A Zephyr pic from Reader Ted Guthrie

Ted Guthrie send in the following:

Really enjoyed the just-out-of-the-crate ZR1100 posting. Attached is a photo of mine. While I didn't buy the bike new, it was only a couple of years old when I got, was in perfect condition, and only had about 5K on it. I've racked up about 30,000 since then, and consider it to be a pretty nice bike. I left it stock, other than the Corbin seat, which you see in the photo, plus have a Plexiscreen type of windshield. Oh, and heated grips, too.

The bike could basically be best described as a "GT". It is very smooth, wonderfully comfortable, tremendous power and torque, and GREAT brakes. However, it is also very heavy, puts out engine heat like a blast furnace, and is a real handful at speed on twisty roads.

However, at the speeds I ride (slow), the big ZR behaves quite well. It has been dead-ass reliable, and is not even that hard on tires and chains (course once again that's taking into consideration how pokey I ride it).

Kinda funny what happens when you DO try to ride it fast: The chassis flexes quite easily, and since I've never upgraded the suspension, bottoming the forks is (too) easily accomplished by just grabbing a big handful of front brake. Also, it is easy to tell when the tires needs replaced because the bike starts handling really wierd. It gets all squirrelly and won't hold a line, and the front end resists coming around. Kinda spooky when you're all hung off and committed to a hard turn, yet the bike keeps going straight.

But, all in all I love the styling, love the "big block" power, and find it a very comfortable and friendly bike indeed. Say, also attached is a little story, which takes into account bikes like "Zeke". Cheers.

Ted