Rode a ZX12 today

vman1300

vman1300

Never Forgotten
The dealership that I work for just got a 12 today. I was able to take it for a quick spin thru our lot before the new owner came to pick it up. First impression...no where near the grunt of a busa. The 12 turns very quick due to its shorter wheelbase. I can't wait till he gets some more miles on his 12 so we can see what the 12 is made of....

[This message has been edited by Vman1300 (edited 18 March 2000).]
 
The dealer where I bought my bike did not let anyone test ride it. O miles when I picked it up..fresh from the crate. I am glad I did not get it from your dealer cause you don't know me and you would have gutted it before I got it.
 
bimmer, no at least you know the bike was safe to drive dont fret the small stuff. You will have a lot more miles than that in a couple of weeks. Your 8 miles closer to break in.............
 
just to make a point, I recently purchased a snowmobile. The paper work said 0 miles on it. When I received it it had 2 miles on it. I then asked the salesman did it run ok. The salesman said it ran great. You see you have to jet and clutch a snowmobile for altitude and I told them what altitude that I wanted. I did not want to get to where I was going to find out that it was clutched and jetted wrong as my friend found out recently. It cost him an extra 200 bucks for him and his wife at yellowstone before he could even ride. I got to where I was going and the sled ran great. The dealer has a responsibility to ensure your safety and also deliver the performance you pay for.

[This message has been edited by VegasDude (edited 18 March 2000).]
 
Same with the dealerships around here. Hell, I prefer they do it, so if they forgot the axle nut or something it's them bouncing down the road not me :) The shop I frequent most won't test ride my Busa if it's been raining. Can't figure that one out, since they'll ride everything else I bring in.
 
Just think some of us dealers really do not beat the sh** out of your bike.
Unfortunatly there are ones who do.
Note: know your tech!!!!
 
I would NEVER let a dealer put any new ride, car or bike, on the street unless I knew the wrench personally AND socially. I live by this rule.

I can wreck your bike or cage, new or used, in 100 yards.
 
VMAN, I would really like to hear what your friend has to say about the 12 and how it compares to the 13. It should be a lot more interesting than the rumor mill and the pissing contest. Please pass on what he has to say.

[This message has been edited by sherm (edited 18 March 2000).]
 
The dealer won't ride in the rain, because one of the earliest comparison articles on the Busa (Cycle World?) made some comment about it's brakes "being scary in the rain".

Aren't ALL brand new disks and pads scary in the rain, before they're scrubbed in a bit?
 
I live in Seattle. If they won't ride it in the rain, then they'll never get to ride it! I'm out in all kinds of weather since I don't have a car, and never have trouble with the brakes. They lack bite initially when wet, but all disc brake bikes I've ridden are like that.
 
There is no way the owner of our dealership will let a bike leave without service putting about (2) miles on it. You never know what could be wrong with a "out the crate bike". I will get to ride a (12R) sometime this week when our delivery gets in and without even tacking out the bike I will be able to compare it to my Busa. The handling differences are what I am most curious about.
 
My friend bought his GSXR-750 from a different dealer than where I got my Busa. They did the test ride on his and just as the INEXPERIENCED service guy started to pull back in the parking lot he almost downed the thing, this same dealer had to buy one customers bike because the service jerk wrecked it. I will take mine virgin, and if you watch them take it out of the create I think you can be pretty sure they did not test ride it. Ok,ok, so maybe they did put it together, ride it, take it apart and put it back in the crate, then when I got there reassemble it and sell it to me. I guess they sprayed the cosmolene back on the tires to make them look new to.

A bike is a very personal thing to me, I don't just let any one ride my bike. And like the sticker on it say " If you love yourself like I love this bike you won't $@#^ with it."

JeffW, you know what you are talking about, the Hayabusa has very little assembly work to be done. The dealer had it ready to go in a short time. And he told me that he understood what it meant to be the first to ride a new bike, he said to take it easy for the first few miles just in cast something might be loose but that he had never found any thing that might cause and accident.
 
Jeff, Wayne usually takes it for a whirl around the parking lot before he lets you ride off into the sun set. I seen him do it to atleast 5 busa's and one of them was mine. Granted he didn't go out of eye sight and not even a rocks through from you, I was not the first to ride my busa.

I look forward to him riding another one for me this summer!!
 
Falcon fool and KawAbuser, I hear what you're saying but there is a liability issue also. Plenty of customers who say "don't you dare let some service jerk take my new bike for a test ride" are also the first ones who will call up a lawyer and sue a dealership because they say something fell off their bike and they wrecked after the dealership worked on it.

The dealership has some right to cover their *** by testing the bike after working on it. The key is one word; "Professionalism". In other words, like Johnnycheese said, know your tech. If the service manager is letting some 18 year old punk test ride your ZX-12, or the tech is an unprofessional jerk and beats a customer's bike, they need to be fired. Better, you need to not go to that dealership.

A professional tech at a professional shop will do a proper test ride on your new Busa, ZX-12 or other hot new machine. Check acceleration, check turning, check braking, take it back to the shop. If you have a professional tech, and you know he is, you don't need to worry about it. Trust is a rare and valuable thing. It has to be earned.


[This message has been edited by Mr Bear (edited 18 March 2000).]
 
Here's a scenario that happens. A squid buys a hot new bike and goes out and wrecks it. He sues the dealership, hoping to get some money out of it. The tech who set the bike up and signed it off as "ready for the customer" can say in court, "I set it up, I tested it, I'm a Kawasaki factory-certified mechanic, that bike was sound when it left our shop".

Under oath, that carries some weight. If he didn't test ride it, a lawyer will grill him. The lawyer will say something like, "How do you know it was sound? You didn't test-ride it, Mr. Certified mechanic?? Then you really have no way of knowing for sure that it was sound, do you?? My client was hurt very badly because of your product".

The way I see it, the shop has an ethical obligation to do the work right, and the customer has an obligation to let them.

[This message has been edited by Mr Bear (edited 18 March 2000).]
 
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