April 30, 2004, 10,870 km
Today Ton (current owner of my purple/orange ZZ-R 1100) and I had a long trip planned. We wanted to drive into Germany. First as fast as possible to Koblenz (more than 300km), then along the river Mosel to Piesport (more than 100km) and than as fast as possible back home again.
The start of the trip was a bit delayed because the cops stopped Ton when he was speeding to get in time to me. He was doing around 47kmh too fast. That'll be a major ticket, but still he was lucky they measured his speed below 50kmh too fast, because in that case he would have lost his drivers license.
Around 9:30 AM Ton and I left for Germany. On the Autobahn in Germany Ton could try the topspeed of his ZZ-R. I sticked to a max speed of around 200kmh. Faster than that would be even more uncomfortable. During the trip to Koblenz we chased 2 Audi's that were doing 200kmh.
The hars set up of the ZRX was very good now: up until 200kmh the bike was very stable. Even with the topcase at the back.
Near Koblenz
In Koblenz we left the Autobahn and went for the river Mosel. The Mosel valley is a very nice place to be. Temps are very early in the season very nice. They didn't choose this place to grow grapes without a good reason.
Somewhere along the Mosel
They named a road after Kawasaki?
Cruising along the river for about 100km we reached the little town of Piesport at the end of the afternoon. The town itself is not very special, but it lies near a great curvy road.
Overlooking the Mosel and Piesport
Nice curves, great tarmac!
Riding home again I had to turn the reserve on after 240km. After 50km we still hadn't seen a gas station and I started to worry a little bit. At last, 10km further there was one. To my surprise I could only fill it up with 16.5 liters. That meant I had still 2.5 liters left? Strange.
At the end of the afternoon the weather turned sour. In the Belgium Ardennes (always noted for it's miserable weather) we got into a genuine thundestorm: lot's of rain and numerous lightning bolts. We took shelter for a while in a restaurant and after a while, when the worst was over, we pursued our way.
Where did the sun go?
Around 10:00 PM I was home again. In total we travelled 900km. The ZRX was a good travel companion (so was Ton
btw): my bottom didn't hurt much and there were hardly any other physical discomforts.Due to this succes plans are already made for a follow up. Will be continued...
May 7, 2004, 11,320 km
A week ago a guy came to me when I was putting the bike into the garage. He wanted to know if it was possible to rent a piece of my garage to put away his bike. I said this wasn't a problem. Then I learned that he had a ZX-10R and I was kinda honoured he wanted to use my garage. So the ZRX is now accompanied bij a ZX-10R.
May 15, 2004, 11,750 km
Went a bit wild with the rasterbator today. I ended up with a live size pic of the ZX-12R. Here's it lying on my kitchen floor. I'm thinking about sticking it on my bedroom wall.
May 24, 2004, 12,323 km
Damn, lost my license plate today when riding back home from work. This means a lot of red tape when trying to get a new one. Tomorrow I'll try to go work without the plate. With a bit of luck I can get there and back home again unnoticed. Although, with my luck...
May 25, 2004, 12,430 km
So far so good. First I went to a police station to report my license plate missing. Then I went to a postoffice to get some documents to apply for a new license plate, afterwards I went to a shop that makes temporary license plates and ordered one. This temp plate should be ready tomorrow. I had to take a half day off to arrange all of this.
I've done about 100km without the plate and I haven't been stopped by the police. What did struck me was that nobody, not even fellow motorcyclists, pointed me out that I was missing the plate. That's the new millenium for ya.
To be sure I won't loose the new plate (immediately) I've fixed a new license plate holder on the ZRX I still had lying around. I guess I'd better attached it sooner, but hey, if you know everything in advance you can travel around the world with a dime, as they say here.
May 26, 2004, 12,550 km
I did it: riding around without a license plate for 2 days without any problems. At last this morning a fellow biker told me I'd lost my plate. At lunch time I picked up the new, temporary, plate. It is white in stead of yellow and looks a bit like the German plates. I hope people can tell the difference, because Germans are still not very popular overhere. Which is rather odd, I've got nothing but positive experiences with our Easterly neighbours.
The 6 is for the month I'm allowed to use this plate
So far the costs for loosing the plate are: request for replacement plate: € 29.50, temporary plate € 11.00. When I get the ok from the RDW (government body for traffic, or something like that) I can order (and pay for) the new plate.
