Ever since the original 903cc Z1 of 1972 Kawasaki has been perceived as a purveyor of somewhat hefty big-inch street bikes with bulletproof motors, questionable handling and no weather protection whatsoever; your basic inner-city hooligan tool, to be blunt.
With the Z1000, the big K has gone back to its roots, with a naked muscle bike that is anything but retro, styled with broad, almost brash brush-strokes to resemble the stunt bikes that you see doing impossible things at bike shows and rallies.
It's based on the ZX-9R superbike motor, bored out to 953cc for more mid-range; whether it succeeds is up to you. Certainly the big four pulls smoothly and without hesitation anywhere above 3000rpm but the real muscle is still above 8000, which is also where the motor begins to vibrate, especially through the foot-pegs and rubber-mounted handlebars.
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The big Z is smoothly controllable and very rideable between three and eight but without teeth if you want real stomp you'll have to bang it down a gear or two and get the revs up. Maybe I'm expecting too much this is, after all, a transverse four, not a big V-twin.
| If you want real stomp you'll have to bang it down a gear or two |
The motor has a new cylinder-head casting with more horizontal intake tracts - to suit the throttle bodies, which are in the traditional place behind the head rather than above it as on modern sports bikes - and bigger combustion chambers to match the increased bore size. There are also widely spaced decorative fins cast into the outside of the head, a familiar styling cue on naked street bikes.
It breathes through four 38mm Keihin throttle bodies with secondary butterflies to smooth out the throttle response and reduce the "slamming door" effect common to most fuel-injected machinery. The "stick" coils are integral with the plug caps to suit the new digital injection system, which has its timing sensor mounted on the right end of the crankshaft and a new, more compact 32-bit CPU calling the tune.
The oil-cooler, unusually, isinside the radiator, making it liquid-cooled rather than relying on air transference to dissipate unwanted heat.
The big multiplate wet clutch is standard Kawasaki stuff very good, with plenty of feel, with a solid, predictable final hook-up. Kawasaki has modified the shift cams and claim profiles and spring loads to improve shift feel; there is still, as always, a lot of lash in the cog-set.
This helps to prevent missed shifts but causes appreciable drive-line lash at low speeds and a definite "clonk" on take-up in first, as well as surprisingly noisy shifts in both directions, sometimes sounding almost European.
| The Z1000 is better suited to howling through the gears in the Stoplight Grand Prix |
The all-stainless exhaust system sounds like a wet fart, as do all factory pipes these days, but it's distinctively styled with vertically stacked double pipes on either side. Aware that all stainless-steel silencers eventually discolour, Kawasaki has heat-treated the entire system on the Z1000 to an even golden brown at the factory.
Each silencer has a KLEEN (Kawasaki Low Exhaust Emission) catalyser inside it which means it runs very hot and stays that way surprisingly long after the bike is switched off; warn your pillion.
The new Zed kicks out a very respectable 93.4kW at 10 000rpm, with its peak torque of 95.6Nm also well up the rev range at eight thou unsurprising, considering what I said earlier about the power band.
I spent longer than usual on it in high-speed testing, finding a way to stay on at warp speed with nothing to hide behind. I wound up with my feet on the pillion pegs, left hand holding the forks and chin hard on the tank to lessen the buffeting and was rewarded with an impressive best run of 266km/h, with the bar-graph rev-counter two segments into the red at 11 500.
It was hard work and it's not what this bike was designed for, although its only protest was a brief front-end shimmy passing through 250; the Z1000 is better suited to howling through the gears in the Stoplight Grand Prix, pulling enormous wheelies on demand.
With its wide 'bars, potent front brakes and short 1420mm wheelbase it'll also produce impressive, perfectly controllable stoppies I said this thing looks like a stunt bike.
Up-to-date cycle parts
This powerhouse lives in a diamond frame made from large diameter thin-walled tubing; a detachable right-front upper engine mount makes maintenance easier, albeit at some cost in rigidity. It rides on 41mm Kayaba upside-downies, adjustable for preload and rebound damping, with an aluminium alloy swing-arm styled on the ZX-9R's unit and a Kayaba gas-filled piggyback shock (featuring stepless spring preload and rebound damping) on a Uni-Track linkage directing the rear wheel's gyrations.
