly to Kawasaki for a tour of the facility. This was not my first trip into the "secret squirrel" room, but it was swft and redelk's.
Sitting in front of us were our bikes for the next days ride... 4 brand new ZX10Rs. We headed off for some dinner with the brass from KMC. They were fantastic and it was great to meet them and get a chance to talk with them about our mutual passion, riding motorcycles! (Turning your bike upside down to get the key back out? Aye carumba!) Later we hit the sack to rest up for the next day's adventure.
We assembled the next morning and we were set to ride... Kbyrant removes his raingear and leaves it at KMC... "aww... I wont need this" he mutters... hehehehehe... After a short safety meeting, extremelean, kbryant, redelk, swft and myself set out for the hills.
Riding the 10R, you immediately notice how small it is, especially for me.... I'm over 6'3" tall. Interestingly enough, the riding position didn't bother me though. The seat slides you forward into the tank, the pegs are up and back, but still provide enough leg and arm room to spin off a comfortable day's canyon carving without a sore butt or crotch. The bike can easily be tossed around underneath you. Definitely a hundred pounds and then some less than my 12R in sheer mass. It felt much more like PrincessKiwi's 6R than a liter bike.
In true Kawasaki form the bike felt "right at home", and it felt like this right away... this would perhaps be one of my only criticisms (I'll explain later). By now most serious potential buyers on this site have read the magazine reviews and seen the bike at the shows, so here's the deal...
The bike is amazing. Kawasaki has produced a greatly refined product. Obviously KMC has learned a lesson or two from the release of the 12R, and it shows.
Handling on the bike is crisp and throttle response is smooth. Gone is the bucking, lurching and surging akin to the early 12R's injection system. Nothing but smooth and manageable power.
Something that 12R owners should take note. Power delivery is very different than the 12R. It is more like that of an '00 6R, (not the 636/ '03 6R ) . There is almost nothing below 5 grand. Initially this was a bit of a disappointment. Don't take the previous statement the wrong way. This bike is fast.... Damn fast. The lack of low end power (it's all relative, remember. I've been riding a kitted out 12R for 4 seasons) made it very easy to "behave" when we were in the city limits. In fact this made it very a bike easy to ride in traffic. The 10R will certainly make a great street bike.
However, once the engine spins up to speed there is piles and piles of power on tap, ala 12R, just not in the basement. If you are used to a pile and a half of torque and HP down low, the 10R doesn't have it there with stock gearing. Interestingly, the gearing of the 636 sort of eliminates that problem by dumping you right at about 6 grand at 25mph/45kmh ... the 636 gives the rider an instant sense of power on tap, but it's teeny-weeny engine's power is so limited compared to the 10R that it literally gets eaten alive by the newer and way way cooler 10R. The 10R has another twist and a half (at least) of throttle to the 636.
Above 5 grand the 10R pulls like the 12R, minus the extra hundred pounds. In other words this bike is a rocket ship. Crack the throttle and your instantly launched up to 10 grand, and the front wheel lifts itself into the air. This really caught me off guard the first time it happened as we merged onto the highway.....
The slipper clutch is wild. That was a treat. XL convinced me to try it out and I did... instead of having to "match my speed" for my downshifts, I just brutishly jammed the bike into various gears... the bike responds by sucking up the extra revs and smoothing out your downshifts.. it's almost unnatural... after years and years of double-clutching and blipping the throttle... all of that has been reduced to nothing.... Cram the bike into any gear and give it gas.... Bizarre!
The brakes are fantastic. Stoppies were no problem. The 218s were surprisingly good in the dry and in the rain as well. The exhaust is raspy, has a great sound to it... almost an aftermarket sound.
The fit and finish are of a much higher level than KMC has produced before. Leaps and bounds above the 12R. Probably not quite as high as Yamaha, but certainly at least on par with Honda. (That's a BIG step in my books). The bodywork is very light and thin... it rattled at higher speeds from the wind etc, but hey! this isn't a Goldwing!... If your cranked on and leaned over in a corner and your worrying about your plastic making noise, then you shouldn't be on a serious sportbike IMHO...
