Spent two days at Daytona speedway riding bikes.
My impressions...(I'd post pictures but the difficulty level seems to have been raised a notch or two)
14
First ride, ZX14 (rode one both days)...Two things really stood out, the KING OF SMOOTH and the BRAKES. The ZX is a fine machine, Kawi hit one out the park with one. SOooo smooth...does NOT have the low end grunt of the busa, but once you hit around 5-6000 rpm, feels like the thing shifts gears again and hang on. You can rag on the george foreman grills till the cows come home and my heart belongs to Zuk but the 14 is an incredible machine. Hat's off to kawi and IF they remade it to have more low end and midrange power look the &*#$ out.
M109
Truly, truly a beast. Rode the 109 both days too, couldn't get enough. Now that bike has low end grunt, POWER and attitude. Turning on the fat rear wheel is a little different but everyone should get to ride a 109 (especially the harley guys
)
Honda Interceptor
I must say I really looked foreward to riding this bike, I used to own a V45 magna. Honda gets the "is this thing running?" super smooth award. The bike scoots but you have to wind it up, but it's so smooth, you have a hard time knowing what rpm range your in without looking at the tach. Very nice refind bike. My only problem though, has nothing to do with the bike itself...just the price. I think msrp is close to that of a busa
Victory Vision
All I can say is
All right, I can say more. Victory has a wonderful base engine, imho I think it's light years over the harley (though not as strong as the water cooled M109
) and Victory had a chance at a really inovative competitive touring model...well, they not only screwed the pooch, they screwed the neighbors pooch. The vision looks like a twisted abortion from a low budget Jetsons movie. Then when you sit on it, the dash is so far out in front, worse than a car dash, with weird handlebar placement/ergos...Although the motor is a 106 cubic it seems sloppier and somehow under powered and the transmission clunked and clanked with every shift. No thanks...I want a touring bike, I'll get a wing.
Victory Hammer
Now there is a bike they got 100% right. The one I rode was piped and throttle response was crisp with plenty of power, 2nd only to the M109. Even with a six speed overdrive, roll-ons in top gear were no problem.
Great looking bike with great motor.
Piped made a BIG difference though, I did ride a kingpin (same motor, stock pipe) and it was quite a bit different than the hammer umph wise.
Harley Softail
Rode a fatboy and a deluxe...Hard to believe those are the "beefed up" 96 cubic motors, or that they cost that much. BTW...two of the demo bikes broke down while I was there. IMHO...they run like crap and the motor just doesn't feel right. It lugs and shudders without the power. At high speeds doing roll-ons, in 5th gear it shudders and in 6 OD I swear it sounded like it was knocking.
Harley riders are funny, One guy was complaining the new 96 cubic motors run to hot and another was raving about how his $35,000 "screaming eagle" (the whole term just kills me...screaming eagle
) has every wonderfull thing harley makes on it...it even has a hydrolic clutch. A hydrolic clutch...WOW...my V45 magna for $3000 in 1982 had a hydrolic clutch.
Side note * I think it was a harley demo guy was behind me on the zx14 ride...he got off and said, "Wow, I'm surprised"...I bet you are
FZ1
Gets my surprise vote of the demos...I expected zero low/mid range power and I was very plesantly surprised. I rode a zx10 last year and the zx had nothing down low and I was expecting even less but the FZ1 rocks. Plenty of power and a nice power band and one good looking bike. It handled very very well and was a blast to ride. The handle bars being high, made for a relaxed comfortable position and like I said...it drove itself. NICE BIKE
Goldwing
The wing is a wing, screams head me to the interstate and don't stop. Is this thing running? My Son went with me and we were making bike noises in line, he said what does a goldwing sound like?..."the Wind" I replied.
Rant award goes to Suzuki
They SUCK and SUCK hard...
#1 - not only do they not let you ride any of the top sport bikes, Busa and GSXrs...they didn't even have a 2008 busa on display. WTH...Kawi was riding zx 14s, 10s, 6s, the concors...etc...
