I had the honor of being the first to test ride the ZX-14 HPS on Monday Feb.26 /07 at 11:30 PM the temp. was about 40 deg. It was set up with 4 deg. of caster, 7/8 in. of tow in, 20 lbs. air in all 3 tires. Dave Keesee volunteered to passenger. I first took a spin around Hannigan MotorSport's parking lot. This rig has the tightest turning radius of any rig with CHS I have ridden (including Honda CBR1100XX GX racer, Yam. FJ1200 Side-Bike Comanche, Yam. FJ1200 Side-Bike Comete, Yam.GTS Side-Bike Mega Comete,  Suz. Hayabusa RDS Neptune, Suz. Hayabusa RDS Cocoon, Yam. FJR RDS Neptune, Suz. Bandit Hannigan Bandito, BMW K1200 Hannigan Bandito and Honda CBR1100XX EZS RX4)

 

When I took it out on the hwy. I soon found out I could not grab a hand full of throttle like I do with my CBRXX.This rig is way over the top of anything I have ridden before.

I took it out on a back road and  found that when I accelerated, the front end came up and I could not see the road .I  backed off just in time for the head light to come down from the trees and light the road ahead of me, only  to find a herd deer getting ready to cross. Sorry about that Dave. I then tried the brakes and they were not working very well. We had spilled brake fluid on the disk and forgot to clean them off. The steering was set with 4 deg. of caster, the same as my bike, but with these wider tires (195/45-15) it was too fast for me. After seeing another herd of deer, it was time to call it a night.

 

The next day after adjusting the suspension (pre load and changing to heavier spring) adding 3 deg. more to the caster and cleaning the disks, I took it out for another test ride with Bill Ballou as the passenger.

The tracking and braking were right on and it accelerated like a Hayabusa on steroids.

There will be a few changes to the front fender and to the sidecar body, before it goes into final production. All in all, it exceeded everyone's expectations. I am thinking that maybe it should be called a"Hyper Performance Sidecar".

Roger