THE GOLDEN MOMENT

Riding the Tracer 900GT from Oundle to the Warwick services on the M40 has surprised me. For a ‘Grand Tourer’ it isn’t the last word in comfort. For short, low speed rides it’s fine and your weight is spread evenly, so it’s kind on limbs. There’s room to move about, the cruise control is brilliant, there’s lots of luggage space in the hard panniers and if it were cold, like it usually is in the UK, I’d be purring over the heated grips. But things change doing distance at higher, sustained speeds.

The seat becomes a pain in the rear, my left big toe is feeling the effects of the stiff gear lever action and the only way to stop the thunderous ear-assaulting windblast is to slow right down. By the time I’m sipping on my cappuccino my bum and brain feels like it’s done the Suzuka 8-Hour. To be honest I wouldn’t have relished getting back on the Yamaha straight away, so it’s a relief to find the Kawasaki so calm, quiet, relaxed and refined. Filtering back on to the M40 and up to speed, wind noise is dramatically less and while you immediately miss cruise control (great for keeping your speed down on motorways) you happily go without in favour of a comfier seat and perfect ergonomics. Gliding into Stratford the SX remains smooth and composed. Clutch, throttle and gearbox are light and accurate, although I miss the odd gear at the top of the box. Out the other side of Shakespeare country and over to Broadway, the Kawasaki skips serenely over twisty, bumpy terrain.