ROADTOAD's new ride

Kiwi Rider said:
Ha! Some of us 'mere mortals' can only really afford to run one hyper sports bike at a time . . hey, sometimes I'm just lucky to have one at all :firing:
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Exactly my point & situation but Toad has spent a life time & must have made the right call on a few hard life decisions and is fortunate enough to make it happen. So to the rest of us consider stop smoking, drinking, wasting money on hot rods every few years and female escorts ( both are hot fast and eat through a pay check with the quickness.
 
Nastee said:
Exactly my point & situation but Toad has spent a life time & must have made the right call on a few hard life decisions and is fortunate enough to make it happen. So to the rest of us consider stop smoking, drinking, wasting money on hot rods every few years and female escorts ( both are hot fast and eat through a pay check with the quickness.
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Escorts????
Lmao.... never wasted money there . .
But did give up all the other vices :thumbsup:
 
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c10 said:
You guys do remember Suzuki was bankrupt not to long ago ? Kawasaki Heavy Industries has deep pockets , and motorcycles is just a fun spin off for them .
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Well sort of, it was actually American Suzuki that produced autos for the American market that filed for bankruptcy. And they’re (were) based in Brea CA. They ceased auto production for the US filing chapter 11 saying that they were to concentrate on motorcycle production. ‘Suzuki Inc’ as an entire corporation didn’t go bankrupt.

‘November 2012: American Suzuki Motor Corp. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Owing to its focus on small cars, a strong yen and stringent US safety regulations which have hurt growth, Suzuki Motors announces it will discontinue building autos for the US market and focus instead on motorcycles, ATVs and marine equipment. U.S. (auto) sales had peaked in 2007 but had dropped to a quarter of that by 2011.’
 
WuzzaCBXRider said:
Well sort of, it was actually American Suzuki that produced autos for the American market that filed for bankruptcy. And they’re (were) based in Brea CA. They ceased auto production for the US filing chapter 11 saying that they were to concentrate on motorcycle production. ‘Suzuki Inc’ as an entire corporation didn’t go bankrupt.

‘November 2012: American Suzuki Motor Corp. files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Owing to its focus on small cars, a strong yen and stringent US safety regulations which have hurt growth, Suzuki Motors announces it will discontinue building autos for the US market and focus instead on motorcycles, ATVs and marine equipment. U.S. (auto) sales had peaked in 2007 but had dropped to a quarter of that by 2011.’
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They also had financial issues in the motorcycles side. That aside Kawasaki just has a lot of net worth
 
Took the 14 out to my usual quick ride haunt , all mostly tight corner riding stuff , not far from city . WOW , enjoyed every bit of it , this bike is an absolute competent weapon , no lie . Although the rear still needs less rebound , and everything is set on the soft side , the bike took both the good and bad sections of road in its stride , it just ate it all up !! I am now really getting excited about what I got planned for this streetbike .
Right now , I have replaced all the bodywork fasteners for black aluminum that I had laying around ( will get ti eventually ) , swapped out some of the steel fasteners for ti around the bike , and got rid off the bar end weights . I just ordered a solo seat cowl , and still thinking on the new pipe for it .
Definitely going to go hard with a good pipe on it and PC5 and good ECU flash . I also realized today how the 14 is rather short geared standard , compared to the stock Busa gearing .
I got another free day to ride after the weekend , so I will try out my other favorite more open / mixed corners road .
1604212


I also realized that is was 4600km when I bought it .


1604210


1604211
 
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Nice bike Toad, yeah, I too was seriously impressed with the handling, the turn in on slow corners is way easier than the Suzuki, the bike actually felt light and nimble. Amazing . . not at all what I was expecting.
The low end power and throttle response also very impressive.
I was in city streets, 50kmh limit, so no way to stretch it's wings darnit.
We sold that 14 at the shop for $15K, 34,000kms. Ohlins and Brembo's.
Mmmmmmmm . . I got a hankering for a 14 now lol.
 
Yellow09 said:
Kind of sets the tone when you can compare a highly modified Hayabusa to a stock ZX14R and the Kawasaki holds it's own or surpasses the Hayabusa…

I can only imagine when you are set loose and start modifying the ZX....it will be a fire-breather.
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Alright , we are getting a bit off track , the zx14 really is being compared to my L2 when it was stock , not how it is now . The 14 is however sharper in steering than any stock Busa , and altogether very agile . My L2 is around 40 kg lighter with similar rwhp and in mid to fast sweepers I think is pretty well untouchable by hyper bike standards .
But , this Kawasaki , like Kiwi says is an absolute eye opener , and I will be building it with the aim to compare favorably against basically anything on the street , including my L2 . The Kawasaki will be used more than the Busa , because sometime in the near future , the Busa will be on to another level of development .
 
ROADTOAD1340 said:
Alright , we are getting a bit off track , the zx14 really is being compared to my L2 when it was stock , not how it is now . The 14 is however sharper in steering than any stock Busa , and altogether very agile . My L2 is around 40 kg lighter with similar rwhp and in mid to fast sweepers I think is pretty well untouchable by hyper bike standards .
But , this Kawasaki , like Kiwi says is an absolute eye opener , and I will be building it with the aim to compare favorably against basically anything on the street , including my L2 . The Kawasaki will be used more than the Busa , because sometime in the near future , the Busa will be on to another level of development .
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You can remember your bike when it was stock?

Like I said, it will be a fire breather when you turn yourself loose on modifying it.
 
c10 said:
The 14R is a good bike. Till engine work / service. Engine block is cast to top case.
Lots of revisions on valve cover gaskets that still leak @ # 1 cyl front corner.
I was impressed by brakes / power, but feel stock it handled poorly in corners.
I'm jealous of center stand fitment :)
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The Busa engine block & stout aftermarket backing over a much longer period is where it out shines the 14. Like c10 said the 14 block is a cast & not as modifiable. Think about how many parts are available for a Chevy 350 compared to some other engines.
 
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