Today I Realized..

[dunder]

...life is great after all.

I am happy as only a child can be and I guess it is the part of me that is craving sick speed, lovely ladies and tons of adrenaline speaking at the moment - I have it all. I live the fastest of lives; I have the most adorable of women and right now I am just smiling from the craziest of adrenaline rushes..

After a relatively long period of living in apathy, where most things that can go wrong also has gone wrong, life has been transformed. I am back to the one I want to be, living in the greatest of realities. I am not intoxiated nor have I taken some other drugs, but I am filled with joy from the ride I just had. Got to say - I have been seriously frustrated about the traffic situation in Bangkok, even though there are some hours and areas respectively where I can both play with my bike and enjoy all the power a zx-10r has to offer.. still most of the times it is a constant struggle not to hit or be hit by other human beings in the traffic. Today though - I found heaven! Not only has most of miss "Killers" modifications been dealt with, but from nowhere a guy who I don't know gave me directions to one of the longest and least trafficked straights I have seen on this side of the planet - you understand now that the child in me, the guy I spoke about earlier found something precious. He found Heaven and I guess with this.. huge amounts of, in my subjective point of view, life prolonging hormons in the shape of Epinephrine... Weeehaa

No more misery and cheers to all of you in the Bike Section of Thaivisa..

Peace

Johan

[thaicbr]

So Johan.........share please. where is this Nirvana?

[coolfusion]

Welcome to my world.

[BigBikeBKK]

Welcome to my world.

+1 to that!

Amen!

[Nio]

Bring your ZX-10 to HKS racing (1/4 mile track with christmas tree start lights) and watch your arse get handed to you by a thai teenager on a moped.

[thaicbr]

Nio. annnnnd What exactly does that prove. Get a ZX10 drag stripped and not a lot will beat it. Including your teenage

[barrybike]

Bring your ZX-10 to HKS racing (1/4 mile track with christmas tree start lights) and watch your arse get handed to you by a thai teenager on a moped.

i seriously doubt the moped could stay near a zx10.....or it using rocket fuel or something ????????

[Travelmate]

Johan how is the ZX10R?

Why you need such a long straight to enjoy the bike?

I hear yours is the restricted version.

Did you manage to resolve the issue with Kawasaki Rama 9?

[dunder]

So Johan.........share please. where is this Nirvana?

Im not the best giving directions but I drove from On nut road and headed towards Suvarnabhum.. close to the big bus station there is a road heading against Bang Na Trat.. this is my new hang out place:) It might be that everybody knew of this extreme straight already, but for me it was the first time..

Welcome to my world.

+1 to that!

Amen!

AMEN!

[submaniac]

A moped vs. a literbike? Anyone who has ridden a literbike knows better. The only thing that will beat a literbike is another literbike...or maybe a top fuel dragster. That's about it.

[dunder]

Johan how is the ZX10R?

Why you need such a long straight to enjoy the bike?

I hear yours is the restricted version.

Did you manage to resolve the issue with Kawasaki Rama 9?

Hi Travelmate.. yes. You've heard correctly. This issue is resolved now after months of arguing with the dealer. To be honest I wanted to post a thread of how they have treated me at Rama 9. I have always been true to Kawasaki and I have always loved their bikes and how they value their customers, but now I am scared they might have lost a customer forever. For a fact - Rama 9 dealer will NEVER see me buy a bike there again!!!

The issue is a little bit complicated, but I can in very short terms put it like this: they sold me a bike telling me it was the us edition, giving me the specs of an unrestricted version. Having the specs of an unrestricted bike on their website etcetera etcetera. When I realized my bike was restricted (after running the bike in) they refused to admit they had done anything wrong and claimed I was lying. I showed them the spec sheets they had given me and I even printed out the spec sheets from their website (which they have changed now) but they still acted ignorant and unwilling to admit their mistake (read: lack of knowledge). Not before I threated to go "higher" in the organisation something started to happen. They even refused to give me the telephone number to someone above the store manager!

Nevermind..The issue is now taken care of and I had to pay for it with plenty of time, extreme frustration and of course cashelicash.

