Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Thread Approved

Congratulations on your bike. Well deserved considering the amount of patience you have

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Hi Kaustav, congrats on your new possession. Ride hard and safe.

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Hey many congrats, ride safe...

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Thanks for the quick approval and responses

I will try to divide my write up with specific segments (followed by few photographs each). Most of my opinions are as I perceived myself as a rider, my skills and other factors and may vary for others.


Evaluating Myself before the upgrade:

Like all big sport bike lovers, I also am in love with the fast , cool liter class bikes, especially the Yamaha R1 and Ducati 1199 Panigale. In fact it very much influenced me to decide on the little R15 over other competitors. Being an Architect by profession, aesthetics has been always a major deciding factor for me for any product, no matter how good it functions, it needs look good, or it doesn't excite me. Though it does not mean I never put importance on specs and performance, its just that I need the oomph factor as well.

However, once I started riding my R15 in the streets of Mumbai and read more and more on riding, I started to realize the importance of being comfortable with your bike and being clear about its purpose (commuting/weekend ride/touring) is very important to be happy in the long run. Also I had to be evaluate my skills as a rider, and I found while my basic skills are good enough, there is a lot of room to improve in cornering, and breaking.

So when the matter came to upgrade, I had to narrow down my choices on following aspects:

Purpose of Ride: Short weekend rides and occasional night spins. My work demands a lot of hours, and Hong Kong has the best of the public transports, making bike/car commuting useless.

Skill/size factor: Middle weight, easy to maneuver, can be used for improving skills

Type/Aesthetics: I never was a big fan of naked street bikes, but the recent development in that sector made me look at the street versions which I must say are pretty cool these days. However I also wanted to have the thrill of sport bike like feel and exhaust note.

Price: Though I cam closer to the price tags of the big boys, not all of them were easy, and I had to think of my long term saving/investment impacts.

So in short, I was looking for a 600-800cc, street/naked, which sounded and behaved like a sport bike, and has a good street presence. Sound like quite a combination



Motorbike Market in Hong Kong:

Hong Kong is a small city-country, and the market is quite different from India. Everything is imported, and apart from Ducati, HD, its very difficult to find brand name website and you have to find out the shop/distributor name for the other brands. None of them has more than one shop/service center in town. There is a big market of 2nd hand bikes, and many of them are in good condition. While I was tempted to go that way first, finally opted out as I wasn't sure of the clarity of the dealing (language issue), legal aspects, and finally getting what I want. Many of the expats here buy second hand ones, I think its just me who didnt want to settle for less!
After figuring out the shop locations, I started to check out the shops for the models I though about. Unfortunately none will let you have a test ride, so most of my observations were based on visual and many online reviews.



Following are the bikes I considered (my choices were quite mixed up though):

Yamaha MT 07, 09: Both the bikes were fresh, good looking, powerful and had favorable reviews. However when I checked them out, it didn't seem that gorgeous, also after sitting, didn't find them very at-home. Still they remained in my shortlist because of the practicality and price tag

Yamaha R6: A dream bike to have, but figured out with the sloped roads of HK I will be even more tired than the R15, and its expensive (will get you someday )

Ducati Monster 696/796: Once you see a Ducati, all logic go away, no matter how expensive it is, no matter how expensive to maintain it. I checked it at the Ducati store, it feels great just sit on it. The specs were also quite good.



I was almost sure to go with it, only second thought I had that its a V twin and not gonna sound like an Inline 4, and I know many like it that way, but had a bit of doubt if I will like it as well. However, this option went out of hand as Ducati discontinued both 696 and 796 and introduced 821 which is more expensive than I can afford.

Triumph Street/Speed triple: Loved those headlight eyes apart from universal praise. However, the bike in reality looked small-ish (yet to get over the big bike fetish). Also, Triumph in HK at this moment are not a full service brand, so was not a practical choice.

HD: Very nice bikes, but I would need more years and balance to appreciate them!

