When I had my 2010 ZA ABS I really pushed the tyres braking "Very" hard on clean wet roads knowing that I had the safety net of the ABS. Now with the amount of diesel that you come across in towns these days (especially on roundabouts) nothing will provide a decent level of grip but I found that the original Hoops provided very good levels of grip provided it was there to be had from the surface in he first place. Probably the most important factor in wet weather braking and cornering (important in the dry also) is the way in which you "Load" the tyre. If you do this progressively you will be amazed at the level of grip and feel that can be achieved. (I used to be a professional motorcyclist and you to play around with these sort of things on a daily basis)

Geoff.

+1 on progressively loading the tyre

A little finesse makes a lot of difference

Being keen to learn,what does loading the tyre mean...?

Put simply if you "Grab" the brake i.e. apply to much force too quickly you will overwhelm the grip or "Hysteresis" of the tyre. The technique is have the control to to initially apply the pads to the face of the disc then to "Ramp" up the pressure being applied by the pads to the disc in a linear and controlled fashion thus "Loading" the tyre, if you looked at it graphically optimum braking would show the pressure being applied steeply but never surpassing the grip available from the tyre whereas grabbing would be virtually a vertical line on the graph quickly breaking through the grip available. As ever that is not the whole story as you have to factor "Suspension Performance and weight transfer" but thats another "kettle of codling" .

Hope this helps.

One good point to mention is that when road riding never cover the brake levers as if you do and something startles you then you will grab the lever in a involuntary panic response whereas the milliseconds it takes to go from hand wrapped around the throttle to outstretching your fingers to the brake lever gives a valuable buffer from the panic grab.

Geoff.

Gotcha - that does help. I'll give it several goes. Thanks.

Now, I have been asked for pix of the Burg so here's one taken just now, freshly cleaned, outside the house. You'll notice I have to park on the road as we have a terraced house and no garage.

Lookin good, don't think I've seen that colour before

Bluebottle wrote:Lookin good, don't think I've seen that colour before

I believe the 2012 model only comes in this colour, which is a nice grey.

Yep, you are right. That's my colour too...and I must post a pic. I keep forgetting about that.

Looks similar to the colour of french Gendarmerie bikes?

Mine is that coca cola black, like looking at fizzy coca cola through smoked glass - where the light catches it you can see metallic copper coloured flakes.

catalogue name is Glass Midnight Brown
I think they only used it on special edition Burgman and GSX-R

The 2012 catalogue for the 400Z ABS is Pearl Moonstone / Glass Sparkle Black (YEZ colour code).
I think the black is on the lower panels?
The non ABS 'standard' 400 is now also available in this colour as my local dealer has one in the showroom.