[alphadog]

Congratulations! on your ride.

Welcome to the Z community, coming from another doctor and a superbiker. I am an Orthopaedic surgeon myself, and it is nice to see another doctor who is passionate about bikes. We are a rare species, indeed.

I own a Z900, which shares a leaned out version of the Z1000 powerplant. The Kawasaki inline 4 engines are smooth and they seem to have tuned the engine to give enough of low end grunt with the torque. The bike looks superb, pity that the production of these bikes has been stopped.

It is indeed great that you have found a well maintained pre-owned bike. Well looked after ones are uncommon to come by. I simply love the way you have described the experiences with both the bikes. You do have a flair for writing and it made for very entertaining and captivating read during these times.You should keep writing more.

Can you share the link or website from where you sourced the bike cover from. Hope to see more ride experiences from you once this virus thing settles down.

Keep riding. Cheerio!

[Doc_nikhil]

Originally Posted by balenopower

congratulations on the Z. Kartik is a very dear friend and when he did put the bike on sale he sent me the details and I was considering the bike, but then for some reasons i wasn't convinced with it. So i went ahead and put my money on another motorcycle. He keeps his bikes very well so you have definitely ended up with a superb motorcycle. Enjoy and ride safe.

Hey, thank you so much! Which bike did you end up getting, if I may ask! Hope you have great rides on that too! Cheers!

Originally Posted by Uthappa

Two motorcycle reviews for the price of one! I'm seriously in awe of your passion, persistence (with your dad) and penmanship. Enjoyed the review in one sitting, much needed relief from these depressing times. Enjoy your ride, rev hard and safe! Cheers.

Thank you Uthappa, glad I could provide some laughs and relief. I will ride hard and ride safe, thank you, once again!

Originally Posted by batterylow

Finally the thread is up. The sheer time and effort put in by you to seek out and extract such immaculate beauties from the corners of India is incredible.Hats off mate. Wonderful photo work by both Keshav and Prasanth.Ride safe and ride hard doc.

Dude, Thank you so much. You should push me more to write, you know how lazy I am! We have so many threads I need you to edit. Be ready!

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Such a fantastic thread. Really enjoyed reading it. Jelly that you have such beautiful roads to ride on and are enjoying life. Ride the bike in good health and have fun. The Z1 is truly an iconic bike.

QuickDraw, thank you so much. Roads are really better than the rest of the country, I agree, but the traffic and the traffic sense (or the absence of it!) is the same na. But still, late nights and late afternoon rides are enjoyable. You should plan a trip this side. I’ll show you all the good B roads!

Originally Posted by alphadog

Congratulations! on your ride. Welcome to the Z community, coming from another doctor and a superbiker. I am an Orthopaedic surgeon myself, and it is nice to see another doctor who is passionate about bikes. We are a rare species, indeed. I own a Z900, which shares a leaned out version of the Z1000 powerplant. The Kawasaki inline 4 engines are smooth and they seem to have tuned the engine to give enough of low end grunt with the torque. The bike looks superb, pity that the production of these bikes has been stopped. It is indeed great that you have found a well maintained pre-owned bike. Well looked after ones are uncommon to come by. I simply love the way you have described the experiences with both the bikes. You do have a flair for writing and it made for very entertaining and captivating read during these times.You should keep writing more. Can you share the link or website from where you sourced the bike cover from. Hope to see more ride experiences from you once this virus thing settles down. Keep riding. Cheerio!

Hey Alphadog, thank you so much for your kind words. We definitely are a rare species indeed! The Z900 is A wonderful bike, with less weight so I believe it’s more flickable than the Z800 and the 1000 too! And it’s great that you are enjoying one. After reading all your replies I have resolved to write more. I am an inherently lazy person so I need that writing streak to start. But rest assured I shall make an effort to write more and write better. Let’s plan some ride together some day! Will be good!

[fulcrum29]

Originally Posted by Doc_nikhil

Thank you, GTO. Hope this brings some distraction to readers during these COVID lockdown times.

