Kawasaki Z 1000

Overview

The Kawasaki Z1000 has remained almost unchanged all these years in its basic essence, but that hasn’t deterred its popularity and desirability. The flagship roadster from Kawasaki not only looks menacing but has the performance to match its extrovert appeal. In Malaysia, the Kawasaki Z1000 retails for RM 78,216, and is available in the sole paint shade of grey with green highlights.

Design

The overall design of the Kawasaki Z1000 hasn’t gone under many significant changes in almost last five years, but it still looks as if it has arrived from the future. The Z1000 looks extremely extrovert and futuristic, which makes the bike look very different from its peers.

The Kawasaki Z1000 has got an angry looking front fascia, which consists of a sloping bikini fairing incorporating two sleek full LED headlamps shaped like predator’s eyes. The bike does get a very small tinted visor behind the instrument console, which is almost useless.

From the sides, the bike looks massively impressive with its taut and muscular stance. The fuel tank looks bulky and macho, and is equipped with tank extensions which extend all the way down to the engine, making it look vertically much bigger than what it is. The almost non-existent side body cowls, and pointy and high-mounted tail section gives the Z1000 a very aggressive stance. The tail section ends up in a small LED tail lamp and a pillion seat, which looks like a rear seat cowl isolation. The dual exhaust pipes on either side stacked vertically one over the other and enhance the muscular appeal of the Z1000.

Another highlight of the motorcycle is its fully digital instrument console. The unit is divided into two segments. The first half of the tachometer and some tell-tale lights are placed on the upper partition and the second half of the tachometer (post the redline) and other data like speedometer, odometer, trip meters, fuel gauge and temperature gauge on the lower one. As expected, quality levels and fit and finish is impeccable.

Ride & Handling

The Kawasaki Z1000 is armed with a fantastic suspension setup. It includes 41 mm inverted telescopic forks with step-less compression and rebound damping and spring preload adjustability at the front. At the rear are present Horizontal Back-link, gas-charged mono-shock with step-less rebound damping, and preload adjustability at the rear.

The suspension is quite stiffly sprung to make it an agile handler, which though takes a toll on its overall ride quality, which is jerky at some places. For stopping duties, the Kawasaki Z1000 is fitted with dual 310 mm petal disc brakes at the front and a single 250 mm petal disc brake at the rear.

Engine & Fuel Consumption

The Kawasaki Z1000 sources its power from a four-stroke, inline four, liquid-cooled, fuel injected 1043 cc engine. This particular engine is bigger in size compared to that of the Ninja ZX-10R, though it is in a very different state of tune, and produces 142 PS of raw power and 111 Nm of torque. In a typical roadster’s engine fashion, the Z1000 engine’s has meaty top end grunt, with a sizeable performance stacked in the midrange as well. The engine is coupled with a 6-speed gearbox with short gear ratios.

Braking & Safety

Unlike many of its competitors, the Kawasaki Z1000 misses out on many sophisticated electronic riding aids which are now taken for granted in this particular category of litre class roadsters. The Z1000 is equipped with only a dual channel ABS and assist and slipper clutch, and nothing else, thus making the bike feel a bit old school in this department.

Verdict

The price at which the Kawasaki Z1000 is being offered makes it a stupendous value for money, and it has a couple of reasons to justify this tag. The extra-terrestrial styling and stance make the Z1000 look ultra-modern even after five years of the existence of its basic design. The engine packs in the performance to match its extrovert appeal, and it handles like a charm even after looking this heavy and intimidating. However, we do wish that it had modern safety features to match its futuristic appeal too.