Suzuki GSXR 1000
Price: 4500 KD
Warranty: No Warranty
Suzuki

Yamaha R1
Price: 4500 KD
Warranty: 3 Months
Yamaha Al Salem

Kawasaki ZX-10R
Price: 4200 KD
Warranty: 1 Year
ZED Motors

Ducati 1198
Price: 6400 KD
Warranty: 2 Years
Tristar

Aprilia RSV4 R
Price: 4990 KD
Warranty: 1 Year
Bike World

KTM RC8
Price: 5990 KD
Warranty: 2 Years
Bike World

BMW S1000RR
Price: 5640 KD
Warranty: 2 Years
TriStar

Right now in the market you have a lot of choices for machines, from Japanese, to Austrian, to Italian, they have all evolved into the creatures that they are today. This is probably the best selection of motorcycles available in the market period, with a choice of service providers. Some sell motorcycles with a passion and some churn them out like cattle. I have managed to get most of the prices of these machines with their warranty periods, and in my opinion warranty is very important. Out of the bunch Yamaha and Suzuki are the worst and they don’t really care because those machines sell themselves, but oddly enough they have gotten a lot more expensive then they were before. Who would have thought you can buy a full thorough bread Italian beauty for the same price of Japanese engineered machines. Each one of these bikes are suited for a different person, they are all far from the same but I’m still surprised when I was asking around. I’m a huge fan of Ducati and it is still one of my most favorite machines to ride, you feel like your riding a machine with an attitude of its own. KTM came out of the corner punching with the RC8, no one expected a machine such as this from the small Austrian firm. Now out of all of them the best value for riding machine is the Aprilia RSV4-R, everything about it is Italian, the engine, the look, and the attitude, it exemplifies the evolution of Aprilia and it has more meaning then the machine itself. Out of all of them I think the Aprilia is the best value for machine, why go for a Japanese with a bad service save for ZED Motors when you can go for an Italian for a 400 KD difference. When I buy my motorcycle I want it to be from the guy who sells motorcycles not a guy who sells a Corolla and a motorcycle, out of all of the companies I would honestly only approach Tristar, Bike World, and ZED Motors. But still what a lovely menu of machines.

Update: Updated the price of Ducati and included the S1000RR, now thats a full menu.

These days the weather has been near perfect, sunny during the day and cooler in the afternoon. Just a little too hot at noon but still great for riding, I’m out when I can be but this was a special ride. I got a call from Ahmed at Bike World which I visited last time and he told me he has something special for me, I asked him whats special he said to pass by and I will see. I was expecting a Moto GP Machine capable of breaking the sound barrier with futuristic technology. When I got there he had for me a scooter, not any scooter but a scooter on steroids and that is something I wasn’t expecting, the Gilera GP800.

He told me to take it for a few days to try it out and let me know what I think, I told him it better not sound like one of those whiny motorcycles which has a whistle for an exhaust. Oddly enough I have never driven a scooter before, driven a few Harleys, lots of supersports but never a scooter and not one like this either. He told me has a customer that goes to Saudi in it, now that would be a site. I got it, I felt I like was a high end delivery guy, meant to deliver gourmet food and I was wearing my bike gear so it felt like I was in racing gear on a scooter, I was laughing to myself as soon as I got on. Switched it on and it had a growl to it, this is wimpy machine, it had more umph then I expected. I took off for a little tour around Kuwait before heading home. This little beast can do 180 kph, well thats what I reached in it, it felt funny that I was trying to control it like a bike.

This is probably one of the most comfortable ride I have had, now its a little different since it had an automatic gearbox which felt strange to me and my seating position is that of a seat. My whole form didn’t feel like I was sitting in the position I’m used to on a two wheel machine. It had a great turning radius and its comfortable around town, very comfortable, zipping around everywhere in it. The brakes felt odd because I have to squeeze both levers when I’m used to a pedal and the right lever, no clutch just felt alien to me. It took some getting used to but this is great for someone who wants to have some fun, with good transportation and it had a big storage area under the seat which I was using for a few days. But I’m used to the braking of a Ducati and KTM, the maneuverability of those machines too so any scooter can’t match up to that and I learned that quickly. But the funny part is that I was laughing like giddy school boy under the helmet while driving this scooter on steroids around town.

Arai is one the best quality helmets and always at the forefront of design and technology with their helmets. Now they just released a new helmet called the RX-7 RC, it has the shape of the new RX-7 GP but constructed from the Arai’s Formula One-spec race helmet, the GP-6 RC.

No official details have been released for this helmet but carbon fiber helmet is made the same way as the Formula One spec helmet. Its called RX-7 RC for Racing Carbon, same as the GP-6 RC with all the nifty features. Based on factory rumors it takes about 22 hours to make one helmet, and its priced right around the GP-6 RC, so expect the RX-7 RC to be around £2590. I love when Arai takes these risks in design with the highest quality in mind.

I know BMW have been using and abusing this machine to prove how insane they made it with everything they have been doing to it, and I’m loving everything they are doing. It’s hilarious the extent these guys have gone to so they could come up with these elaborate stunts with the S1000 RR. Its a ridiculous machine with tremendous amount of power but I do love this stunt.

Thanks Tartoob

BMW Motorcycles have been trying for the longest time to reinvent their image from being an oldies bike to an off the wall machine for any place or time, and I think with their current line up I think they have it covered, its no secret that I am fan of the K1200R but they have other interesting machines and one of them is the 1000RR. But what the BMW Engineers have done is insane, making custom made tires with studs and testing out the machine. I’ve never seen an ice burn out but there is a first for everything, then he is flying down the ice lake. I was curious to see him take turns with the machine, and those stubs look like the Beemer is ready to go to battle.

