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Whacking Permalink Archive 22 December 2004 Another one for the "maybe" list If there's one bike I regret never riding, it is Kawasaki's ZX7R.
While Honda finally ditched their RC45 in favour of a twin, and Suzuki kept releasing ever more high-tech variants of the GSXR-750, Kawasaki soldiered on alone in the 750cc, four-cylinder production superbike class.
Like I said, the stats don't point to a great bike. Those who got to ride it thought otherwise. Most positive reviews focused on the bike's biggest strength: its phenomenal stability. With apparently the best front end in the history of production sportsbikes, the bike could absolutely be caned over the crappiest of roads, while the well-sorted suspension, geometry and weight kept the front tyre completely planted. In other words, it was the perfect bike for Australia's back roads.
It sounded phenomenal too. The wonderful roar of the carburetted Kawasaki ram-air engine made the hairs on your neck stand up. It wasn't too comfortable apparently, though that is hardly unusual for a superbike. It did have some practical features for road use: the wide, flat pillion seat and strong grab rails provided decent accomodation for the 'better half'. They also provided a great base for strapping luggage to the bike. I'd love to have a weekend blast on one of these. The Alpine Way or Cann Valley Highway/Imlay Road would be perfect. Pity they don't make them anymore. The bike is too good to be mothballed. So what if it can no longer fit into the superbike class? Kawasaki could just re-name it and market it as a brilliant sports roadbike. It'd be cheap too, as they long ago recovered the development costs for this machine. I'll
keep my eye out next year for a used ZX7R in good condition at a decent
price. Wish me luck.
Cuba and Venezuela to crush the USA So sayeth Crazy Joe. I'd like to take a wander inside Joe's head for 10 minutes,as I'm curious to see how his brain handles the difference between his Jew-hating bizzaroworld fantasies and what must be the constantly disappointing intrusions of the real world.
This statement has gotta be one of the all-time Joe Vialls classics:
Bwehehe. Yes, there's some frightening Fidel Revenge afoot. How? read on...
You heard it here first: America will collapse in six months. And we all know how accurate Joe's predictions are. Remember how Putin was going to nuke Israel and the Republican guard was going to drive the USA out of Iraq?
But Joe is convinced he's right this time, because all that intelligence he receives has told his about a new army of space-age Russian M-29 Death Jets which will vaporise the USA in no time.
Yes. The USA is about to be destroyed by Cuba and Venezuela. Hey, stop laughing damn you, this is serious! The amazing thing is that Joe actually believes this stuff. If you haven't been following Joe's works recently, Mr. Vialls has a serious hard-on for Vladimir Putin, who Joe believes is going to deliver us all from Zionists and the USA. He apparently has all these new space-age weapons which will deal humiliating blows to Israel and America, and the Russian army will conquer Israel and control the world. No really. I asked Joe via e-mail exactly how the Russians were going to achieve this if they haven't been able to control Chechnya so far. Mr Vialls did not take kindly to this question and started to talk about brainwashing. Poor
Joe. All the king's horses and all the king's men aint gonna put his brain
together again......
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Sadly,
the bike ceased production during 2003. This didn't come as a surprise.
The bike had received not one single update since its release in 1996,
and - on paper at least - was falling miles behind the other superbike
competitors. I guess the bosses at the Big K decided they were losing
face by continuing to manufacture the machine. 
In
World Superbike guise, the ZX7 won a mere seven races between 1996 and
2002, and in street form was a whopping 40kgs+ heavier than the GSXR750
or Yamaha's exotic R7.
I
always loved the look of the machine: the "alien" front end
with the wide, twin ram-air scoops gave a rare distinctive character for
a Japanese sports machine.