The front brakes have 300mm platters ( six millimetres thick for high resistance to heat-induced fade) with Nissin four-pot calipers, sourced directly from the ZX-9R parts bin, while the rear brake is a typical sports bike set-up, just a light 220mm rotor with a Tokico single-piston caliper mounted directly to the swing-arm, negating the need for an independent brake torque-rod.
Minimalist styling
The Z1000's body panels have been pared down to the bare minimum, with a tiny cowl to house the twin multi-reflector headlights and cover the front of the instrument panels, titanium-coloured side panels and a flat, diamond-shaped seat-tail unit with inset "bow-tie" LED tail light. There's no rear mudguard, just a skimpy body-colour hugger on the swing-arm, while the overhanging number plate bracket is clearly intended to be removed the "eliminator" undertray has already been fitted at the factory.
Brightwork, other than the pipes, is limited to brushed aluminium covers on the outside of the radiator which manage to neaten that area without making the bike look as if it's wearing a zoot suit with padded shoulders.
The instrument panel is directly derived from the one on the ZX-6, a single LCD panel in four colours with the digital readouts inside the sweep of the bar-graph rev counter, in addition to a digital temp gauge, clock, trip meter, fuel gauge and a comprehensive range of warning icons
As on the earlier bike it's not easy to read in indirect lighting, especially early in the morning, but it does bring you a lot of data in a very compact package. LCD dashboards seem to be the way bikes are going; they have the advantages of being light, accurate and cheaper than mechanical gauges.
Everybody who saw the big Zed liked its brash looks, except for the body-colour inserts on the clutch and alternator covers, which attracted universal disdain black ones are available as one of the colour options.
The wide tubular aluminium handlebars have a surprising amount of flex, not all of it from the rubber mountings, but give you plenty of leverage for throwing this 198kg muscle bike around like a moped.
Out in the twisties you can ride the Zed like an American flat-tracker, roaring right up to a corner, braking at the last moment and chucking it on its ear. It takes a fair amount of input - the steering is not as quick as you think but the upside is that the bike is reassuringly stable.
On short corners you can push it really hard the bike has unexpectedly generous ground clearance and I was able to get along way down, almost to the edge of the tread on the 190/50 rear gumball, without touching down anything solid.
With its upright seating position, short wheelbase and wide 'bars I was expecting it to do the hippy hippy shake on long corners, but with a little throttle dialed in it settled down on its suspension and drove through like it was on rails. The steering may not be as millimetre-accurate as the race replicas, but once on line the bike will stick with it.
Kawasaki's big brawler is a far more accomplished handler than its streetfighter looks would suggest, better balanced in spite of its 198kg dry weight than you'd expect and more comfortable than its stunt bike seating position infers although the strain on your neck muscles is tiring on long straights.
I enjoyed a couple of long afternoons skiving out of the office and playing on some of my favourite roads the Z1000 is that kind of bike; it's more than the sum of its parts, a worthy successor to the Kawasaki hooligan heritage.
Thanks to Mike Hopkins Motorcycles in Cape Town for the loan of the test bike The Z1000 sells for R99 995.
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Specifications:
Motor: Liquid-cooled four-stroke transverse four.
Capacity: 953cc.
Bore x stroke: 77.2 x 50.9mm.
Valvegear: DOHC with four overhead valves per cylinder.
Compression ratio: 11.2:1.
Power: 93.4kW at 10 000rpm.
Torque: 95.6Nm at 8000rpm.
Induction: Electronic fuel-injection with four 38mm Keihin throttle bodies.
Ignition: Digital.
Starting: Electric.
Clutch: Cable-operated, multiplate wet clutch.
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox with chain final drive.
Suspension: 41mm Kayaba inverted cartridge forks adjustable for preload and rebound damping at front, Kayaba monoshock adjustable for preload and rebound damping at rear.
Brakes: Twin 300mm semi-floating discs with Nissin four-pot opposed piston callipers at front, 220mm disc with Tokico single-piston floating calliper at rear.
Tyres: Front: 120/70 -ZR17 tubeless. Rear: 190/50 - ZR17 tubeless.
Wheelbase: 1420mm.
Seat height: 820mm.
Dry weight: 198kg.
Fuel capacity: 18 litres
Price: R99 995.
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