The job finished, so I packed the Tiger and left Antwerp happy, ready for the next little adventure. It didn't take long to ride down into France and get the Eurotunnel train back to England; had a slight mis-hap when the battery went dead just as I was getting on the train. I pushed it on and had a little look around the bike during the journey, ah, I'd connected the sat-nav directly to the battery, must have left it on with the engine turned off and run down the battery. Doh! Luckily, the train guard had radioded ahead and a breakdown truck was waiting when we pulled in to Folkestone; a quick jump start and we were off! Home in no time.
The next day I took the Tiger to the Triumph dealer for a check-over, that Belgian pave had shaken the hell out of it, they found some loose bolts plus changed the brake fluid for me. While I was waiting the salesman let me go out for a ride on the Explorer, thats the 1200-engined one, like mine but bigger (and heavier). I rode the top of the range model with full electronics. To be honest, it was as I'd expected, just like mine but faster in a straight line but more ponderous round the twisties. Got back to the dealer, asked how much - £16k you must be joking!!
While I was out and about, I thought I'd run down to the Kawasaki dealer and check out that lovely Z900RS. Well, the salesman let me take one out for a ride (it was a nasty-looking matt green colour). Oh man that made a lovely noise! I rode around in 2nd & 3rd just to hear the noise, loved it! And in the right colour, it looked beautiful. I was sorely tempted, but at £10k and only £3900 trade-in on the Tiger it was not to be (well not yet anyway ;)
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| Demo bike |
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| Add caption |
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| Green cafe racer version looks nice |
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| The best colour! |
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| Lovely rear end! |
Good to hear from you. The green Kawa looks mighty pretty. Come on, you want it.
ReplyDeleteHaha Sonja you’re a bad person! No , seriously, I was really impressed with it. Need to see if I can get more for the Tiger on eBay ;)
ReplyDeleteEl D my neighbour Just picked up the, is it orange? Kawasaki this spring. I think he’s happy with it, especially the colour!
ReplyDeleteVStar lady, it is a pretty bike in that retro color. I enjoyed my test ride, but my Tiger just felt so comfy when I got back on it (like a pair of old slippers) that I’m having 2nd thought. Decisions get harder as you get older!!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it home safe. And you got to test ride two bikes. While I love Triumph, I must say the new Kawi KZ 900 in the root beer and orange color is sexy!
ReplyDeleteHi Trobairitz, nice to hear from you. Yes, it’s a bit of a conundrum, do you get a bike that’s competent but ugly, or a thing of beauty that’s not so practical? I’m still trying to decide!
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