The Big Blue Brute

The Blue Brute

I have only one motorcycle left. So sad. Up until a couple of weeks ago I was a TWO motorcycle family. My main ride was a sweet little Kawasaki ZR7S that I christened the Screaming Yellow Streak -- a misnomer really, since the Streak was a mild-mannered machine with no vices.

Alas, the Yellow Streak is now somewhere in the middle of a wholesale change of ownership, even though I never thought I'd sell him.

But the Big Blue Brute still inhabits my carport and beckons me to burn asphalt at every opportunity. Arizona is the perfect place to ride during the winter months, but I seldom seem to do it. Along about October, it starts to get chilly in the evenings and I get out of the habit of riding. I should change that; much of the time, even in January, you can ride here without even so much as a jacket if you choose to. But from October until glorious spring arrives, my bikes have been left to their own entertainment in recent years. But then March and April start to show a little warmth and the days are clear and bright in the sunshine and my mind turns to motorcycling

So I dragged Big Blue out into the yard and washed the dust off of him. I added a bit of good oil just to top it off – he’s about ready for some new oil anyway – adjusted the tire pressures to the proper levels and charged up the battery. After all of this, that nasty old thing fired right off with a choke and a rumble.

The only view most folks ever get of the ZZR1200

I rode him about 30 miles a couple nights ago on an errand and today, I took him to lunch. This 1200 cc motorcycle is God’s gift to horizontal rocketry.  A simple short twist of the throttle and about 2 seconds elapsed time can have you and your Italian Racing Jacket at well over 100 mph.

Top speed, if you’re an idiot, is somewhere above 170 mph; I’ve flown airplanes that wouldn’t go that fast.  So I have to be on my toes all the time to control that power and weight. The more I ride him, the more I discover that he’s really very nimble. Because of the excessive power (about 150 hp), I’ve always been a bit timid to throw him around much. But I am getting used to the thing and I am judiciously getting more comfortable.



The Sweet Departed

I am awful busy this week with other things, things with deadlines. But I am really hoping that late in the week before I run out of days off those projects will be complete and I will be able to spend a day on some Arizona back-road highways – no dirt mind you, this isn’t the machine for that, but some twisty two-lanes perhaps? Now that’s the ticket!

Like I said... "All I want is a piece of the road!" Keep the shiny side up!