So.. I need such a long straight giving me enough time and space to break!

Peace/

Johan

ps. for the bikers used to the unrestricted version of ZX-10r thinking of buying a ZX-10r in Thailand: -you will have to make some major modifications and pay a lot more than the original 650 000 baht to get the bike you really want!

Edited October 29, 2009 by dunder

[BigBikeBKK]

The issue is a little bit complicated, but I can in very short terms put it like this: they sold me a bike telling me it was the us edition, giving me the specs of an unrestricted version. Having the specs of an unrestricted bike on their website etcetera etcetera. When I realized my bike was restricted (after running the bike in) they refused to admit they had done anything wrong and claimed I was lying. I showed them the spec sheets they had given me and I even printed out the spec sheets from their website (which they have changed now) but they still acted ignorant and unwilling to admit their mistake (read: lack of knowledge). Not before I threated to go "higher" in the organisation something started to happen. They even refused to give me the telephone number to someone above the store manager!

Nevermind..The issue is now taken care of and I had to pay for it with plenty of time, extreme frustration and of course cashelicash.

ps. for the bikers used to the unrestricted version of ZX-10r thinking of buying a ZX-10r in Thailand: -you will have to make some major modifications and pay a lot more than the original 650 000 baht to get the bike you really want!

Oh dear... this is the first I've heard that the ZX10R they are selling in Thailand is restricted. I was under the impression from their website and from speaking to the sales staff that it was a full power US spec bike.

I've been thinking of getting the ZX6R when they start selling it (rumored to go on sale next month) but I definitely want the full power 108Hp version.

If you don't mind can you tell us how you discovered your bike was restricted and what was necessary to de-restrict it.

Thanks for your time.

Ride On!

Tony

[Travelmate]

Glad you got it sorted out Johan.

Kawasaki Rama 9 are not what they claim to be. Having visited them on two separate occasions myself. Asked them some questions about the ZX10R. And they were very vague and obviously did not get clued up on the most powerful bike in their line up.

They are sourcing the bikes from Malaysia. Which are of course restricted.

Hopefully they will learn to treat customers properly and with respect.

[BigBikeBKK]

Glad you got it sorted out Johan.

Kawasaki Rama 9 are not what they claim to be. Having visited them on two separate occasions myself. Asked them some questions about the ZX10R. And they were very vague and obviously did not get clued up on the most powerful bike in their line up.

They are sourcing the bikes from Malaysia. Which are of course restricted.

Hopefully they will learn to treat customers properly and with respect.

Well, I guess this will be good news for the gray market importers- they will still be the place to go for unrestricted sport bikes.

Personally I've never had any problem with the customer service at Kawasaki and certainly no disrespect, just a lot of ignorance about what they are selling...

I'll be pretty bummed if the ZX6R is restricted and sounds like it may well be...

What is the price of the Triumph Daytona?

[thaicbr]

"What is the price of the Triumph Daytona?"

To much!

[Travelmate]

^ The ZX6R 636 also used to be restricted.

This was solved by means of a simple jumper cable.

The ZX10R takes more doing to un-restrict.

[Travelmate]

"What is the price of the Triumph Daytona?"

To much!

Code for "cannot afford."

[dunder]

Oh dear... this is the first I've heard that the ZX10R they are selling in Thailand is restricted. I was under the impression from their website and from speaking to the sales staff that it was a full power US spec bike.

I've been thinking of getting the ZX6R when they start selling it (rumored to go on sale next month) but I definitely want the full power 108Hp version.

If you don't mind can you tell us how you discovered your bike was restricted and what was necessary to de-restrict it.

Thanks for your time.

Ride On!

Tony

Hi Tony.. Oh well. I was under that impression myself:)

First of all I ran the bike in on low rpms and never really went above 5k.. after 1000 km and the first service I took it out on Bang Na Trat to really test it out one night.. This is when I first understood something isn't right. I didn't have any power above 10 000 rpm. I went back and forth and the bike responded good on gears 1-4 and I don't have to say how fast I went, but I maxed the bike on the fourth gear and reached about the same speed on all runs.. When I thereafter changed to gear 5 and 6 the bike really had nothing more to give.. The speed went very slow up. (I had a zx-10r in Sweden as well and I know how these bikes are supposed to feel when you twist the throttle even in 240km/h) This bike didn't respond like my swedish dito.

