10 May 2011

a tribute to my first Bike

I always wanted a motorbike since I can remember but I chose to be an artist with no money, ha!
finished art school in 2003 and lived anti-squad for 4 years in an old office building in Rotterdam. freezing in the winter, travelling trough Europa, doing exhibitions, trying to make a dollar with my drawings and paintings. in 2007 I moved to Amsterdam and I finally had to money to get my motorcycle licence

this tasty street racer Kawasaki GPZ1100 was the first bike I bought.
I knew it wasn't the bike I wanted when I bought it on my 28th birthday in 2007
but it looked so freaking sweet and it made an amazing sound.
I just had to buy it.

kept it for a year. this is the best looking bike I owned.
sold it to a Japanese dude. never spoke to the guy.
a Dutch garage bought it for him. they didn't even start the motor. they just threw the thing in a white Van with two more Japanese bikes lying around on the floor of that stupid Van and left..
felt really bad

I left my email address in the headlight..
so if someone sees this GPZ1100 in Japan, tell the owner it used to be mine, ha


















8 comments:

Ruud said...

Mooie fiets man!

FamousMortimer said...

that thing was amazing. i tip my forty to its memory. what does "anti-squad" mean?

Roger Chambers said...

That's a very nice Kwaka....really hard to find now and becoming more popular every day....the usual story eh!
If only we all had the means to have bought a big shed somewhere, then fill it up with all the bikes we rode over the years, what a treasure trove now....well I would anyway, cause I'm an old bloke.

Emmet said...

Damn That appears fast. Looks intimidating for a first bike IMO!

Travis said...

That's one hell of a first bike! Both in looks.. someone had done alot of first rate part swapping and paint! And in cc (and what we know THAT one can do with it being a kaw!)

Bubble Visor said...

thanks guys!

@FamousMortimer
"To Squat or to Anti-Squat

Two cheap ways to get a place is to squat a place, or, contrary, to go live somewhere anti-squat.
The idea behind squatting is that when an apartment has been empty for a long time, you go live there without permission of the owner. This is, obviously, a quite cheap way of living, and sometimes results in a "legalized" apartment. The great disadvantage of the method is the extensive preparation that is required, and the risk that you are expelled, in which case you normally lose your belongings. Besides, privacy is a rare thing in squatted places.
Anti-squatting means that you live in a place that is empty for a limited period or is going to be torn down, to prevent it from being squatted. This is often very cheap, but the disadvantage is that you can have to move very often and quite suddenly. In Anti-squat places there isn't much privacy either, since the owner can come in any time with potential buyers to show the apartment to. The great advantage is the enormous amount of space some of these places have, something you will never be able to get on the regular house market."


@Roger Chambers
your right. it's always hard to sell your bike and I definitely need a big shed but most of the time it means a new bike will take it's place. bought a triumph street triple after the kwaka. after that the cb400f. still own that one and now the gr650

@emmet
it liked going straight ahead but getting it around a corner was something else.. :(
never felt good in a fast corner.
probably had something to do with my riding skills, ha!

Unknown said...

Love that tail, reminds me at a beak of a duck. A mean green machine. Also a perfect base for an endurance look custom

FamousMortimer said...

wow. holland just became an even more magical place in my mind's eye.