Hey guys, thanks for all of the nice compliments. Lets see if I can address the questions..
- I still have the FZ6. With 60,000 miles and still counting, I don't anticipate selling it anytime as it's a solid motorcycle that does everything (preaching to the choir with that comment.)
- In April 2009 I had a BIG crash at a trackday on my 07 R1. It destroyed the bike and left me a bit shaken physically and mentally. Since then, I have changed my mind a few times about whether I wanted to get another sport bike, a touring rig or maybe a dual-sport. It was only in the past month that I finally decided to get back into the trackday mode. I had been looking for a killer deal on a used bike but could not find the match I wanted. Everything was either priced too high (IMO) or had some shaky details that scared me off.
- I had decided to get a 600. The main reason I chose this displacement instead of a liter bike was the horsepower difference. I am not talented enough to get everything out of an R1 on a track. I was constantly spinning up the rear exiting corners and just hanging on for dear life.
- More research brought me to the 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R. It was consistently rated #1 in both street and track performance by every publication and website I could find. I won't bore anyone quoting specifics here, but here is just one article that sums it up:
2009 600 comparison Read it and you will see. The dealers in So. California have lots of bikes left over from previous years. Some great bargains to be had and I was able to get this for $7900 out-the-door. That is $2,800 below original MSRP!!
- It is very comfortable, smooth, stable and powerful. I put 280 miles on it yesterday and had no problems with the seating position. No turbulence at any speed and the ergonomic triangle suits my 6"1" frame fine. I could have easily put in 400-500 miles if I wanted. It a bit wider at the fuel tank than my R1, but not a problem at all.
- As far as performance...:Flash::Flash::Flash:
It's a dream to carve the canyons with this bike. I didn't make any suspension adjustments (just picked it up Friday evening) but it suited my style from the beginning. No effort at all is required to make it corner, you just look at where you want to go and it complies with your request. It has a rather different style of front fork internals that is supposed to reduce brake dive, but it is not something that I noticed at all on the street. My experience has shown that it is both impractical and dangerous to try to exploit the true limits of any sportbike on the street. Some things just can't be tried until you are able to fully commit to the road in front of you, and will NOT do that on an uncontrolled public road.
Braking is as strong as any other bike I've ridden. The horsepower output is quite similar to other 600cc bikes, but the delivery is very unique. It has adequate power as low as 5000 RPM and it builds without any surge or rush as the revs climb. This makes for a more pleasurable street-riding experience, where 99% of your time is spent. I didn't feel like I needed to keep the revs up to keep momentum going. The transmission stands out as being the slickest I have ever used. It never clunked or felt forced, even in city traffic. To think that it will be even better as it breaks in is just amazing..
The topper: Even with the relatively high speeds and loads that I put it through yesterday, I managed to get 44 MPG out of a modern supersport bike with less than 300 miles on a new, tight engine!! That is absolutely stunning!
If you have ever thought of getting a new bike, the time to act is now. Once these inventory levels of leftovers are dropped, there will not be a surplus of motorcycles like this for a long time..