Anyways.. I took Killer to a dynojet for a power run and now I got it all on paper.. Both max power and max torque was way below the numbers of an unrestricted version. The curves did look great until it hit 10 000 rpm where the power just died. Now I started searching online for the reason and asked a few guys at different sport bike forums.. many didn't understand what was wrong until a guy from Cyprus, who used to own a similar bike, believed these were the curves of a restricted "Malaysia edition".

I went to Kawasaki and here it all started out very bad (and I don't want to explain what happened the following weeks/months). They had no idea what the problem was and they couldn't give me any numbers for me to follow up on my research. I had to open up the bike myself to see part number of the ECU (electronic control unit) and cables and from here I got even more confused. No one had ever heard of the number on my ECU box. It wasn't the part number of the malaysian-, us-, california-, australian-, japanese/asian-, european- or french- edition. After more research I found out that this was a thai specific part number.

Since no one of all the "experts" had been in contact with this specific ECU, nobody knew how to un-restrict it either. If you own a french zx-10r for example you can buy a kit to take care of the issue, some other ECUs can be tricked with jumper cables etcetera.. Nobody could help due to lack of knowledge regarding the thai spec ECU and the only solution really was to change the ECU.

About the zx-6r - I don't know what ECU they will sell it with, but my guess is that they will put in some restriction due to the very strict emission standards here. I figure it won't pass tests otherwise.. Time will tell.

/Johan

Glad you got it sorted out Johan.

Kawasaki Rama 9 are not what they claim to be. Having visited them on two separate occasions myself. Asked them some questions about the ZX10R. And they were very vague and obviously did not get clued up on the most powerful bike in their line up.

They are sourcing the bikes from Malaysia. Which are of course restricted.

Hopefully they will learn to treat customers properly and with respect.

Unfortunalely I agree with you on all points!.. and thanx for you gladness:)

/Johan

Edited October 29, 2009 by dunder

[barrybike]

Oh dear... this is the first I've heard that the ZX10R they are selling in Thailand is restricted. I was under the impression from their website and from speaking to the sales staff that it was a full power US spec bike.

I've been thinking of getting the ZX6R when they start selling it (rumored to go on sale next month) but I definitely want the full power 108Hp version.

If you don't mind can you tell us how you discovered your bike was restricted and what was necessary to de-restrict it.

Thanks for your time.

Ride On!

Tony

Hi Tony.. Oh well. I was under that impression myself:)

First of all I ran the bike in on low rpms and never really went above 5k.. after 1000 km and the first service I took it out on Bang Na Trat to really test it out one night.. This is when I first understood something isn't right. I didn't have any power above 10 000 rpm. I went back and forth and the bike responded good on gears 1-4 and I don't have to say how fast I went, but I maxed the bike on the fourth gear and reached about the same speed on all runs.. When I thereafter changed to gear 5 and 6 the bike really had nothing more to give.. The speed went very slow up. (I had a zx-10r in Sweden as well and I know how these bikes are supposed to feel when you twist the throttle even in 240km/h) This bike didn't respond like my swedish dito.

Anyways.. I took Killer to a dynojet for a power run and now I got it all on paper.. Both max power and max torque was way below the numbers of an unrestricted version. The curves did look great until it hit 10 000 rpm where the power just died. Now I started searching online for the reason and asked a few guys at different sport bike forums.. many didn't understand what was wrong until a guy from Cyprus, who used to own a similar bike, believed these were the curves of a restricted "Malaysia edition".

I went to Kawasaki and here it all started out very bad (and I don't want to explain what happened the following weeks/months). They had no idea what the problem was and they couldn't give me any numbers for me to follow up on my research. I had to open up the bike myself to see part number of the ECU (electronic control unit) and cables and from here I got even more confused. No one had ever heard of the number on my ECU box. It wasn't the part number of the malaysian-, us-, california-, australian-, japanese/asian-, european- or french- edition. After more research I found out that this was a thai specific part number.