June 4, 2004, 13,285km
Today I received new registration papers for the new license plate. I won't buy and fix the new plate soon, because I've payed for the temporary one and that one is valid for the whole of June. And it's kinda special to ride with a white in stead of a yellow plate.
This evening I had a new rear tire fitted, another BT020. The old one wasn't completely worn, but this evening was my last chance to have one fitted before the weekend trip to Germany I'm making with the Kawasaki club. And the German police is kinda picky when it comes to thread depth.
June 6, 2004, 13,666km
Kawasaki celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Ninja's on Assen and my brother, nephew and I went there to have a look. There was a line up of old and new Ninja's, but for the rest there wasn't much going on Ninja wise. You could ride on the circuit too and we saw a couple of MV Agusta's burning some rubber. Great sight, it made me wanting to buy a more sporty bike to join them.
Some pics:
June 7, 2004, 13,750km
Had to replace the front light bulb again. I think the small windscreen is destroying them because of the vibrations it is generating.
June 13, 2004, 14,915km
This weekend I went with the Kawasaki Club to Germany. On Friday we travelled via the Autobahn to a hotel near Winterberg. This hotel (Hotel Zueschenwald) is being run by a Dutch family and I can recommend it to every biker that want to do some touring in the Sauerland.
Regretfully we had some bad weather, but this didn't stop us to have a lot of fun.
View from our room: wet bikes
On Saturday we followed a route the owners of the hotel had set out through the beautiful Sauerland.
Stop at a dam
Return at the hotel
Because of the rain there was a lot of mud coming down the mountains, this caused our bikes getting very dirty:
One dirty ZRX
After a nice evening (this German beer tastes very good) we went home again on Sunday.
Getting ready to leave
This was a weekend well worth to do all over again.
June 25, 2004, 15,555km
The bike is riding fine. In fact it's riding more smooth than ever. Could be the atmospheric condition's, or the fact that it at last fully run in. Which would be a bit late, but who knows?
A while a go BMW launched a site about their new sportsbike K1200S (http://www.face-the-power.com/). On this site you could apply for a first testride. As a fan of heavy bikes with lots of power I thought I might as well give it a try. Today I got an email telling me that I was selected for the second round of the selection procedure. With a bit of luck I might be one of the happy few...
June 26, 2004, 16,150km
"Brommers kiek'n": Dutch slang for "Bike watchin'".
At the last Saturday of June the Dutch TT is being held in Assen and I went there to experience a bit of the atmosphere: to have a look at what's going on and to look at all the bikes gathered there.
Lots of bikes in Assen
This latter is something the inhabitants of the places surrounding Assen are doing too. They sit at the verge of the roads and watch the bikes go by. Hoping for stoppie's, wheelie's and burn-outs. And once in a while they get to see one.
Burn out
Together with Ton, has brother and Jack Bol (previous owner and builder of the beautiful CBX Sixuality) I found a nice place to sit too and watched the bikes passing by. For almost three hours there was a constant stream of bikers going home again after the races. Afterwards I went home myself.
June 27, 2004, 16,150km
Fitted the new license plate at last, with an extra screw and bolt to prevent it from getting loose again.
July 1, 2004, 16,450km
Today I met Fish_antlers, founder of www.bikeland.org and PrincessKiwi from Canada. They started their trip through Europe in Amsterdam and so we decided to meet and see each other in real life.
It was a shame I didn't have much time because I had to work, but still I could show them a little bit of Amsterdam.
July 2, 2004, 16,510km
Brought the ZRX to the garage for a big service job (12,000km). Besides the usual wear stuff nothing special had to be done:
| Description | Amount | Price | Total (€) |
| Forte 2 Motor power | 1 | 10.23 | 10.23 |
| Sparkplug U27ETR | 4 | 9.23 | 36.92 |
| Airfilter | 1 | 30.36 | 30.36 |
| Oilfilter | 1 | 6.58 | 6.58 |
| Caliper axel | 1 | 2.89 | 2.89 |
| Brakepads | 2 | 63.17 | 126.34 |
| Small stuff | 1 | 3.40 | 3.40 |
| Oil | 38 | 1.10 | 41.80 |
| Brake/clutch fluid | 4 | 1.93 | 7.72 |
| Labour | 4 | 52.50 | 210.00 |
| Grand Total | 476.24 | ||
Quite a lot of money. Pity I'm too lazy to do this maintenance myself
.As a loaner I got today a Honda CB500. Probably an ex driving school bike. Still it wasn't too bad. For a 500cc, 2 cylinder, Honda.
