Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

A race useful post from Farcebook, Greenham Kawasaki had an open day today with rides organised by focussed events...

Oh go on then A stunningly beautiful day, blue sky, mid 20's, and no wind.. Perfect riding weather !! Took the BMW round some country lanes before getting there to warm myself up and get back in the swing of riding.

Then I remembered it was a guided demo, and the last time I did one of those it sucked... Sat through the briefing I lost track of the number of times he said about sticking to speed limits Oh well, it's a nice day and it's someone elses bike.

Out onto the main road, which is a 40 going into 50 so a good chance to find out how the bike wants you to sit. One of the guys said to me that I would be surprised by the riding position, but I wasn't. What I was surprised about was the nothing in front of you, the large colour TFT dash is low down and you have to drop your head to read it, but it is very easy to read. While bumbling along you can hear the subtle noise of the supercharger under you. It's a very comfortable bike to just bumble round on, the only minor complaint is a slightly snatchy throttle response, maybe a lower mode than sports would cure this in town.

Suddenly we turned right, into kingscleare heading towards a cracking road... surely not... We reached the national speed limit and I watched as the lead rider in front (on a ZX10) suddenly started disappearing down the road (very quickly)..... Game on... This is the time that you find out what this bike was made for.

Bang, wind the throttle on.. the response is instant and like nothing i've experienced before... The front lifted and the world suddenly went into fast forward, and the ZX10 quickly wasn't so far in front. The acceleration is fast and frenzied and your up the gearbox very quickly, but it's just so smooth and very very addictive.

Now the riding position made sense, without knowing it the bike had moved me forwards and had me leaning well over the tank, elbows out... Proper Z1000 riding stance.. Despite the lack of, well, anything in front of you there is amazing protection from the wind and excellent support to keep you off your wrists.

I have only one minor niggle about the bike, and thats that it either didn't have a steering damper or it needs a stronger one. You spend more time with the front in the air than Frankie !

30 mins of power wheelies and listening to the supercharge chirping later we where back at the dealer.

Would I buy one ?? Hell yeah, but at £20k it would have to be a lottery win bike.

What does the weight feel like?

Kwacky wrote:What does the weight feel like?

It's not heavy at all, it's also quite low so easy to move about.

Riding, it's pretty nimble. Ready to turn in and pretty flickable. It was a little vague on the front, but I think a little extra preload on the rear might rebalance it for my fat arse.

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I might try the SX version

Worth buying just for that crankcase cover

I have to admit how surprised I am that the supercharger works so well. I half expected it to be an almost unmanageable monster, bit like a KTM 1290 SD but on steroids. But it wasn't, it was as predictable as any other inline 4 liter bike but without the need to wind it up to get the full power.

I do think the liter is a bit too much, a 600-700 area may be more usable day to day and just as much fun.

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