I'm trying to think of analogies to describe how this bike feels... I believe swft said it reminded him of a wasp... for me it's a tightly coiled spring....
There is so much potential energy in this bike it's scary... and that brings me to my only real critisicm of the 10R.....
The bike is too easy to ride. By day two of riding I was feeling right at home... I started messing around with the bike.. yes... the odd stoppie, wheelie.. and generally going way way too fast. So here's the problem. The bike is very disarming. It's small and light. It looks, feels, and rides like a 600. It has an amazing clutch that eats up any mistake you make and corrects it for you, and it's power delivery is so smooth that it's 162 HP creep up on you without you noticing.
You see.. the problem with this bike, for me, is that I didn't fear it. I fear my 12R. Still. After 4 seasons that 12R scares the pants off me. It's a big, brutally fast bike with power that will suck your fillings right out of your teeth. Looking at the 12 commands respect. Sitting on a 12, you know that you have something serious under you. Riding my 12R, I know that with an errant crack of my wrist the 12R will slam me down to the pavement faster than I can blink an eye.
By the end of the riding season every year, I get that feeling... that "man, I'm riding this bike way too fast" feeling... that feeling where your sense of "respect" for the speed and the power of your bike have been diminished. That's when I know it's time to put my bike away for the year.. when I catch myself doing things I shouldn't.... and thinking it's okay.
The 10R is the same beast as the 12R. It has the same brutal power that the 12R has (the stocker 10R dyno'd the same as my piped 12R). The 10R out handles the 12R. It out brakes the 12R. It pretty much does everything the 12R does, but it does it better, faster, lighter and smaller...
The REAL kicker is that it doesn't scare me like the 12R does.
Somehow I think that could be a bad thing. Picture a kid in a store starting out... man... he should get an EX500, not a 6R... but why shouldn't he get the 10R? Feels the same as the 6R? Get the picture?
Maybe the 10R needs some prickles on it or something.... Somehow the engineers at KMC have managed to take a 162HP sportbike and make it disarming, in a nonchalant way, to an experienced rider.
That's scary.
It's also my next bike.
It's a great streetbike. Potentially a great trackbike and definitely a great bike to take to the twisties and the backroads.
I just hope I can take it easy on it!
____________
What business is it of yours where I'm from, Friendo?
   
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KZ2ZX
Pro
Nobody in Particular
Posts: 1166
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posted February 27, 2004 04:44 PM
you've described both my fears and the bike of my dreams exactly.
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ASMA 47
WERA 147
www.dhowellbooks.com
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k bryant
Needs a job
Sponsor
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posted February 27, 2004 04:45 PM
Well said.
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extremelean
Pro
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posted February 27, 2004 04:46 PM
Gotta love it baby
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted February 27, 2004 04:47 PM
God, I wish my 'review" was that short and to the point. I'm going to have do write a "condensed version" just so folks won't have to read about the whole trip!
Not even half way through with it.
FISH! Send me the pics and tell me which ones you did not get from me!
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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extremelean
Pro
Posts: 1651
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posted February 27, 2004 04:54 PM
HEY redelk....refresh your IM's
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted February 27, 2004 05:33 PM
Did you not get it?
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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Andy
Expert Class
Posts: 220
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posted February 27, 2004 06:52 PM
That was a great write up. Made me see myself on the bike, but I see that vision alot anyway.
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted February 27, 2004 07:12 PM
great review Fish, thanks...Sherm i am looking forword to seeing what you hae to say...your commentary are always...shall we say....interesting....lol.
One thing nobody will ever say about you Sherm is that you suffer from a lack of words when writing.....no writers block for you my man.....lol
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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fish_antlers
Administrator
The Truth is Out There
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posted February 27, 2004 07:31 PM
thanks guys.... hope the "review" helps... I'm just trying to come up with some real world comparatives that other riders here may be able to relate to (10R vs 6R vs 636 vs 12R) etc....
anyways.. I'm no redelk... in fact I no one at all.
