To say I am excited is an understatement. A strong welling of emotion within my chest threatens to burst through at any moment but for now, I need to be patient. It’s still a week until things can officially get finalised…
On the 18th of September, my motorbike license officially, after a year or waiting, upgrades itself to it’s unrestricted level on a learner proviso which then enables me to go to a training provider, complete a 6 hour course and demonstration of competency, obtain a certificate stating I am able and then head to the transport department and hand it in to get my learner status revoked and replaced with that all important “Open” class. It’s at this point, the next reason for my huge excitement kicks in.
As of a couple of days ago I decided, hell, why not get prepared and get myself an early birthday present? So guess what? I did. I have been, over the course of the last year, been doing painstaking levels of research trying to work out what sort of motorbike I would upgrade to once the government lazily puts that tick beside my unrestricted license grant and it ended up coming down to two bikes due mainly to insurance costs. A 2009 vintage Yamaha R6 or a 2012 Kawasaki ZX6-R 636. After going down and sitting on them both, it became abundantly clear what my choice would be.
The R6 is a gorgeous bike. Dash, exterior styling and engine are all beautiful works of art that I would have absolutely loved to own. Unfortunately however, I am vertically challenged and I was on my tippy toes just touching the ground due to an aggressively hitched seat and the pitched forward seating position was hurting my wrists just sitting there. For a daily commuting bike, it was out of the question as there would be too many compromises to make sense.
This left the 2012 ZX636. It was perfect, comfortable to sit on despite the extra lean of a supersport riding position, awesome dash, great exterior and a green and black colour scheme that appeals to me greatly as neon green is a favourite colour of mine. The overall look of the bike is still fantastic and in some ways better than the R6. Funny enough then that that’s not what I went for.
Say hello to my new bike. Within a week I will be finalising finance and insurance for a brand new, still in crate 2015 Kawasaki ZX6-R 636 30th Anniversary Edition because amazingly, insurance is the same as the older one, stock was much easier than finding a used one and worked out about 2 grand more than a used one. An absolute no brainer, I get a fresh warranty, limited edition bike straight out of the crate and the knowledge that no one else has ridden it or broken it in incorrectly as I suspect was the case with my Honda CBR500R which was likely thrashed as a demo from 0km. To say I am excited is an understatement…
Tundran on Two 