Digital Rust

My love affair with bikes started 20+ years ago and seems to have been a constant theme through life. I am not going to spew gushing rhetoric about these machines other than to say I believe they are one of homosapiens greatest electromechanical achievements.

The first bikes built in the late 1800's were steam powered however the first proper motorcycles were produced in 1901 by Royal Enfield, 1902 by Triumph and 1904 by Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company in Aurora Illinois

In 1937 Joe Petrali set a land speed record of 136 mph on a modified 1000 cc bike using a Harley engine, he was clearly a maniac.

Most modern 750 to 1000 cc class bikes will accelerate to 60 mph in under 4 seconds ( many of them will do this in first gear ) and have top speeds anywhere between 150 and 190 mph. They can be purchased brand new between 7000 - 10,000 U.K.P
This compares very favorably with cars that struggle to offer similar performance costing anywhere between 100,000 and 250,000 U.K.P
Fortunately people have not twigged onto this yet, so the powers that be tend to leave bikers alone.

My current motorcycle is a 2009 Kawasaki Z1000 abs.

The engine is basically a modded version of the ZX9R with a 7% flywheel mass increase to give it a sense of midrange power. The styling is by Shuji Tanaka ( of the Mazda MX5 notoriety ), I love how the bike looks.......others hate it.

Here's the website for her

http://www.kawasaki.co.uk/z1000

download the PDF promo flyer here

Below are the specs for the bike

Engine type Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke In-Line 4
Displacement 953 cm³
Bore x stroke 77.2 x 50.9 mm
Compression ratio 11.2:1
Valve/Induction system DOHC, 16 valves
Maximum power 92 kW {125 PS} / 10,000 rpm............this is a good bit ;-)
Maximum torque 98.7 N·m {10.1 kgf·m} / 8,200 rpm or 72.8 lb/ft @ 8,200 rpm
Fuel system Digital Fuel injection: ø36 mm x 4 (Keihin) with oval sub-throttles, ultra-fine atomizing fuel injectors
Ignition Digital
Transmission 6-speed, return
Final Drive Sealed X-ring chain
Primary reduction ratio 1.714 (84/49)
Final reduction ratio 2.667 (40/15)
Clutch Wet multi-disc, manual
Frame type Tubular backbone (with engine sub-frame), high-tensile steel
Rake/Trail 24.5° / 103 mm
Suspension, front 41 mm inverted fork with stepless rebound damping and spring preload adjust
Suspension, rear Bottom-Link Uni-Trak with gas-charged shock,
stepless rebound damping and spring preload adjustability
Tyre, front 120/70ZR17M/C (58W)
Tyre, rear 190/50ZR17M/C (73W)
Brakes, front Dual Radial semi-floating 300 mm petal discs
Brakes, rear Single 250 mm petal disc
Dimensions (L x W x H) 2,090 mm x 780 mm x 1,065 mm
Wheelbase 1,445 mm
Ground Clearance 160 mm
Seat height 820 mm