Bob’s Motorbike (KAWASAKI ZEPHYR 750 C2) Page

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Bob’s Motorbike (KAWASAKI ZEPHYR 750 C2) Page
Bob’s Motorbike (KAWASAKI ZEPHYR 750 C2) Page email me at : laois4ever_at_gmail_dot_com
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Hi All! I’m a motorbike fanatic living in Cork, Ireland. I’m such a fanatic that I’m writing one of these stupid web pages to tell everyone about it!
Anyway, I’ll go through the bikes I have owned, and the one I currently own.

My Current Bike

My current bike is a Kawasaki ZR 750 C2 Zephyr. She’s a real burgundy beauty. I collected her the morning of(21/03/2001). I have taken her for a test drive (unrestricted) and she drives so relaxed and effortlessly compared to the FZR 250, but the power is there. When I get her tomorrow she will be restricted to 33 bhp (from 76 bhp), so I will update the site on how much of a performance hit this gives. I have scoured the web for info on this but to no avail, so I’m going to be the first to write about a restricted Zephyr! I have seen some sites that claims that the torque is not affected too much, just the top speed (down from 130 mph to 85-90) and she’s slower to get there, but I’ll report back with the info.

My Second Bike

For my second bike (March 2000), I wanted something a bit sporty, but as I only had a provisional "A" licence, under Irish / EU law I was restricted to a 33 bhp / 25 kW bike (they changed the law about 2 months before I got my first licence, damn them). I went for a 1988 Yamaha FZR 250 Japanese import. This was a whole new ballgame. Suddenly I had a bike that could accelerate from 0-60 in 5 seconds roughly and redlined at 18000 rpm. It was a thrilling bike to ride, as, being light, it handled very well, and it cornered nicely. It was fairly uncomfortable to ride though especially over long distances, and the suspension and steering was very light, not up to Irish roads, as anyone who has driven on them will tell you. It is also prone to corrosion, I guess I’m partially to blame on that one as I have no garage to put it in, and the bike covers I have had until now have been crap, as they blow away in strong winds. It also had a lot of teething troubles, maybe due to its age, listed below:

Weird problem with rectifier which meant that the battery did not charge under 4000 rpm and lights on

Fork seals went

Steering head bearings went

Metal pipe connected to radiator corroded and steam began spraying out of the engine (!)

All this in the space of a year!

Accidents and Stupidity

A stupid thing happened to the bike, I changed the oil and did not tighten the screws on the belly fairing properly, and the damn thing blew off on the way to work (doh !)

I had an accident as well. I was riding to work and about 200 metres from a traffic light this driver in a small car (Nissan Micra or somesuch) decides (s)he wants to change lanes, so she slams on the brakes in front of me. Instinctively I brake, and normally should have had plenty of time to stop, but due to over-enthusiastic use of the back brake, the bike fish-tailed and slid along the road. I had to go over or run into the car in front of me (not the person, (s)he nearly caused an accident by swinging in front of a lorry driver in the lane beside me). I know this because he came back to see if I was OK and to give out about our friend.

I was pretty much stopped by the time I had to go over (about 5-10 mph). Luckily I went over on the side that was missing the belly fairing already, but going over cracked the head fairing as well.

I’ve had a couple of near misses, all due to car drivers, or maybe I should look on it as my fault in overestimating their intelligence on the road. Here’s 2 examples I remember:

Driver moves to side as if to allow me to pass, but then swings across in front of me to enter a side road WITHOUT indicating. I was awake to this, people in Cork generally do NOT let you pass.
Two cars waiting on a side road to go on to a main road. I was coming towards them in the traffic when first car pulls out in front of me. I swerved and went BEHIND the first car and before the second car. Luckily the driver of the second car had his eyes open and did not blindly follow the first one!

My First Bike

I got my first bike in September 1999, at the tender age of 29. It was a blue Yamaha RXS 100, 2 stroke 100cc engine, top speed 70 mph (falling over a cliff with the wind in your back). I got it to commute to work about 10 miles away as my wife got a new job out of the city and we needed 2 forms of transport. It was enough to get me hooked! All of you out there starting to ride with big 600 or 1100 cc machines are mad – I learned how to ride on this bike, without taking any lessons and didn’t kill myself! I don’t advise anyone reading this not to take lessons, but start with a SMALL CHEAP bike until you know what you really want. The bike itself was excellent, as reliable as they come, only had a flat tire and a broken clutch cable in the 6 months I had her.