First ride impression, and photos

OK, hopefully this’ll be my last post of the day. 😉

Real, non-hiptop photos, though they are a little backlit due to that silly bright California sun.

Now, I’ve ridden this particular Z a whopping six miles, so these “ride impressions” are really just the really obvious things…

• The seat sucks. My butt hurt within six miles. Granted, I don’t sit on the wide part of the seat, where Kawasaki intended, but still. I’ll be Airhawk shopping this weekend, methinks.
• The clutch makes me very, very happy. Smooth as buttuh. Buttuh! My first rides on new (to me) bikes usually result in me overrevving when taking off from stop lights and having at least one big lurch while I figure out the friction zone. Like Dora, the Z was all silk from the get-go.
• Adjustable levers! 5-position adjustable levers for brake and clutch. *sniff* I can actually reach the brake lever with my index and middle fingers — I won’t have to do the mutant “thumb and index finger control throttle while last 3 fingers grab the brake” thing that makes my elbow stick out and look retarded.

OK, that’s it from my huge whopping first ride. Obviously I’ll talk about the engine, shifting, flicking, etc when I’m not just riding from stop light to stop light to get the bike home from the dealer. 😉