To increase the amount of money spend today I received a speeding ticket by mail: doing 59kmh where 50kmh was allowed in Amsterdam. Naughty me. Always good for another € 30.- for the State.
July 4, 2004, 16,800km
Since last winter I have been looking for a bike to use in the winter in stead of the ZRX. As you could have seen above winter isn't the best time to ride a bike. Especially the salt causes damage to engine and other parts made of metal. So I wanted to buy a cheap bike to ride in the winter.
Today I went with Ton to the east of the Netherlands to have a look at a Kawasaki GT550. This bike is shaft driven and has a good reputation for durability. E.g. a lot of couriers in London have been using this bike.
The one I went to see has been built in 1983 and looked ok. What can you expect from a 21 year old bike? There was some rust here and there, the front brakes felt spongy (needs new oil) and the paint has had better days. But still I thought it would be worth while to buy this bike for € 750.
GT550 as shown on www.marktplaats.nl
This week I'll take care of the paperwork and go to pick it up.
You'll find my adventures with this bike on its own weblog
July 6, 2004, 17,000km
Since some time I'm feeling vibrations in the left footpeg. The speed of these vibrations increase with the speed of the bike. I think it must be the chain that is possibly not even worn.
July 13, 2004, 17,500km
Today I got an email stating that I was through to the 3rd round of the K1200S testride at the Nurburgring in Germany! For the 3rd round I've got to write something about my motorcycling past and why I'm the right person to do this testride. On the 20th of August we hear who are the lucky few. Can't wait...
July 15, 2004, 17,500km
I learned today that a lot of guys got through to round three of the BMW testride, even if they gave other answers in round two. This smells like a marketing hoax. And guess who fell for it? Still, I'll give it my best shot. You never know.
July 19 - 25, 2004, 17,500 - 19,350km
Vacation in the South of England.
Together with about 45 members of the Dutch Kawasaki Club, and almost as much Kawasaki's, I went to the South of England for a vacation of a week.
This whole week I drove in a smaller group of 9 bike's: 2 ZX-12R's, 2 ZX-9R's, 2 ZZ-R 1200's, 1 Z-750, 1 ZR-750 and mine ZRX 1200.
 Ready to leave |
 Arrival at the hotel |
On July 19 we first went to Boulogne and stayed the night there. From there we drove on the 20th to Calais, to the ferry.
The bikes stood below decks on the ferry and it looked safe to leave them there.
 Ready to board the ship |
 The ZRX below decks |
When we left the ship in Dover we had to ride on the left hand side of the road in stead of right. This was at first very weird, but after a while you more or less got used to it. Although I always had to remind myself to keep left. Especially in the morning when we first drove off.
 Approaching the white cliffs of Dover |
 Beachy Head |
During this week we drove from camping to camping and enjoyed in the meantime the English countryside. In general the roads were good and curvy.
The Kawasaki's behaved well, except for a ZZ-R 1200 that broke a main fuse. It took us quite a while before we found the culprit of the total loss of electricity, but after replacing the fuse the bike ran fine again and kept on doing so.
At one of the days we met along the way a man that wanted to show us some of his bikes. To my surprise he was one of the few owners of a Hesketh V1000! A very special English motorcycle that has been built in very few numbers.
 Enjoying the surroundings |
 Hesketh V1000 |
 Early morning |
 Filling it up again |
We took it quite easy on this tour and we hardly ever exceeded the speed limit. Except for this one evening when three of us had to blow away some cobwebs after a day of easy riding. Together with a ZX-12R and a ZX-9R I chased over the curvy roads near our camping of that day. The ZX-12R rider was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up and told me where they would wait for me. Duh. I never lost them out of my sight, and we had a lot of fun together.
 Line up, ready to leave England |
 Below decks again |
On the 25th we returned home again after a great week. Even the weather cooperated, we never had any rain during the day. Until I got near home again that is. When I got to 50km near the place where I live it started to rain and I was reminiscent of the previous week.