Kawasaki Z800/1000: When I visited their showroom, they didn't have Z800 there. They had the Z750 (looks like Yamaha FZ), and Z1000. I loved the Z1000, it fits very well, but the raw power and price scared me off, until I started to learn about the Z800. It had almost everything I needed, the power, the performance, the sound, the looks. I went back again to check it and believe me, when you sit on it, it feels big (more like riding a bull). I wasn't very sure if that's too much for me, given the weight (will discuss later), but every other thing, including the price was so lucrative, I couldn't resist it. It has been almost an year me being on the saddle, ans all the research and wait made me crazy. So I just booked in spot, knowing it can be mine in a week or two.



Time for some more photos, will try to discuss more about first ride, feel, and experience in Hong Kong.

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Congrats. That's a wonderful bike you got. I have booked Z800 today in Bangalore. Will be getting it delivered by next week.

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

kaustav83: Congrats on the beast, she's definitely a looker. What brand are the engine protectors you have there? Kawasaki ones?

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Nice buy kaustav83, congrats. Enjoy biking.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Thanks, yes it is. More detail afterward.

Thanks, and congrats to you too!

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Picking up where I left off:


Specific info on Bike and Ride: At Hong Kong, it does not come with ABS as standard, and one has to order for it. After asking few bikers here, I decided go with the standard non-ABS, as almost no one had ABS in their bikes and didn't find it very useful given HK traffic and road scenario. However, here you can see steep sloped roads and ramps everywhere (with signals midway), and considering the heavy weight of the bike, I decided to add the brand made engine protector and axel guards.




Kawasaki Does not Have any fram slider option, and when I checked the local stores, it seems even the 3rd party sliders are yet to come for 2014 option. However, my choice of getting some protection save me big time! Day one, getting the bike home from showroom, before even getting used to all the power and weight, I am stuck in a high sloped road with slow traffic . Result: while standing at red light, the bike tilted a bit and it kept tilting till it was on its side, effect: bent clutch lever

Decided to go back to showroom and get it replaced, thankfully it was only 200 HKD (about INR 1500), more reason to not have a Ducati (and its expensive parts)

After that, the ride experience is awesome, specially the way it pulls up from standstill. Also loving the fat Tyre, huge tank, Z tail lights, and deep growl! HK has some pretty nice roads, and I must say sometimes it feels alien to have no potholes, lane cutting. I ended up doing some lane splitting anyway (old habit) and it seems legal here.

Security:
HK is pretty affected with big bike theft, and its pretty much sure to get lifted (no matter how many locks/chains you got) if you keep it in the public parking (which are few anyway). Even the parking lots and mall parking are not deemed safe. So that equals to not having the option for riding to somewhere for a visit/movie/shopping. Most one can do is get disc lock, and a chain to anchor if not sure about security. So far I have managed to buy a Xena XX15 disc lock alarm (750 HKD/ INR 5600). It only just got me some peace, if not protection.



Upgrade/Customization:

As of now I have a pretty thin balance, so I decided to enjoy it in its stock form for a while. However some possible future upgrades could be

1. Akrapovic Exhaust (more sound=more visibility on road)
2. Rizoma accessories
3. Pillion seat remover
4. And of course, more crash protection.

Time for rest of the pics:

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Congratulations..

Bike indeed is hot but your narration and photographs are making it hotterrrrr [emoji38]

Sent from a stupid smart phone !

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Good to see a fellow xbhpian in Hong Kong. Congratulations on the bike.
I have moved to Hong Kong in Jan'14. Used to ride Ninja 250 in India. Hope to meet you sometime

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Thanks, and great to know you are in HK too. I have PM'd you with my contact.

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Looking Great. Congratulations !

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong

Congratuations bro...

This is very important. Who in the world doesn''t want to own the fastest bike but apart from affordabilty one's own capability of handling that power is an important factor in buying this mean machines.

You must have had other faired options in this price bracket out there in 600cc range. The best part is after 3 yrs you can legally bring this bike back to India wthout much hassles.

Re: Touching the 4 Cylinder dream : Kawasaki Z800 @ Hong Kong


indeed. I am still pretty much on the learning curve, but getting more confident slowly. Went out for a short night spin, while its fun on highway with long bends, in traffic its still pretty much a job to keep running smooth. Also on down slope, you can feel the huge momentum which gets a bit scary.