Hi, first of all, a big congrats on your bike, welcome to the 1k family! Is there any reason you didn't consider the Ninja 1000? It is, I think, better off than the z1000 in most departments ( personal opinion). For the price of your z1000, you could have got a much later year model Ninja 1000(post-2017). And the added benefits of better and cheaper spare availability, all the electronics (lean-sensitive abs, TC, power modes), better-tuned suspension, more Rider friendly ergos, wind protection etc. I know the z1000 looks good but the Ninja is a looker too. I too transitioned from an RC 390 to a pre-loved ninja 1000(MY 2018) and enjoying every bit of ownership! Could relate to every word I read in your article. Keep updating the thread! Here is a pic of my beauty, haven't thought of a name yet, suggestions welcome.

[ramzsys]

The detailing you went into the buying experience and riding apart: your underlying passion in all of this is infusing fresh air into the pessimist mood of current times.

[balenopower]

Originally Posted by Doc_nikhil

Hey, thank you so much! Which bike did you end up getting, if I may ask! Hope you have great rides on that too! Cheers!

Got myself a brand new 790 Duke..delivery which is on hold due to the current situation.

[Doc_nikhil]

Originally Posted by fulcrum29

Hi, first of all, a big congrats on your bike, welcome to the 1k family! Is there any reason you didn't consider the Ninja 1000? It is, I think, better off than the z1000 in most departments ( personal opinion)....Could relate to every word I read in your article. Keep updating the thread! Here is a pic of my beauty, haven't thought of a name yet, suggestions welcome.

Hey Fulcrum, thank you so much for the wishes. Your points are all valid and very much true. The Ninja 1000 has more going for it, with the same explosive powertrain. But the Z was bought with the heart. I was in love with the Z1K after the test ride in late 2017 and I would be randomly searching the classifieds (Tbhp, OLX, and everything in between) for a Z1k, just like that, even when I had absolutely no money or solid backing to buy one. So when this ad stayed and then there was a price revision, I think the pieces in the puzzle aligned and things clicked into place. The Z1K was something unattainable for me at one point of time and I think it was the combination of price revision by Kartik, my being sleep deprived, feeling depressed and feeling irreversibly old one that fateful night got me moving. It’s like that hot date with Salma Hayek you keep dreaming about knowing it will never happen and suddenly somehow, you get a chance and you don’t even think twice before going ahead with it. This was something like that.. your Ninja 1k looks wickedly good man, have fun with it. It’s got the hint of madness like something else out of Japan, Wasabi. How’s that for a name? Just my suggestion!

Originally Posted by ramzsys

The detailing you went into the buying experience and riding apart: your underlying passion in all of this is infusing fresh air into the pessimist mood of current times.

Thank you Ramz! I hope I get to ride her once this covid times are behind us!

Originally Posted by balenopower

Got myself a brand new 790 Duke..delivery which is on hold due to the current situation.

Now that’s a proper weapon! Prior to seeing Kartik’s ad, I was eyeing the Scalpel when it was announced, but somehow the price was a bit too steep. I’m sure you’d have had the advantage of the ongoing discounts to make your decision a bit easier, and might I say a really good decision. You will not be unimpressed by the Duke, though I haven’t ridden it, seeing the way the reviewers are loving it, I’m sure you are in for a great time, brother. Ride safe, ride hard and slice the roads with that scalpel once the Covid is conquered! Cheers!

[balenopower]

Originally Posted by Doc_nikhil

Now that’s a proper weapon! Prior to seeing Kartik’s ad, I was eyeing the Scalpel when it was announced, but somehow the price was a bit too steep. I’m sure you’d have had the advantage of the ongoing discounts to make your decision a bit easier, and might I say a really good decision. You will not be unimpressed by the Duke, though I haven’t ridden it, seeing the way the reviewers are loving it, I’m sure you are in for a great time, brother. Ride safe, ride hard and slice the roads with that scalpel once the Covid is conquered! Cheers!

I was eyeing it for a while and then the discounts happened so it really was a very sweet deal. I got to ride it extensively before i put my money down and i did love it to bits, especially the electronics package. Hope we can catch up with our bikes someday soon. Cheers

[tushar9960]

Beautiful write up and equally amazing pics. Almost felt like I was on the journey with you. Congratulation on this beast. It was a dream of mine to own this monster as well.

[Doc_nikhil]

Originally Posted by tushar9960

Beautiful write up and equally amazing pics. Almost felt like I was on the journey with you. Congratulation on this beast. It was a dream of mine to own this monster as well.

Hey Tushar,
Thanks a lot for your kind words man!! It is a very desirable machine and am lucky to have it! Hope you get one some day! All the best.