The weather has been near perfect the last few weeks, a little bit chilly in the morning then cool and sunny in the afternoon. Perfect for riding and for some reason the streets seem to be emptier then usual so it was to be taken advantage of. Nawaf wanted to ride as well and he just upgrade from a Ducati Monster to a Ducati 999, and in all black that machine looks pretty good.

As usual our point of contact was Starbuck Bida’a since it nice place to start and a good location to choose the route from. This time around we wanted to take the sea side to the free zone, then the airport road, then to Sabhan and back again. The weather started out cool but as the day went by it got hot and hotter, and I wore my air jacket but a light sweater under it and I was boiling.

We took to the seaside first and Nawaf was behing me with Monichum at the rear. Staggered formation as usual, sounds a bit like a military line up but not that rigid. We were flying out of the lights and cruising on the road and taking turns hard and fast, I love open high speed curves that you can take smoothly. Nawaf was falling back a bit since the machine is new to him and he has only been riding for a year. So we just observed how he reacted to our riding and how he ws riding, that is what we do with first time riders. Then we sit down and give him pointers and things to remember, and practice makes perfect. The one thing to keep in mind when riding is the smoother you are the better the ride will be, the better the bike will react when riding, even when you want to brake hard it can be done smoothly with great results. We always have new people riding with us and learning, sometimes they ride with us for a while and sometimes they join us at a later point, not everyone is willing to wake up at 7am on the weekend to go riding.

Feels like Italy has just moved into Shuweikh, I have known for a while that Aprillia and Vespa were in Kuwait but I didn’t know that most of Italy is housed in one location. Just behind City Center is the motorcycle shop for Aprillia, Vespa, Motto Guzzi, and Piaggio with a large selection of motorcycles. There is probably a motorcycle or scooter for every person, every color or king from retro to modern to aggressive to comfortable to sport in the showroom.

I’m a huge fan of Piaggio Motorcycles and its my first time seeing such a large selection of them. Whats popular in Kuwait is the Vespa scooters, I have seen some women driving them, and I have heard some guys driving it all the way to the border. Never underestimate those machines, some of those scooters can hit up to 180 kph which is ridiculously fast for a scooter, I never imagined that they did. Then there is the Piaggio three wheeler, and there is a black one which looks like a combat machine with all the bells and whistles to be driven by Robin, because Batman has the cooler bike.

Now for the Aprillia, the main reason that I went to the showroom, it has been too long since Aprillia has come up with the revised version of the RSV, since 2004. This machine looks better in person then any picture can depict and its reasonable priced. MSRP in Kuwait is 4990 KD for the Aprillia RSV which is pretty low for an Italian Motorcycle, and its sounds oh so good. Thanks to Ahmed for starting one up for me, I was impressed and it sounds so good for a stock machine, the Italians know how to make their machines look good and go fast. If you have any inclinations for two wheeled machines then I recommend that you head there directly, and if you like to see all the color combinations then head over there.

Getting up early in the morning isn’t too hard when the weather is this nice and sunny outside, it was perfectly chilly. Showered and went down, got my leather jacket out and ready to go, warmed up the beemer for the ride, Robo was ready to go. I have been enjoying riding Robo a lot recently, I have missed this beast and he is one hell of a beast, a scary mechanical brute who can destroy all at will. All my bikes have personalities in my head and Robo in this case has the soul of Iron Hide from Transformers, ready to fight, shoot first and ask questions later.

We took an easy route by the sea side then heading to the free zone, and I was just enjoying the brute force of this machine. Monichum was enjoying the joyride we were taking, every corner was an adventure, from turn to turn, the best part is how empty the roads were, and then head to the free zone for a few shots. After we were done we met up with the guys at Prime & Toast, pretty much we were the first and got the seats together before the other lazy guys got up and came over.

I was contacted by Mohammed one of the Club Members about the new Kuwait Ducati Club, I was asked to come to this meet up and join when I can. It was to be held at Chillis next to Kuwait Towers, a lot of variety of machines were supposed to be there and I was surprised but what I saw. We got there around 12:45 pm with machines lined in front of Chillis, lots of red that you can see as you ride in. Me & Monichum pulled in with the Beemer & KTM, while our machines were parked with the Ducati Club.

This is one active club, you can see their track days at Bahrain International Circuit, full leathers, racing gear and ready to go. These guys are riding their machines hard, it did get me excited to see some people who are interested to go to the track. They even had the Desmodicsi RR, and a selection of other bikes, Hypermotard 1100, Street Fighter S, Monster 696 & 1100, Ducati 1098, 1098S, 1198, 1198S, 999R, 749S, and so many more. I am signing up for this club with my Vin number and everything, looks like its going to be a lot of fun.

Friday morning I look forward to the most, whenever the weather is nice I want to go out these days. It rained the day before, and the next morning they said it was supposed to rain but I looked out the window as soon as I woke up and it was looking good. I called up Monichum to wake him up and meet up, short time to get ready then fill up with gas, and some how we met up on Fahaheel Express Way just entering the Gulf Road starting from Bida’a.

With some sign language and almost wacking Monichum’s helmet at the stop light we decided to have breakfast at Prime & Toast, and as usual the place was packed. A few of our friends caught up with us for breakfast, and more people started showing up. We then decided to head home, with the new playlist I got a song I was enjoying which I took off faster then usual which resulted a very high wheelie and freaked me out, but still a fun thrill. I’m loving this weather.