Hello from France

[kerker21]

Hi all,

I'm Johnny, a 46 yo ZRX (1100 C1) owner from France.
I live near Lyon and sent a reply yesterday to one of you guys (Palesaint) through the french ZRX message board.
My account on here was created about 8 years ago but I don't remember even posting once, so I thought I would pop up to say hello and post a pic of my old Rex.

I actually bought my Rex in Wales (Aberystwyth) for a very cheap price in 2004 while I was leaving in Kenilworth (CV8 2BW) as a French expatriate.
It had about 90000 miles on the clock and in need of way more than simple TLC ...
I brought it back to France in 2006 (after my 5 years mission in the UK).
The engine was replaced 2 years ago, and I Fitted a DJ stage 3 at the same time.

This is actually my second road bike, the first one was a grey import Honda CB 400 Super Four that I bought from Bat Motorcycles in London.
Before that, I only rode dirt bikes with my mates an had a lot of fun in the mud ...

Anyway, I am really looking forward for spring to come back as I hate getting my fingers frozen everytime I take the Rex out in the cold.
The pic below was taken a couple of weeks ago at about 20 kilometers from my house (nice waterfall in the background).

Cheers,

[lightspeed]

Welcome back to the UK site.

90,000 miles on your original REX! Somebody rode it - a lot. ZRXs have have been known to go that far without major repairs, but they have been quite meticulously maintained.

That is one sweet green REX. What pipe is that - does not look stock!

Your REX would certainly have a vastly different torque curve than the old CDB400.

I'm hunkered down over here because it is currently -13C, with North winds blowing from 36 to 45 kph. No riding here, probably for another 6 weeks, at least.

[kerker21]

Thank you lightspeed.

When I bought it, the seller told me that a few of those bikes have been repainted from new by some UK dealers in order to boost the sales (this colour was the most sought after apparently).

The guy whom I bought it from replaced it by a Honda CBR1100XX (to get better wind protection).
He was putting about 500 miles on the clock every week, and he did that for quite a long time (he only had one car and it was used by his wife) so we could say that the ZRX was his only vehicle (a true biker he was, and probably still is).

The exhaust downpipes are actually a prototype from Motad UK (so I was told by he guy whom I bought it from later).
Nothing wrong from the cylinder head up to the 4 into 1 junction, but then after that area it had some clearance issues (too close to the swingarm) and the location of the mounting flange was too far back (about 50 mm) so the link pipe was cut after the 4 into 1 and another piece of pipe (slightly bigger in diameter) was welded in place.
To be honest I don't like it too much, as when you look at it from the top you can see it is not as nicely tucked under the frame as it should be (the welder was not too bothered with ground clearance).
The silencer is a stock one (from the outside) but all the internals have been gutted and a 50 mm perforated pipe was welded to the metal end cap of the exhaust and wrapped into some packing material (so it's basically a straight through version of the original can).

The CB 400 was fun to ride at very high revs but a bit tiring as well and very boring at low revs.
The torque of the ZRX engine just puts a smile on my face each time I twist the throttle.

What caught my eye the first time I saw a REX pictured in a magazine back in 1997 was the swingarm, as it looks so nice ...
The practicality of this bike is also another strong point, the storage space under the seat is unbelievable and no modern sporty plastic rocket can match that (as you already know).

I don't know why or maybe just because I'm an old fart but I love the way those twin shocks classic superbike replicas look, and I don't find any interest in the style of the latest Z1000 (though it's got a great engine but the whole package looks like it came directly from the Transformers movie) ...

[lightspeed]

I too love the look of the old superbike types.

All three of my bikes are of that style or lineage. The GPz550 kinda started the mid sized superbike genre. My KZ1100R is the last year of the actual ELR replicas and the REX, well its a modern interpretation of the same genre.

Noticed your post over at the OA as well.

Huge, very active site there.

[kerker21]

Hi lightspeed, yes I started posting on the ZRXOA recently too.
I agree with you, it is very active over there.

We also have our ZRX21.com in France which is also pretty good.

The reason why I said I am not interested in modern bikes, especially the latest Z1000 is because it looks like it has been designed by the same team who made the Transformers movie ...
To illustrate it, here is a picture showing exactly what comes to my mind whenever I see the new Z 1000 (as you can guess I am not a Transformers fan) ...

[lightspeed]

I am also NOT a fan of the "transformer look". Something about them simply does not look like a "proper" motorcycle - at all.


I guess that is dating me a bit, but while the new technology is fascinating, the image that comes with it is simply a turn off for me.

The OA probably has more intimate, hands on, knowledge of the REX than any other site I've discovered (there was one in Australia but it seemed to mostly talk about get outings). If you have a thick enough skin to handle the folks there that may take a hard nosed stance on questions that have been answered hundreds of times already, they really are a good group and will go to all kinds of lengths to give a hand to those truly interested in the REX!

[cartwrightzrx1100]

I am also not a lover of the Z1000, for exactly the same reason. My previous bike was ZX10R, later models of which subsequently also adopted that transformer image regrettably.

Although I do love the all new H2R, sweet piece of kit