The Hook

Tracy sent me an email at the beginning of the season for 2009. It asked if I would be interested in racing a Kawasaki KZ650 project he had been finishing up. “Sure” was the obvious reply. He said I would be responsible for numbers and fuel. How can you beat that?

I wasn't sure if I would race that weekend or not, but last minute things changed and I sent Tracy the “go” message. To my surprise, he brought the thing out to the track from his house. It was gold in color and very plain, but HEAVY. This ain't no GSXR. I let it sit most of the day (Saturday practice) and took it out in the afternoon. It had big superbike bars, giving it that power-steering feel. The power was flat. The handling was downright scary at first, but then the ol' school in me started coming out. Seeing the other vintage guys ride helped a bunch too. The “monkey-see-monkey-do” confidence builder was in full force. The shift pattern was really different to get used to – by pattern I really mean rhythm. When I ride my modern bike, it's like smooth jazz as the metronome in my head guides the timing. This was more like Grunge so far. The stiff, rigid, hard mount rearsets were high and took effort to utilize at first but it all panned out.

By the third session on the machine, I was feeling a bit more like classic rock on the bike. My lap times were steadily coming down and now the handling gremlins began to show themselves. Remember, I am not a vintage guy – so I take all this as “they all do that”. It took some adjustment to effectively pilot the machine, but the thrill of racing also involves the ever growing learning curve. After talking to Tracy about some suspension/handling issues - we decided tires were in order. Off to the computer to email my friends at Avon Tyres and Bridgestone.

The third weekend was coming up for me to ride the KZ, and Tracy knew he had set the hook. “Would you rather ride something different?” said the serpent to the innocent. Next thing you see is me unloading a relic of a CB750, along with some random parts. A mini-series is born.