Courtesy of Lozzo and his ZZR 1100 on todays BOTAFOT. Having never ridden a modern-modern bike, (I've not mentioned this before have I...). Lozzo's out of the blue offer on the road to Bicester was quickly taken up, and then a go on his bike as well. Nice. I'm coming from having ridden bikes since I was seventeen but for no conscious reason have stuck with older (read cheaper) Jap UJM's, MZ and for the last eight years my trusty Guzzi. The most up-to-date larger capacity machine I've owned is a 1981 GS550E in 1991-93. Whilst my Guzzi only gives away 250cc its the 25, nay 40, years of development between the two that really show. Setting off was easy, assure and un-threatening, after a bit of random stabbing at the indicators to make them go off, as it wasn't my bike and felt 'different' we ended up short shifting up to about 80 mph when I seemed to run out of gears. At first I thought it was me and my inability to deal with what for all intents and purposes felt like a gear switch as opposed to a mover of spinning gears and shafts. Nice, smooth and slick. It was in top and pulling quite happily. After a couple of miles and a couple of lower gears the machine pulled with a steady effort, linear and predictable, but *bloody* quick. It went where it was pointed, didn't need lining up. I didn't need to heave it round, weight up the bars or foot pegs. It just did what it was unconsciously told. Braking I wasn't so keen on, it came as bit of a shock (even after making the *very* conscious decision not to use the footbrake) to lose speed at a surprising rate with the fork dive that unsettled me more than the bike. It's difficult to give a reasoned verdict specific to a ZZR 1100 as I have no relative benchmark to use. The other considerations are, it wasn't my bike, the roads were busy(ish) "Hey, they'll get out of *my* way" and it was very different. But the overall impression was threefold: (1) Silence, no wind noise, the engine whirrs but little or no induction roar. It's faired, liquid cooled, has an air box and an exhaust system designed to modern parameters so I shouldn't be surprised, but it was a little disconcerting. (2) Handling, other than the fork dive I wasn't used to, it felt nice, planted and assured but there was a vagueness, a sort of isolation. Even in hindsight I can't put my finger on. The only thing I can think of is it doesn't have the chassis movement, those reassuring twitches, shimmys and affectations, of a worn (out?) older machine. I can't find a word to describe it. /Numb/ isn't the right one, but it's the nearest. (3) It was bonkers fucking fast. Thanks a lot for the opportunity Lozzo. ....Oh, and Lozzo rode my bike.