Since no one of all the "experts" had been in contact with this specific ECU, nobody knew how to un-restrict it either. If you own a french zx-10r for example you can buy a kit to take care of the issue, some other ECUs can be tricked with jumper cables etcetera.. Nobody could help due to lack of knowledge regarding the thai spec ECU and the only solution really was to change the ECU.

About the zx-6r - I don't know what ECU they will sell it with, but my guess is that they will put in some restriction due to the very strict emission standards here. I figure it won't pass tests otherwise.. Time will tell.

/Johan

Glad you got it sorted out Johan.

Kawasaki Rama 9 are not what they claim to be. Having visited them on two separate occasions myself. Asked them some questions about the ZX10R. And they were very vague and obviously did not get clued up on the most powerful bike in their line up.

They are sourcing the bikes from Malaysia. Which are of course restricted.

Hopefully they will learn to treat customers properly and with respect.

Unfortunalely I agree with you on all points!.. and thanx for you gladness:)

/Johan

hi johan sorry to hear of all that hassle ..i wouldnt like to have a restricted litre bike either...is your bike running at full power now ?? and did kawasaki sort it for you ??

[LivinLOS]

Sorry to hear this story and a black mark for Kwaker Thailand, more the not admitting the mistake and making you happy than making it to me (but its Thailand, admitting the mistake etc)

Glad you got it sorted out Johan.

Kawasaki Rama 9 are not what they claim to be. Having visited them on two separate occasions myself. Asked them some questions about the ZX10R. And they were very vague and obviously did not get clued up on the most powerful bike in their line up.

Its Thailand, and its a high performance item, so no surprise they know squat about it. Not saying its right but just it is what it is.

Thailands culture of denying problems, the sold = end of sellers responsibility, etc are all holding it back in advancing technical systems.

[LivinLOS]

hi johan sorry to hear of all that hassle ..i wouldnt like to have a restricted litre bike either...is your bike running at full power now ?? and did kawasaki sort it for you ??

Yeah did they step up and make you happy ??

Thats kind of important.

[nikster]

That's why we ride bikes

As for the restrictor, sounds just like the one on the D-Tracker. Higher RPMs only work in gear 1 and 2. Gears 5 and 6 useless for all intents and purposes. Replacing the D-Tracker ECU costs BHT 8000... why would the ZX10 one be more expensive? I can imagine it would be hard to figure out all on your own, but once you did - swap out ECU and done deal, no?

Edited October 30, 2009 by nikster

[Fishenough]

Bring your ZX-10 to HKS racing (1/4 mile track with christmas tree start lights) and watch your arse get handed to you by a thai teenager on a moped.

Hate to change the topic, but if teenagers on moded scooters are pulling 150 mph, sub 10 second quarter miles (stock liter bike numbers) - I gotta see that!

[thaicbr]

"What is the price of the Triumph Daytona?"

To much!

Code for "cannot afford."

Yep. You not wrong there

[Kf6vci]

I'm seconding the OP. a Cagiva 500 cc GP 2-stroke racing bike managed 0 to 300 km/h in under 6 seconds though.

20 years ago, the German bike mag Motorrad ran an article where some fat slob wonna be biker-rocker ona beat up 750 (?) was to race a 50 cc professional on a track.

The pro was faster in the bends, but on the straights, the more than twice heavier biker dude won the race.

What makes biking wonderful to me is that it clears the head. One is living in the present and feels very much alive!

The state of mind is not linked to a particular street (I find curves more interesting than high speed).

The best is having money in your pocket and to go on a road trip with good weather, little traffic and good company!

Happiness is how you are responding to the world. I find when one has

the right attitude, even a 5 hours ride in torrential rain (wet to the skin after 20 minutes) on some German Autobahn

won't spoil the experience0.

A good frappe Coffe? A good warm meal after a few hours in the saddle? Little things count as well!

Ride and enjoy the little things.

Chris

[BSJ]

Hi Dunder, the good chap that pointed you to Hayabusa Hwy seems like a chap that all of us Kwaka riders could share a beer with.....if we knew where it was!

