August 7
OK, that's it, I confess. I've given up on the ZX-10R and handed the keys over to Dave Smith, who is more of a man than I'll ever be. If anyone can bend this beast to his will, it's Dave, who has already started in on it. You can read about it in the August issue of the mag.

But let's get this straight. My first two bikes were Kawasakis and I'm stilll a fan of the brand. I'm not down on it at all, it's just that I wasn't enjoying riding this bike enough and there comes a point in every relationship where you just feel that the effort you're putting in (ignoring things that bug you, overlooking faults and harshness, smiling at the general stroppiness and wondering, every time you got together, if it's going to end in tears...) just isn't worth it. There were good times, but more than anything there was frustration. So I give up.

But I'm not going to say, 'It's not the bike, it's me'. There are limits...

For a test of the previous model, click here. And, for the model before that, the one that 'replaced' the ZX-9R, you'll want to check this out.


June 12
The pillion on the ZX-10R is, well, compact and bijou. As my pillion found out last night. I had to give my lightweight daughter a lift last night and, since I hate driving, it was the pillion of the ZX-10R or nothing.

When she got togged up and walked to bike she said, without a hint of irony, 'Where am I supposed to sit?" When I pointed out her perch, she was less than impressed. But she climbed on and didn't fall off.

Curiously – and this is perhaps further evidence of the stiffness of the rear spring – her sat on the back didn't affect the steering as much as I've experienced on other bikes. Normally of course the front goes a bit light, but this wasn't a big issue on the Kwak. Weird. In conclusion...the ZX-10R isn't built for touring. Amazing insight, eh?

May 28
I always try to run my bike dry at some point. You know, run out of fuel and see how many miles I really get to a tank. Well...

It happened last night and, thankfully, I was as close as I've ever been to a petrol station and the push wasn't that long. (You don't think I can be bothered carrying a fuel can on the pillion do you? Although it's not a bad idea...). It's more like a game of Russian roulette and I lost. Better (worse) still, I had forgotten to zero the trip meter the last time I filled up and...yes, I still have no idea what the ZX-10R will do on a tank in urban riding conditions with lots of first and second gear riding.

For what it's worth, the bike was filled to the brim with 16.83 litres. I thought the tank was was meant to be 17 litres!

May 8
A chance to ride the ZX-10R around Brands Hatch Indy on an open pit lane trackday. Surely the suspension would feel better on track? Surely? You think?

I thought that would be the case, I thought the bike would be way better on track when you can 'push on' a bit more. To be completely honest, I hoped more than expected that this would be the case. Sadly for the Kwak, we were testing this year's crop of 600cc sports bikes at the same time and every one of them showed it up. Nobody was keen to take the ZX-10R out when they had a stable of the best 600s to ride.

I couldn't get confident on the brakes, tipping it in. That's it. It's all still a bit vague and distant feeling. Exiting corners and getting on the gas felt vague too, like the swinging arm was moving side to side and up and down. And you want more feedback and confidence than that when you've got a ton on power on tap.

JP had passed me the same settings Kawasaki had dialed in for the Qatar track launch and, after a disappointing session of vague front and oscillating rear, in my desperation I tried those settings. Well, they didn't work for me, on Brands Indy, on decent Pirelli Diablo tyres. Rock hard and unforgiving, allied to a lack of weight transfer to the front under brakes. I parked it.

Later, I rode home without re-setting the adjustment to 'road' settings and by the time I got back to the garage, my wrists were aching and my arse had been kicked black and blue by every bump and ripple on the road.

So, roll on my trip to suspension guru Darren at MC Technics. I hope he guts it. He's going to need to because I reckon it needs some radical surgery to get the fork working to my (bizarre?) requirements. And if I still can't get my head round it, I'm sending it back to whence it came with a 'Thanks but no thanks' note stuck to the screen. Seriously, what's the point in having a bike that doesn't make you want to ride it on a glorious track on a scorching day? Yup, that's right, there's no point at all. Judgment day approaches.


May 6
The good news – the sun is out. The bad news – jesus christ on a bike - that ZX-10R is thirsty with the fuel. Or is it me? I've been used to riding a 600 for too long, enjoying the 120 miles to the tank I used to get. And now I'm on the stupid-fast 10R, I've noticed that it really does slurp down the petrol.

