Bike No. 1 – Kawasaki GPZ500

My first bike was a Kawasaki GPZ 500. I purchased Milo from On Yer Bike, and got a new one as I honestly and truely thought I was going to keep him for three years…..yeah right! But that’s another story. The choice of the GPZ was also based on the need for the 33bhp restriction so it didn’t make much sense to buy too big an engine for my first bike and then strangle its performance with a set of pricey washers 😉

I had taken the A2 licence simply because I just could not get the hang of a u-turn and kept dropping the ER5. At least with an A2 test you do it on the 125cc and then have the option of riding a restricted bike for two years before automatically qualifying for the full bike licence. As it is, after eight months of riding Milo, so named simply because of the letters in his licence plate, I was ready for a four-hour refresher and on to the full test which I am pleased to say I passed.

Milo’s spec:

• Engine size – 498cc
• Engine spec – 8v parallel twin, 6 gears
• Top speed – 125mph
• Power – 59bhp
• Torque – 34ftlb
• Weight – 176kg
• Seat height – 775mm
• Tank range – 174 miles

He also had the narrowest tyres I’ve ever seen on a motorbike other than a 125cc and horror of horrors – a fuel system which required a twist of the tap to get you onto reserve. And yes I do remember the bike almost coming to a halt up a hill when I was low on petrol as I could never get the hang of turning the dratted thing whilst I was in motion 😦

Speaking of motion -I am reminded of mirrors that vibrated so badly at any kind of speed, not to mention restricted vision so bad that you had no real idea what was coming up behind you – I ended up placing weird little mirrors into the corners of the normal mirrors, not for judging any distances, but simply to curb my newbie tendency to wobble from the constant turning of my neck just to check!

I also recall a conversation with a mechanic whom I asked what I could do to improve the headlights. His classic response was “upgrade to another bike!”. That about summed it up for this bike – basic, which was the key to it being a grand first big bike. And let me be clear – I loved what this bike meant to me – freedom from L Plates, the ability to use the motorway, power to run my heated gloves and satnav!

Group ride outs, commutes to work , shopping trips and days out – all were more of an adventure on this bike  than taking the car. Whilst I may have dropped him once (and I wasn’t even on it at the time!) I did manage to avoid crashing it into anything :-).

Within eight months I was ready for the first big service and as I’d had my licence less than a year I was not allowed a an old ratty courtesy bike – but I was allowed to test ride a new bike (oh how times have changed lol!). Having tried out an FZ6s I was hooked after realising just how much more there was to a “proppa” big bike like build quality, mirrors and a headlight that worked – not to mention that the Fazer just had more oomph to it lol! .

However I always felt that I gave up the GPZ far too soon – I still had a lot to learn and it would probably have been a lot less painful on this smaller bike than the next one! (Read about the Fazer at My Bikes – No: 2.)

Accessories:

• Sat nav bracket for Garmin Quest
• Heated gear leads for Gerbing gear
  
• Various soft luggage and magnetic luggage
• Touring screen
• Haynes manual (WHY?????)

Length of service – eight months

Ride safe

Yana x