[Doc_nikhil]

Pretty long since I wrote anything on this thread, thanks to lock down. One of the main reasons I decided to jot down a few words was, I wanted an excuse to share more pics of the Z . I did the routine chain cleaning / lubing ritually, washed the bike and parked her with the engine thrumming idly more number of times than I can remember, and yeah did multiple ‘8’s within our house compound. Post June 1st, being in green zone (yeah, right), I did venture out a bit, but restricted within my town’s radius of 10km.








The thing about my town is, we have beautiful ripples of twisty tarmac all round, most of them leading to a sleepy village one by one, till it forms a nice huge loop around my town. Since its technically a village road, afternoons you don’t get to see one soul outside, partly cos of the 40+ heat and also, limited transport options. Half of the roads run parallel to the Valparai foothills side, so the view isn’t too shabby either. Oh, what fun I have on those roads!













Here are some screenshots with accompanying pics for the sake of explanation. Yeah, strictly speaking, I wasn’t within the 10km limits, sometimes venturing as far as 20km, but when you do a loop with a 20km radius, the distance and the fun does pile up! The roads are smooth, well laid, with proper markings and usually quite broad. So, I sneak out at 2:00PM and am back home by 3:30PM before anyone notices that I’m not around. If not for helmet hair and bark of the engine as I come in, they wouldn’t miss me. Oh, for the inquisitive ones, I roll my bike out of the front gate before I start it up. Don’t wanna wake up the sleeping elders of the house now, do we! Late rides are completely gone and out, I do not wanna anger a sleep deprived cop looking out to practice his cricket swings with his lathi on me or my Z.








Also have been experimenting with various GoPro mount locations. I do not want to stick anything on the bike, so I’m sticking to suction mount for now (see what I did back there? Heh heh). The problem with this mount is plenty of vibrations. It is like a guy with severe hand tremors holding the cam rather than a mount, yeah, that bad! Also, I have come up with a brilliant plan to capture the exhaust note without wind noise. so brilliant that I haven't executed it so far. Will update on that as soon I fine tune it. Hopefully the end product, both video and audio match up to the level of smoothness that I have pictured in my mind. Stay tuned!

[Jacob1000]

Killer pictures. Feel like I need to head to the roads around your place. It's the brilliant plan keeping a recorder under the rear seat? Couple of issues with that of that's what you're planning.

[Doc_nikhil]

Originally Posted by Jacob1000

Killer pictures. Feel like I need to head to the roads around your place. It's the brilliant plan keeping a recorder under the rear seat? Couple of issues with that of that's what you're planning.

Hey Jacob, thank you! And yes! It was under the rear seat but so far haven't come around to executing that. What are the issues I should expect? I have noted the gearbox / chain whine and some external vibrations, planning on damping the recorder with lots of foam to counteract that, any other issues I should be looking out for? This whole month has been quite a turmoil for us this year and hopefully I can squeeze in a few rides in September.

[Jacob1000]

Originally Posted by Doc_nikhil

Hey Jacob, thank you! And yes! It was under the rear seat but so far haven't come around to executing that. What are the issues I should expect? I have noted the gearbox / chain whine and some external vibrations, planning on damping the recorder with lots of foam to counteract that, any other issues I should be looking out for? This whole month has been quite a turmoil for us this year and hopefully I can squeeze in a few rides in September.

Haha. Tried that myself with my N1K. The thing is that the recorder will also pick up the various rattling sounds like the tools, mud guard, small pebbles hitting the underside etc.

You can use a lavalier mic with a decent length along with a wind cover and hook it up near the engine or near the exhaust outlet. Should give you a better recording. Try different placements to see what works best for you.

[Doc_nikhil]

Originally Posted by Jacob1000

Haha. Tried that myself with my N1K. The thing is that the recorder will also pick up the various rattling sounds like the tools, mud guard, small pebbles hitting the underside etc.

You can use a lavalier mic with a decent length along with a wind cover and hook it up near the engine or near the exhaust outlet. Should give you a better recording. Try different placements to see what works best for you.

Ok, thank you for the tip. Yeah, I have been trying to get the exhaust note with a lavalier mic taped to the rear foot peg, but still all I recorded was a lot of wind noise. Will be trying the different setups soon, and I will keep it posted.