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Safety, Maintenance and Conscientious Riding |
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Volume 2, Number 1 May 2001 =============
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Ratchet's New ride by Ray Palubin Well I did it! I bought a new motorcycle. It is a 2000 Kawasaki ZRX 1100 with 816 miles on the odometer. What a bike!! But I could not have done it without the help of my childhood friend, Robert Bowlin, and Smith Brothers Kawasaki of Oneonta, Alabama. Special thanks to Dwight, the salesman who helped me acquire this new bike and bent over backwards to get me the right price. If you are looking for some honest and friendly people and you are in the area you should stop in and see these folks. You’ll be glad you did. Robert,
Junior to his friends, and his wife Sandy and daughter Michelle are very
dear old friends that I grew up with many years ago. I have purchased a
couple of different motorcycles from Junior over the years. I bought a
Goldwing a number of years ago and my Suzuki GS1100G that I have enjoyed
for some time now.
For the next four days, Junior and rode the CBX and I rode the ZRX all around the central Alabama mountains. I fell in love with the ZRX right away. Junior gave me the grand tour of all of the greatest sites. We zipped around roads at eye blurring speeds, and had an absolute ball. Junior rides those mountains almost daily so he knew the roads very well. Junior lead and I followed and we put the two bikes through their paces. I can’t begin to explain just how much fun we actually had in those four days. The weather even cooperated and was perfect the entire time. We rode over old wooden covered bridges that spanned huge gullies. We rode on roads so narrow that only one vehicle could travel at a time. We crossed bridges that had no guardrails of any kind. If you made a mistake, you went into the creek or river. The roads in the mountains were filled with tight curves, steep hills, and lots of fun. There were over-looks that allowed you to see out into valleys so gorgeous they took your breath away. For four days it was Junior and I traveling those roads, him on his CBX and me on his ZRX. I can’t remember when I’ve had more fun!!! There is nothing like great friends spending four days traveling the mountains on motorcycles. Now, let me tell you about the new bike. The ZRX is an Eddie Lawson replica manufactured by Kawasaki. Eddie Lawson is a famous 4 time world superbike champ. He helped design all of the really neat features into the ZRX. The
brakes, suspension, and many other performance items that are built into
the ZRX make it a great bike for the money. The ZRX comes in two colors,
black and lime green. Junior’s and mine are the lime green. It takes a
little getting used to but it grows on you after awhile. The
ZRX has great brakes that will stop you on a dime. This happens by way of
two Nissan 6 piston calipers on the two 283 mm front discs. These
complement an opposed 2 piston caliper on a 217 mm disc for the rear
rotor. These brakes will bring the bike down from 100 mph very quickly. If
not careful, the bike will stand on its nose due to those 12 pistons
squeezing very hard on those two drilled front discs. The
suspension on this bike is also hot. Two 43 mm cartridge fork tubes on the
front end provide 4.9 inches of travel. The forks have adjustments for
spring preload, compression, and rebound damping. The heftier front end is
more rigid and the additional adjustments induce confidence in the rider
while laying down the motorcycle through the curves. The suspension
adjustments on the top and bottom of the forks help to adjust the
correct amount of spring and dampening into each rider’s personal
preference window. And the rear suspension is just as hot as the front
suspension. The ZRX’s rear shocks have standard double shocks with 4.6 inches of travel. They have adjustments for spring preload, compression, and rebound damping. Based on your weight and riding preference you can adjust the suspension to be soft or stiff. I prefer something right down the middle. I like to feel the road but not so much that I need to go to a chiropractor after riding. This
bike has a very respectable 1/4 mile rating turning 11.16 seconds at 121.9
miles per hour. Fuel
economy? The official rating is between 36 and 45 but unofficially you
will probably get better than 45 based upon how you drive the bike. If
you’re one of those people that hates to see your hard-earned money
going into the oil companies' pockets you will really like this bike. I get
in the high 40’s most of the time. If I really twist the throttle hard,
and I do that fairly often, my mileage might drop to the high 30’s but
if I drive it easy I can get in the low 50’s. Not bad! The
only real complaint that I have about the motorcycle is the seat. It feels
like your riding on a bicycle on a very bumpy road after the first 45
minutes. That shouldn’t be the case in today’s motorcycles. Motorcycle
manufacturer’s should be able to build a comfortable seat that should
support an average sized rider without having to buy a replacement seat or
one of those gel seat covers. I think that motorcycle manufacturers should
spend a few cents more to ensure the seats they put on their bikes will be
comfortable. Considering
that the bike only cost $7199.00
brand new it does quite well. So, if you are looking at buying a new bike
soon you should consider this machine. The newer ZRX has been boosted
slightly to 1200cc’s but there are a bunch of '99 and Y2K ZRX’s that
can be had for very reasonable prices. Be
safe out there and happy cycling. Ed
note – Although Rollin isn’t about motorcycle reviews, when a staff
member gets a new machine it is worth some coverage. And when it is
Ray’s new bike, it is absolutely necessary. |
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