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What business is it of yours where I'm from, Friendo?
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aliveagain
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posted February 27, 2004 07:54 PM
Fish ,how light does the front end feel under acceleration on the 10 if it's shorter and lighter then the 12?I forgot to look when I was in New York,does the 10 have a steering damper?What an honor that must have been,good for you guys.
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I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
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rubber pants
Zone Head
Posts: 798
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posted February 27, 2004 08:34 PM
Riding the 10R, you immediately notice how small it is, especially for me.... I'm over 6'3" tall.
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Thank god Fish I'm 5'10" of pure solid upper body strength muscle!! Plus agile as a house cat, so you think this would be the ideal situation for that 10R? Interesting reading you lucky basterd! I can't wait now. Hopefully it lives up to all the hype even with all the mainstream people that will only use 2% of it's potential on the street. Thanks for your impessions!
____________
"Ya Gotta Have Big Ones!"
speeddemons.com
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fish_antlers
Administrator
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posted February 27, 2004 08:46 PM
front end is fine under acceleration... doesnt need a dampener in my opinion... felt rock solid... I think you'd have to thrash it well past canyon carving standards to need that... actually the REALLY struiking thing about this machine is how capable it is "out of the box" .. people wont be disappointed.
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What business is it of yours where I'm from, Friendo?
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
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posted February 27, 2004 10:12 PM
damn fish, when did u learn to write with so much as a modicum of eloquence? sure YOU wrote that? 
seriously, nice writeup. makes me wonder how i, being Mr 3000rpm, could ride it tho 
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Ronis
Expert Class
One Life... Live It!!!
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posted February 27, 2004 11:57 PM
Thanks for the awsome "live" report, Fish!
I'm 6'3" and I'm a bit bothered by tiny look of 10R. It's going to be a pretty laughable picture "me and my new 10R".
What do you think about that concerns?
Thanks in advance!
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A bad track day is better than a good day at work!!
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sp500
Expert Class
Posts: 195
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posted February 28, 2004 12:25 AM
Cant wait till it arrives here.... c'mon where are you Kwaka.
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04 ZX10R
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worm~hole
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Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
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posted February 28, 2004 05:18 AM
Edited By: worm~hole on 28 Feb 2004 05:23
Hey nice write, fishbreath...for you Kawasaki fans who are between 5'8" and 5'10" and have less than 15% body fat, your Kawasaki sportbike awaits you (or you're awaiting it ). You will make love to this bike and this bike will love you back long time.
For street/road riders similarly built like me (6'1"/230lbs/*#@!% fat) with wide-ish shoulders and big-ish guns wrapped in leather, the mirrors are just about useless (no big surprise with the bike's small-ish overall size). I never really saw the LCD speedo/tach combo unless I scooted back on the seat, dipped my head, and made an effort to look at it because the ergos of this bike put my Shoie head and chin past the trailing edge of the windscreen with almost no part of the bike within my lower peripheral view. This created a delightfully strange sensation for me, as in a surrealistic riding-on-the-nose-cone-of-a-green-rocket dream. It was just as well that I couldn't readily scan the gage, because as a street rider who will use this bike primarily on the road, the two main bits of info (speed and rpm) on the all-in-one LCD gage aren't ergonomically friendly for easy visual data acquisition, imho. Give me an analog tach and digital speedo any day (like the R1's set-up) and I'll probably 'see' it better.
I agree with fish_antlers: Unless you're truly a brave and talented rider, the brutish 12R always has the tendacy to scare you. Hop in the 10R and you'll instantly feel somewhat more talented and perhaps even less scared.
My ride on the 10R was a brief one, but longer than the ones that I would have ever gotten from a dealer or a bike show demo. I'm big-ish and the bike is small-ish. I can't see behind me and I can't see or read the gage. I like the light weight. I like the power hit above 7000 RPMs. The ergos aren't too bad for me, but I don't think I'd ride it to Oregon or even Laguna Seca. I like the look. I like the sound. I really like this bike.