[Travelmate]

I think he is talking of the road that link Bangna-trat & Lad Krabang. Runs parallel to the airport road that link the motorway to the Bangna-Trat road.

Is it this one?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source...e=UTF8&z=12

Edited October 30, 2009 by Travelmate

[JonnyF]

That's why we ride bikes

As for the restrictor, sounds just like the one on the D-Tracker. Higher RPMs only work in gear 1 and 2. Gears 5 and 6 useless for all intents and purposes. Replacing the D-Tracker ECU costs BHT 8000... why would the ZX10 one be more expensive? I can imagine it would be hard to figure out all on your own, but once you did - swap out ECU and done deal, no?

Does that invalidate the warranty though? I'm thinking about getting the ZX6R when it is released but I'd be quite annoyed if I spent 450-500k on a bike from Kawasaki and then immediately lost the warranty by replacing the ECU (which I would have to do if it was restricted).

It sounds like the Kawasaki staff might not even know whether it's restricted when I go to view the bike in the showroom, in which case I'm pretty sure that I'll be told that it isn't restricted. Hopefully the smaller engine of the 6R will mean that it can pass emissions testing without restriction.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this up...

[Travelmate]

Would it be reasonable for kawasaki to provide the dyno sheet to show proof of power as claimed?

[BigBikeBKK]

First of all I ran the bike in on low rpms and never really went above 5k.. after 1000 km and the first service I took it out on Bang Na Trat to really test it out one night.. This is when I first understood something isn't right. I didn't have any power above 10 000 rpm. I went back and forth and the bike responded good on gears 1-4 and I don't have to say how fast I went, but I maxed the bike on the fourth gear and reached about the same speed on all runs.. When I thereafter changed to gear 5 and 6 the bike really had nothing more to give.. The speed went very slow up. (I had a zx-10r in Sweden as well and I know how these bikes are supposed to feel when you twist the throttle even in 240km/h) This bike didn't respond like my swedish dito.

Anyways.. I took Killer to a dynojet for a power run and now I got it all on paper.. Both max power and max torque was way below the numbers of an unrestricted version. The curves did look great until it hit 10 000 rpm where the power just died. Now I started searching online for the reason and asked a few guys at different sport bike forums.. many didn't understand what was wrong until a guy from Cyprus, who used to own a similar bike, believed these were the curves of a restricted "Malaysia edition".

I went to Kawasaki and here it all started out very bad (and I don't want to explain what happened the following weeks/months). They had no idea what the problem was and they couldn't give me any numbers for me to follow up on my research. I had to open up the bike myself to see part number of the ECU (electronic control unit) and cables and from here I got even more confused. No one had ever heard of the number on my ECU box. It wasn't the part number of the malaysian-, us-, california-, australian-, japanese/asian-, european- or french- edition. After more research I found out that this was a thai specific part number.

Since no one of all the "experts" had been in contact with this specific ECU, nobody knew how to un-restrict it either. If you own a french zx-10r for example you can buy a kit to take care of the issue, some other ECUs can be tricked with jumper cables etcetera.. Nobody could help due to lack of knowledge regarding the thai spec ECU and the only solution really was to change the ECU.

About the zx-6r - I don't know what ECU they will sell it with, but my guess is that they will put in some restriction due to the very strict emission standards here. I figure it won't pass tests otherwise.. Time will tell.

Thanks for the additional information. So, to de restrict te ZX10R did you only have to change the ECU? If so then that's not such a big deal IMO. But I know some bikes are a bitch to de-restrict. Red Baron had a Japan spec (restricted) CBR600 for sale and I asked what it would take to de restrict. Apparently quite a bit! As I recall in addition to swapping out the ECU it needed new cam, valve springs, throttle bodies and a couple of other items I can't recall... Sounded like a real pain! Will have to take a really close look at the ZX6R to see what the story is there. I don't think I'm going to throw down big money on a restricted one. If the Ninja ZX6R is restricted I think I'll have to take a serious look at the Triumph Daytona 675. Stunning bike. Still wondering what the price tag is - anyone?