August 8, 2004, 20,000km
I sent this picture to BMW for the K1200S test ride contest. How can I loose now?
August 14, 2004, 20,700km
Since it was a nice, calm, warm evening I decided to give the ZRX a spin. I went for a ride over the dyke I've ridden over for hundreds of times. The bike felt good, although this ticking in the left footrest gets a bit annoying. I rode for about 150km with mostly highly illegal speeds.
August 18, 2004, 20,930km
When I approached Amsterdam the bike stalled again, like it did at 3,500km. It felt like a lack of fuel, but the tank was still half full. I stopped at the verge of the road and after a little while I could start the bike again and had no more troubles. Very weird.
August 20, 2004, 21,100km
Got message from BMW today about the test ride contest. Each (selected) country can only send one representative, and I wasn't the one for the Netherlands. Bummer. Seems I've got to use my own bike to ride on the Nurburgring some day.
August 23, 2004, 21,190km
The bike started to stall again today. I slowed down and it kept on running. After a little while it ran like before, without problems.
August 27, 2004, 21,450km
Today Kawasaki revealed its new models for 2005. The ZX6R looks really nice. For the rest there's not much new. The Z750 got a fairing, that's about it. A bit of a disappointment. I hoped for a renewed ZX-12R, or ZRX1200 (ZRX1300?). At the moment there's no Kawasaki model, except for the ZX-12R, that would be a good replacement for the ZRX. Or maybe the Z1000. I must make a test ride on one (again) to see if it is a fun bike to ride. Considering the number of members of the Kawasaki Club that has one it should be...
Although the black Z750 with fairing doesn't look too bad either...
August 30, 2004, 21,550km
Almost lost the bike today. At a place where a three lane road turns into two lanes I followed this SUV on the third lane. I saw a gap between the cars in the second lane and I knew almost for sure that the SUV would go that way and I slowed down a bit. To my surprise he didn't go that way and I accelerated a bit again. To my greater surprise the SUV driver braked rather hard and he went for the gap after all. I braked hard too with my front brake and I locked the front. The bike skidded and I immediately released the brake and could keep it up with a little help of my left foot. I missed the SUV by a very narrow margin and with a heartbeat of over 200 I continued my journey, another experience richer.
September 3, 2004, 21,850km
Yet another bolt of the radiatior is missing. This thing must be vibrating quite a lot considering the amount of bolts that have been lost.
Had a new chain and new sprockets installed.
| Description | Amount | Price | Total (€) |
| Chain and sprockets | 1 | 197.73 | 197.73 |
| Labour | 1 | 52.50 | 52.50 |
| Grand Total | 250.23 | ||
I liked the black rear sprocket better, but it will get black of itself soon enough
.While I was waiting for the chain to be fitted I talked to the owner of the shop and asked him what the ZRX would be worth if I traded it in. To my surprise he said around 6,500 euro. I was thinking 8,000 euro. This 6,500 euro means it had lost 4,000 euro in value in about 16 months. That's 250 euro each month. That's a lot. The main reason for this steep depreciation was its mileage: almost 35,000km. I think I'll try to sell the bike myself instead of trading it in.
Anyway: the vibrations caused by the worn chain are gone. I'm glad my diagnosis was right.
Contact me to buy this beautiful bike! You know its history! No secrets!
By the way: I see the mechanic has forgotten the spools for the rear stand. They're yours too if you buy this bike
.September 10, 2004, 22,300km
After starting the ZRX the lights of the coolant temp and oil pressure went out, and after a little while came on again. After a little while they went out again and stayed out. Strange phenomenon. Must be an electrical problem somewhere...
September 17, 2004, 22,400km
For four days I've been to my work with the GT550. Today I took the ZRX again. I thought the GT was heavy, but the ZRX felt (and probably is) even more heavier. It's always nice to have a lot of torque and power. Handling was so much better too. But I guess it's not fair to compare two bikes that have been built 20 years apart.
The lights flashed again once today.
If you like reading weblog's about the ZRX, here's another one. This time from a Dutch guy living in the States.
October 3, 2004, 22,400km
Today I got the cd-rom's with the new Kawasaki models and line up of 2005. It seems the ZRX1200 and ZRX1200S are out of the model range. That makes my ZRX the last naked ZRX being sold in the Netherlands. Maybe I can sell it easier because off that?
