Sorry I havent been about much the last couple of weeks but I have been busy on other sites. Ebay and cycletrader.com mostly.
What does this mean and what relevance does the ZX7R thread title have to my absence?
Well, I was seeking a sportbike. After initially planning to buy a 2004 hardly used 600/750 I realised I would be spending upwards of $7k which I can't justify for a weekend toy. Thus, I set myself a budget of $5k which ruled out anything new. Of course, used sportbikes generally get modded (usually not to my tastes) or have the shit hammered out of them. Anything decent was few and far between. Had a look at a couple of 'streetbikes' like the Z1000 but one thing I wanted was wind protection, tried a Bandit 1200 which I nearly bought. However, I wanted a sportbike, so the hunt continued.
I started looking for mint stock examples of sportbikes, older guys' sunday toys kind of thing.
Found a 1998 GSXR750 on ebay with 4900 miles, reserve was at $4300. Sounded perfect and located 90 miles away so I could go see it before I bid. Arranged a viewing and was about to go, when he calls me. Someone locally offered him $4700 and he took it off ebay! Rats!
Looked in Cycle trader - there had been a mint ZX7R on sale the week before for $6000. Over my budget and way over priced for a 2000 model even with the low miles on it.
He'd dropped the price 10% so I called him. Went to see it, and said that it was still too expensive for my budget, but I had cash. The guy was getting desperate to sell and when I put $4500 on the table in front of him he cracked. Ended up writing a check for a couple hundred more and got the bike delivered as part of the deal.
So....
I now own a 2000 ZX-7R. Black and Silver. She's got 7500 miles on her and not a scratch.
You will have to trust me on this as she is in the shop for a full service right now (valve adjustments are beyond my ability on anything but the DR650!) so no custom pics yet...although I will provide some later this week!
Is it quick? 125hp at the crank so, yeah, you betcha! Now minacious's bike will piss rings round it, but with 0.6hp for each kg of weight, it ain't slow!
http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/3...36114336wo.jpg
By the way - I have noticed in the 1282 new posts I got when I logged in that a lot has been going on here in my absence!