Commuting on a ZXR400

[Chazzman_bm]

Gents,

It's been a long time since I've posted probably because my H1 ZX has been in bits for a while.

Not long ago, I took a job in Glasgow and have been taking the train back and forth every day. The truth is, I'm fed up with the state of the rail service and want to take the bike. Here's the problem. I got the ZX as a forgotten project. I have since completely stripped it and had the frame, subframe, swingarm, wheels and other bits powdercoated gloss black. The intention was to turn it into a dedicated track bike but now I'm considering putting it back together as a commuter. It will have all new bearings, sprockets, chain, discs, the lot so it should be as new. I'm not going to rebuild the engine (unless I have to). I'll just service it with new plugs, oil fluids, clean and balance the carbs and check the compression of each cylinder before it gets on the road.

I'm not a small guy (6' and heavier than I should be) and have only ridden the ZX short distances before I stripped it. Does anybody use their bike on a daily basis and if so, how do you rate it?

Chazz.

[Scott221]

Ive been riding my zxr for about 2 weeks now. I can honsetly say i think its incredible. A deffinate all rounder. Will give you good economy (aroung 50 mpg) its got enough power, but not too much. im 6 ft 1 and around 12 and a half stone and it still goes like sh*t off a shovel. it really depends on the mileage your looking to cover daily. The riding position really denotes how comfortable your going to be, which sometimes is not very, its good for around 100 miles, after that your butt will probably be numb for a month.

[zxr_oli]

I use mine every day, usually about 50 miles each.

I have no complaints and neither does the bike
I just need to ride a bit easier so save some fuel, but now thats not much fun now is it

[Chazzman_bm]

Cheers guys. My commute will be 60 miles each way so I wanted to know if it was realistic or not. I'll give it a shot and see how I get on.

Thanks.
Chazz.

[RedexRobB]

Jamz used to use his for despatch riding! When i commuted to and fro college years ago it was fine, I only used to travel 5 miles or so, but i always looked forward to riding it

60 miles is a long way to and fro work! A tank of fuel was about a tenner when i was riding mine, not sure now with prices etc.. but you'll get roughly 100 miles out of a tank, you never know you might might manage 120 which will obviously get you to work and back! Dunno how much your train fare is but worth taking into consideration up against the cost of running a bike!

[zxr_oli]

If i ride more economically i can get upto around 140ish (before reserve) to about £12 of petrol

[rene]

i did around 100 miles a day for over a year on my 400 and she was perfect. I treated the old girl like a whore as well, oil changes every 8,000 miles, red line every were, just genral lack of service and she did fine! only bad thing for commuting is your 'forced' to ride flat out as its the only way the bike wants to be ridden (in my mind )

[zxr_oli]

only bad thing for commuting is your 'forced' to ride flat out as its the only way the bike wants to be ridden (in my mind )

+1 to that

[deviant]

get on and ride it. I've commuted on mine at various points although I tend to use the GPz at the moment.

the only thing that would get on my nerves with doing 60 miles each way is you would be filling up every day. but if you can live with that then go with it.

[Bozzie]

I used to ride to london and back every weekend from nottingham 320 mile round trip Bike handled fine, till it went pop. But saying that it wasnt in the mechanically best state of mind. and after talking to a few 'experts' i belive that the bike was sold in a unfit state. But i managed to get4,000-6,000 out of it.

[Gemini]

at the end of the day u can commute on any bike but look at it this way...

the zxr400 is a race replica bike so it was never made with comfort in mind.

a gpz, bandit, vfr etc were made for commuting,

its the compromise between speed and looks, and comfort and durability. but either way the choice is yours, the zxr will easily manage the commute as its a jap bike, but whereas the bike will lap up the mileage, your body may not

gem

[rene]

gpz was actualy built as a sports bike, so was the origanal FJ1200's just over time are ideas of what sports bikes are have changed. Back in the day road sports bikes were built for road riding with some sports-e-nuss to them, now people think if it dosent look like a GP bike then it wont be able to go round country lanes. Marketing is an amazing thing

[deviant]

gpz was actualy built as a sports bike, so was the origanal FJ1200's just over time are ideas of what sports bikes are have changed. Back in the day road sports bikes were built for road riding with some sports-e-nuss to them, now people think if it dosent look like a GP bike then it wont be able to go round country lanes. Marketing is an amazing thing

the GPZ being the original Kwak "Ninja" sports bike...

[Gemini]

i think if i needed a bike to commute on i think i would get a shaft driven bmw

gem

[deviant]

depends how far/where you are commuting...a few miles in town in rush hour and I bet you'd be faster on a £200 CG125 than on £10k of three foot wide BMW boxer twin....







...course you'd be buggered at the first bit of motorway.