The ZX-12R now only comes in a blue color. That's a pity, because I liked the black one very much.
October 10, 2004, 22,555km
For the first time in about 2 weeks I drove the ZRX again. Boy did those first km's feel strange. I thought I had a flat tire so odd was the stearing. And the levers were all in the wrong place. It took a while before I was at ease with the ZRX again.
Today I rode with a couple of guys and one girl of the Dutch motorcycle forum. There were 4 ZRX's (including mine) and a bunch of Z1000's and Z750's. We had a very nice trip along some dykes in the neighbourhood.
At a stop Frank (aka Crawl), owner of a Z1000, allowed me to give his bike a spin. I immediately felt at home: the bike was very flickable and had enough power. I'm getting more and more convinced this bike (or the Z750) will replace the ZRX in due time.
October 14, 2004, 22,735km
They've printed the pricelist of all the bikes going to be sold in the Netherlands in a motor magazine. The naked ZRX and the S version were both mentioned, so I guess they still are being sold next year.
October 16, 2004, 22,735km
Because I want to use my heated gloves on the ZRX too, I wanted to install the wiring for that. This wiring had to be fixed to the battery. The battery on the ZRX is hidden quite well, and I had to search for it for quite a while. It seems it's under the air filter and that's a nice centralized place. While searching for the battery I came across the cooling liquid holder which was empty. Because I didn't think that's correct I've filled it with some cooling liquid.
October 24, 2004, 22,835km
Together with my nephew I went to the Motorai in Amsterdam, to see the latest bikes. Kawasaki had a nice display and I liked the new titanium colors very much. Pity the ZX-12R comes only in a rather boring blue color. In this way they will never sell much of them. The story about the 2005 ZRX's is as follows: only the R model will have new colors (e.g. exhaust, fork, brakes) but 2004 models will be sold too, the other models being sold (S and naked) will be left overs from 2004 and will have special prices. On the pricelist they offer even 2003 models from the ZX-12R and 2002 models from the ZZ-R 1200.
October 27, 2004, 23,010km
Used the Gerbing heated gloves for the first time on the ZRX. Boy, are these things comfortable. The best invention since the paperclip!
Because of the flashing oil en temp lights once in a while I decided to check the oil level. Just to be sure, because when the oil level is low only the oil light will light up, won't it? Well, it won't! On the net I've read something about a guy who had the same problem. And in his case it was a lack of oil that caused both light to get lit.
So I checked the oil level, and it was indeed a bit low. I put some more oil in the engine and everything seems to be fine now.
I still find it a stupid thing to do, to flash both lights when the oil level is low. Even the owner's manual says: 'If the engine oil gets extremely low or if the oil pump does not function properly or oil passages are clogged, the oil pressure warning light will light'. It says nothing about the water temp light.
Another thing learned...
November 7, 2004, 23,150km
Today was the last meeting of the Kawasaki Club. The boss of Arai Europe had been invited and told us some interesting stuff about the production of Arai helmets.
November 9, 2004, 23,252km
At temperatures of no more than 2 Celcius I finally could test the heated gloves for real. And they did a wonderful job. I didn't get cold fingers at all. There's only one negative thing to mention: because my fingers are warm at last I notice that the rest of my body gets quite cold too. I'm thinking about buying a heated jacket (liner). Of course from Gerbing too.
December 18, 2004, 23,252km
Seems I can trade in the bike, so I've removed the topcase rack and wiring for the gloves and washed the bike.
Can't tell you more yet (or I'll have to shoot you
) since it isn't 100% sure.December 30, 2004, 23,252km
Traded the bike in today. Made a last drive to the dealer. It has been about 6 weeks since I last drove the bike. It was nice to feel the power again. Still had to be carefull not to crash it. That would be stupid on its last ride.
Final score of (new) odometer
Final pic of my ZRX1200
I've been riding the ZRX for 36,950km in total. It has been a comfortable companion, but looking back it's not the perfect bike for me. I like to have a bit more excitement and I'm sure I've found it in its replacement: a black 2004 Kawasaki ZX-12R Ninja!!
Pic of the (almost) new ZX-12R as found on the Internet
You can find my adventures with this bike here