#2 - While I signed up at Kawi at 7:30am which allowed me to get to other lines...Zuk didn't even start sign ups till 9:00...and then they had printer problems, and ink problems, etc...Very very unorganized and poorly run. They start sign ups at 9 and the first ride at 9:30 and they so bad they left with half a load and people in line...nice.
My impressions...(I'd post pictures but the difficulty level seems to have been raised a notch or two)
14
First ride, ZX14 (rode one both days)...Two things really stood out, the KING OF SMOOTH and the BRAKES. The ZX is a fine machine, Kawi hit one out the park with one. SOooo smooth...does NOT have the low end grunt of the busa, but once you hit around 5-6000 rpm, feels like the thing shifts gears again and hang on. You can rag on the george foreman grills till the cows come home and my heart belongs to Zuk but the 14 is an incredible machine. Hat's off to kawi and IF they remade it to have more low end and midrange power look the &*#$ out.
M109
Truly, truly a beast. Rode the 109 both days too, couldn't get enough. Now that bike has low end grunt, POWER and attitude. Turning on the fat rear wheel is a little different but everyone should get to ride a 109 (especially the harley guys
Honda Interceptor
I must say I really looked foreward to riding this bike, I used to own a V45 magna. Honda gets the "is this thing running?" super smooth award. The bike scoots but you have to wind it up, but it's so smooth, you have a hard time knowing what rpm range your in without looking at the tach. Very nice refind bike. My only problem though, has nothing to do with the bike itself...just the price. I think msrp is close to that of a busa
Victory Vision
All I can say is
All right, I can say more. Victory has a wonderful base engine, imho I think it's light years over the harley (though not as strong as the water cooled M109
Victory Hammer
Now there is a bike they got 100% right. The one I rode was piped and throttle response was crisp with plenty of power, 2nd only to the M109. Even with a six speed overdrive, roll-ons in top gear were no problem.
Great looking bike with great motor.
Piped made a BIG difference though, I did ride a kingpin (same motor, stock pipe) and it was quite a bit different than the hammer umph wise.
Harley Softail
Rode a fatboy and a deluxe...Hard to believe those are the "beefed up" 96 cubic motors, or that they cost that much. BTW...two of the demo bikes broke down while I was there. IMHO...they run like crap and the motor just doesn't feel right. It lugs and shudders without the power. At high speeds doing roll-ons, in 5th gear it shudders and in 6 OD I swear it sounded like it was knocking.
Harley riders are funny, One guy was complaining the new 96 cubic motors run to hot and another was raving about how his $35,000 "screaming eagle" (the whole term just kills me...screaming eagle
Side note * I think it was a harley demo guy was behind me on the zx14 ride...he got off and said, "Wow, I'm surprised"...I bet you are
FZ1
Gets my surprise vote of the demos...I expected zero low/mid range power and I was very plesantly surprised. I rode a zx10 last year and the zx had nothing down low and I was expecting even less but the FZ1 rocks. Plenty of power and a nice power band and one good looking bike. It handled very very well and was a blast to ride. The handle bars being high, made for a relaxed comfortable position and like I said...it drove itself. NICE BIKE
Goldwing
The wing is a wing, screams head me to the interstate and don't stop. Is this thing running? My Son went with me and we were making bike noises in line, he said what does a goldwing sound like?..."the Wind" I replied.
Rant award goes to Suzuki
They SUCK and SUCK hard...
#1 - not only do they not let you ride any of the top sport bikes, Busa and GSXrs...they didn't even have a 2008 busa on display. WTH...Kawi was riding zx 14s, 10s, 6s, the concors...etc...
#2 - While I signed up at Kawi at 7:30am which allowed me to get to other lines...Zuk didn't even start sign ups till 9:00...and then they had printer problems, and ink problems, etc...Very very unorganized and poorly run. They start sign ups at 9 and the first ride at 9:30 and they so bad they left with half a load and people in line...nice.
