The Kawa is alive again.

Time for another update.  The Kawa has been in storage (in parts) for some 5+ years after its disassembly.  The disassembly was to donate its engine (and some other parts) to my trike project as I could not get proper electric motors and batteries for such a project at the time.

However, times have changed and since I can now get the complete electric drive train kit after all, I decided that the Kawa should be brought back to life and it is.

Once we received our container from storage, I realized that almost all the parts were still there (I did sell a few parts but not too many) and that it would be a shame to leave the bike in storage.  So I started reassembling it and it is most certainly alive again.  I am not planning to register it here as we are likely to move to a more "import friendly" location in the near future.

It's HERE !!!

It has finally arrived, last Friday I found it sitting outside my front door when I got home from work. A bit dirty but other than that exactly as I left it. I turned the key and it started right away, like I used it yesterday ;) Voltage a bit low but that didn't seem to matter at all.

Good News !!

The Dutch Government has made a change to the law for importing motorbikes from non EU countries that makes it easier to get the Kawasaki in ;) So the bike will be coming over after all (thanks to Todd and Linda) and I may be riding all through Europe on it after all ;)

Epilogue

The Aussie Redneck Tour has ended for me and what it trip it has been. It started as a joke almost and turned into a real thing quite quickly. The real thing turned into one of the nicest trips I have done in my years of travelling.

The people I met, the places I have been and things I did all left memories, good memories. That is what travelling is all about for me, meeting people, seeing things and go home with lots of good memories.

The boys did well in their last days although Crackles again tried to become the next Evil Knievel. A few scratches on the bike, elbow and ego and he was off again ;) Last I heard he was heading into the sunset with the love of his life !

I have had a bit of sad news though. The Kawasaki can't make it to Holland !! That is, I don't have European type approval, although the bike will be near identical to European types, and the Benelux distributor does not want to endorse his type approval onto my bike. So the choice is to pay a fortune and get type approval here or to sell the bike. I will probably do the last as the total cost of getting it here is getting to be ridiculous (remember Holland has a special tax on bikes and cars that is not yet outlawed by the EU).

Sad indeed as the bike and I have become such good friends, ah well I still have the Fireblade and although it is not as comfy it is definitely an awesome bike as well.

To all of you who have followed the trip via this site, thanks for your interest and hopefully we "meet" again !!

12 August 2007 Sacramento

My last day on the most awesome bike I have ever owned. Sacramento, the capital of California was the destination. The Capitol is one similar to the Washington one and looks awesome in the bright Californian sun. I had to take some pictures in front of it, to show the Governator what a real bike looks like ;)

Then I went to Old Sacramento, the original settlement to get my touristy stuff and some more pictures. I got talking to a few more bikers and just chilled. This was it, the end of a beautiful trip.

I returned to the Vineyard and de-rigged the bike completely. Empty tank, battery disconnected, ready to be crated and shipped. Sad goodbyes to the most loyal friend on this trip, not for 1 single second did he disappoint me.

11 August 2007 San Francisco

My favourite US city was next on the list for a little visit. I decided that some pictures of the bike in San Fran were required, particularly the Fisherman's Wharf sign as well as the Golden Gate of course. I was also hoping to say hi to my friends at Pier 39 (the sea lions that is ;) and finally get my trip to Alcatraz.

Alas the day went a bit different from what I expected. The traffic from Sacramento to SF was the worst ever !! It took me at least 1 hour more then would normally be required on a working day and this was Saturday. Bearing in mind I was on the bike and able to use the bit of space between the cars as well. I don't know what was going on in San Rafael but it must have been very special as thousands of cars headed that way.

When I got to SF, it was immediately clear that the city was taken over by that most horrible plague of all times : TOURISTS. No parking (not even for the bike), too many people everywhere so that was enough for me. I decided to move on towards the Golden Gate. There is a little park near the marina that is a very nice spot.

The temperature was so low and the wind was blowing so strong that I actually loved wearing the leathers this time. For the second time in the entire vacation, I wasn't feeling like a lobster on its way to the dinner table !!

The windsurfers were out in the Bay, I was suprised to see no kite surfers at all !! Maybe the sport hasn't caught on in SF like it has everywhere else around the world !! Anyway, after the pics were taken, I rode across the Golden Gate !! A worthy end to the vacation although a windy one.

The trip back was uneventful apart from a little bypass I have never seen before (remember I have been to this area at least 10 times over the years).

Back at the vineyard we had pizza and cake for one of Stevens cousins. The whole family was there and they sure know how to have a good time !!

9 August 2007 Sacramento

Steven and I go into Sacramento to have coffee and have a look at the new TriTool facilities. They are massive compared to the present building and allow for an enormous expansion of capacity in production, storage, service, logistics, engineering etc. These guys have a nice challenge ahead of them in the next 5 to 10 years. Luckily the offshore industry (one of their major areas of business) is soo booming.

I also talked to Lards and Chris in the morning and they are hightailing it to the Grand Canyon. Lards thinks the roads to it are awesome, and that means in Ducati terms that there must be some awesome bends. Pity for him he is on a Harley as they don’t like to go round corners AT ALL.

Craig has done another booboo and scratched his pride, bike and elbow. It is unclear whether he thought he was back in Oz and decided to drive on the other side of the road when a truck approached him or whether he has mistaken the Road King for a dirt bike. Anyway, his little venture in the dirt resulted in aforementioned scratches of which I believe the physical ones are the least of them all ;)

They hope to make it to Las Vegas as well as time is running out for them too. I plan to go to San Francisco on Saturday and spend Sunday, kicking back and packing up. I am going to miss the ZX terribly !!

Our late night dinner in Sacramento was very interesting as well. One of the guys in the restaurant/bar we were at (great Italian food) had a bit much to drink. So we convinced him that he couldn’t ride his bike home, a very good looking Harley chopper. As I was completely sober and wearing my Draggin Jeans and biker shoes as well, I offered to ride the bike home while Steven drove him home. The ride was a different experience again. The fat 350 mm rear tyre and lack of rear suspension were one thing to get used to as well as the leaning back sitting position.

We made it home without a scratch and I handed the bike back to a very relieved owner ;) !!