Went on a overnight ride on my Ninja 1000, put the airhawk cushion on and away i went, yes i still ride my Versys but had never taken the Ninja over most of these hilly roads. We were heading to Akaroa http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct...sVcpF-1XvPEBHw

We started out from my home city of Timaru and drove the inland scenic road to Christchurch.

Feed stop on the way


We knew we had to drive through through Christchurch so our lead rider had googled the best way and with local knowlege he knew how to avoid heavy city traffic during lunchtime sat but he missed the turn and we ended up in heavy traffic at 26C or 79 F, had enough time to jump off bike and take a photo of us waiting for a train.


We arrived at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyttelton,_New_Zealand after the long hot ride through traffic, there is a really cool road tunnel just before the next photo which is just under 2 K long or 6460 feet so we made noise but could not compete with the Ducati 999. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyttelton_road_tunnel

In the hill roads just before we drop down to Akaroa.


Had some fun with this guy riding around the hills as the ducati can go!!

Last photo is where one of our cabins was at the motorcamp.

It is damn hard for a Japanese bike to compete with that rich sound of a Ducati. Looks like a beautiful ride!

so Kiwi, how did your body feel afterwards? did your back ask for some versys during the ride or was it content with the ninja? distracted by the thrust, perhaps.

Looks like a great ride!! Love the scenery!

Nice country and trust you had a good ride with Z1.

keep the pictures coming and thanks

Body is fine as the ninja only has a forward lean angle of 15 degree for my height of 5'8. The seat is the problem but thats why i brought the airhawk cushion but when you riding with a ducati the thrust is a must

We finished the weekend with a race between the three fastest bikes on a country road on a 2 km stretch, a Z 750, the Ducati 999 and my Ninja 1000, left the ducati on the line up to 120 km/h then he flew past, my friend on the Z750 gave up on us when we hit 200km/h then at 230 kph i let the ducati have the road. The ninja 1000 is 138 hp and is supposed to be good for up to 265kph and the Ducati is 140 hp and is good for 270kph but has a higher top end power but i had him lower down.

Just for the record i do not do this very often but we had fun and made sure we done this with no other cars around.

wow, 15*. that's trouble. [pulls out calculator]

Great shots. Love the ninja 1k. Very nice bike. My sport bikes are going to consist of 250cc as anymore will result in me walking because of license suspensions. The versys is bad enough...

Looks like a fun day on the other side of the world! Today, here in SoCal the wind was how-ooo-ling - going 75mph on oceanfront highway 101 in Gaviota, CA and getting blown left and right. The ocean was a sea of white horses as a rare late Spring cold front moved on through. Frigging scary wind for riding. Tried to hide behind the windscreen but was still getting blown side-to-side. Wind picked up in the afternoon and I called it a day and headed for the barn, then rode my bicycle to the local microbrewery for a pint of award-winning Blackbird Porter. A fine way to start the (Memorial) Holiday weekend here!

The ninja could do with a radar detector but since i am cheap i just follow my mate on his Z750 as he spent over a $1000 on one.

If you could only have one which would you chose Ninja 1000 or Versys? Or better yet how can I convince my wife I need both?

Well if they bring the Versys 1000 to the states you'll have the best of both worlds.

Thats a tough question, not sure as love both bikes