And, now that a barrel of crude is up to a record high (wasn't the 'point' of the Iraq war to ensure cheap petrol and stable oil prices?) it struck me the other day that I really wasn't thrilled to have to fill the beast up so frequently. Maybe it's just the fact that I seem to spend a lot of time in first and second gear. OK, this has clearly got something to do with it, but, to see the fuel light coming on at 90 miles is a bummer.


April 29
Right. I've had it already. What the hell was Kawasaki thinking with the stock suspension on the 2008 ZX-10R? It's like a board – a stiff board – and I'm bored by it. Actually, that's not true, I'm not bored, I'm pissed off and bewildered. Last week, I was ready to ride it back to Kawasaki HQ, park it outside reception and set it on fire.

But, as is so often the case, the wise council of Dave Smith got in the way of my temporary insanity. "There's a great bike in there and your job is to find it," said the man sometimes known as the Goat.

So we set about tweaking and bouncing and clicking and, after 10 days of various combinations, we've agreed that the stock adjustment isn't enough to make the bike suit me. And I emphasise suit me because I dare say that there are riders out there who reckon its fine. (Frankly I think they're either riding around problems or live in the land of billiard table Tarmac with no elevation changes). But if there are any other ZX-10R owners out there with any suggestions, please email me!

So I called MC Technics suspension in Suffolk (01449 777161), spoke to Darren Wnukoski, and suggested that the ZX-10R was a tad on the unforgiving side for the roads. Thankfully he didn't just tell me to stop being such a big wuss and agreed that the bike was too harsh for UK roads. So, we're making plans to get the Tangerine screamer from Nightmare back to Dream.


April 9
OK, here's a random thought that's as much directed towards anyone with a big horsepower road bike as the new Kawasaki ZX-10R.

I was speaking to a British superbike technician the other day. He confessed that the team had pretty much given up trying to get more power for its superbike because it couldn't fully exploit the power it did have. And, in any case, its bikes were far from the slowest in the speed traps.

Yet still riders and teams casually talk about having 200bhp at the rear wheel. “It's a mind game, I'm sure it is, a lie that riders and teams think they need to tell.”

I discussed this with a man who showed me some data of throttle positions on a Kawasaki superbike at the recent Brands Hatch BSB race on the full circuit. On a lap lasting 1-29 seconds, this top 10 rider was on full throttle for a total of just 17 seconds.

That's it, that was all, 17 miserable seconds, not holding it flat-out full-throttle in one burst for 17 seconds, but in total, a couple of seconds here and there, it all added up to 17 seconds. There was a professional, very fast and skillful rider on a 180bhp bike on a track not lacking for straights and rises and he could only use full-throttle for that piddling length of time.

My 1,000cc road bike has 20bhp less (more or less), but, from where I'm looking, it's hard to see how and where you would get the throttle on the stop a regular basis unless you were on a racetrack. Or am I just a big jessie, as we say in Scotland?

March 28


It wasn't that hard a choice. When you sit down and think about it, what bike would you want in your garage? My first proper bikes were Kawasakis (GPZ500, ZX-6R) but in all the time I've been at the helm of SuperBike, I've never owned one. So...

So this tangerine beaut is mine for the year. As you can see from the pic, all I've done is get our close personal friend and bona fide Page 3 stunnah Becky Rule to sit on it and I got genius make up gal Lisa H to try to fill in the cracks in my craggy features.

Seriously though (ahem, cough...) all I've done is ride it home in the cold and the wet and I have no desire to chuck a brand new bike down the road, so I have very little to say.

Except:
1. The footpegs are great and properly cheese-grater grippy. Even on my smooth-soled Sidi Vertigo boots which slide about on other bare metal pegs like an eel in a baby oil factory grip like a Staffordshire bull terrier in a dog fight. ( I was going to write like a Staffy on a chav toddler, but...). This is good.

2. The mirrors? They're good! Come on! They may be stylistically challenging, but they fold in easy to get in and out of the garage and they work. Plus, now that the blinker is in the mirror, car drivers can see them in their rear view mirrors (assuming they use them) and have more chance of realising that there's a bike somewhere behind them.

3. The engine. Monster. Monster. How did Kawasaki Heavy Industries get that one past the 'Health and Safety Nazis'?

4. The fuel injection? I was well into my wet ride in crap rush hour traffic before I reaised that I hadn't even noticed the fuelling. Which is as good a compliment as you can get. It's way better than Bob's R1, which feels positively choppy at low revs in similar conditions.

Right, more later.