The reality for me is that I'll never be even half as good as the more talented riders here are...especially the ones who will wring this serious bike in search of sportbiking nirvana. Still, I'm going to figure out how to get one in my garage. With their competent designs, I'm sure that the other three competitors' bikes are very capable in the right hands as well. But, if you're a die-hard Kawasaki sportbike fan like me, your ride on the nose cone of a green rocket has arrived.
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
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Dino
Pro
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posted February 28, 2004 05:41 AM
Gotta' love that last line Wormy. Is that an original?
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uh oh
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Dirtybill
Needs a job
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posted February 28, 2004 08:11 AM
http://forums.cycleworld.com/wh07masai/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=853609&f=72660552&m=30360238
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Dirtybill
Needs a job
Posts: 2625
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posted February 28, 2004 08:12 AM
why do I always screw up the url when I post it? DOH!
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bigju
Expert Class
Posts: 238
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posted February 28, 2004 09:31 AM
First I was in So Cal when you guys were there riding so SCREW YOU GUYS! Second great review Fish and Worm (Still waiting for the pastor) Worm I like what you said, I to am in the big guy club, (6'4 250) now the temptation is strong to test ride and possibly buy a 10. I just worry about that "Clown on a Tricycle" look. Anyone who wrote about the 12 being a scary ride is dead on. I thought it was just me, at the end of every ride I found myself thinking I went way to fast. You guys make me sick! I have a paid for bike, and I'm sure after riding the 10 I'll be paying for another. Elk hurry up with your review or I'm revoking your pastorship
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rubber pants
Zone Head
Posts: 798
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posted February 28, 2004 09:45 AM
Hey Fish!..................... Was there any engine vibration? And was it better that way campared to a 12? How about clutch and or clutchless power shifting? Would you drop the ass end a bit too?
____________
"Ya Gotta Have Big Ones!"
speeddemons.com
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fish_antlers
Administrator
The Truth is Out There
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posted February 28, 2004 11:33 AM
Edited By: fish_antlers on 28 Feb 2004 13:32
The engine demonstrated a slight vibration thought the clip-ons at about 5 grand... not really noticeable though... I didn't do any clutchless power shifting.. .(not my bike.. remember  ) ... I talked about the clutch earlier... it was great.. no probs whatsoever.
To answer some other questions that have been asked here and via email to me:
freek.... you raise a very good point... this bike has to be "wrung out".... I know how you rode your 12, and you would have to change your riding style (this comment is directed at freek only) ... very good point you raised though...
re: transmission... shifting was smooth and precise. no missed shifts or false neutrals. It was bang on.
re: mirrors.... they were there ... you had a pretty clear view off to the sides, but they are smallish, so it wasn't a giant "panoramic view" ala the zx-12... about as good as I expected... you could see a cop in them if you looked...
or you could just give it a handful of throttle and take off
instrumentation.. I liked it.. .speedo could switch from imperial to metric, which I liked... the view of it (for me) was bisected by the windscreen... I had the same problem with the 12... I am sure a double bubble would solve that issue for the taller riders .
clown on a bike... well.. I always worry about that after PrincessKiwi bugged me fer years about my ducati... . I had the it looks like "I stole my little brothers bike" thing going on... I dwarfed the Ducati. She saw me on the 10R and didnt have that comment, so if you guys think it looks on the small side then it's easier for you to tell than me.. I was riding it
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What business is it of yours where I'm from, Friendo?
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Harps
Parking Attendant
Posts: 28
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posted February 28, 2004 12:52 PM
Fuckin eh!
I hope I get a chance to take one out for a test ride sometime in the next few months. 
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worm~hole
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
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posted February 28, 2004 04:42 PM
BigJuDude...I don't think ANYONE would call you a clown on ANY motorcycle...and if they do, there's a posible chemical imbalance in their heads
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
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