Old Toys

With all of my lamentations about my two-wheeled shortage this season, I can't help but remember the machine that got me into motorcycling. Pictured above is my first bike. Well, not exactly -- the picture is of a 1989 Kawasaki ZX-10. In 1993, I purchased a 1989 Kawasaki ZX1000 while in Germany. Same bike, different name for a different market, I suppose.

But the picture is accurate down to the color and the stripes. Did I mention it was fast? Way too fast, in fact. I took it on the Autobahn and twisted my wrist as far as it would go. I don't know how fast it would have gone -- I chickened out at 160mph.

A friend owned the previous year's ZX-10 that he tweaked. With both of us on it -- we were both around 200lbs -- he sent the speedo somewhere north of 190mph on our way to Denmark one fine day.

Of course it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. I didn't, but suffered a couple fractures and some gnarly road rash after a clueless driver cut me off at 120mph -- actually, I was doing 120, he was probably doing about 70. I walked (slightly limped) away, but the bike didn't make it. I was told that the crash was quite spectacular. It's a shame I was too busy tumbling down the Autobahn to really enjoy it properly.

So now I'm at the point that I'm ready to make the lateral move from sport bike to cruiser. I still love the crotch rockets, but most of them aren't made for comfortable, long distance cruising. And I'm just not in that much of a hurry anymore.