Anyway, a few weeks back a Kawasaki dealer reasonably local to him made him an offer he couldn’t turn down so he rode his K in there, and rode out on a low mileage ( not sure exactly how many but it was only a few hundred) green 2019 Z1000SX.
Although the 2020 model comes with a QuickShifter as standard, the 2019 doesn’t, and it’s not a factory fit option either, but the dealer had recommended and included a Healtech one in with the deal.
It had to be ordered and retrofitted, so it was booked in to have it fitted last Friday, and that’s where I come in, as Kev only got to ride it two or possibly three times before fate intervened, and he had a heart attack- thankfully not whilst on the bike.
The good news is it wasn’t fatal, and after a little op to insert a stent or two he’s now back at home, but riding bikes, along with of course a fair few other things are not possible for him at the moment.
He didn’t want to miss his workshop slot, and so I, as a good brother, drove my car over to his place and rode away on the Zed.
The 40ish mile ride home was an interesting one for me – I’ve put roughly 1000 miles on my recently acquired Multistrada over the last few weeks , and it was a real contrast.
First thing that struck me was the relatively high feeling footrests, compared to a Multi, and bars that really did feel like they are half the width too- the over-riding feeling I had was how relatively speaking tiny it is ( highly effective but comedy-looking mirrors aside of course ) - seriously, although its 1000cc, and I guess positioned as a sports-tourer, it feels half the size of the Multi and positively minuscule compared to something like a ZZR1400, or the K1300S, which is what it replaced.
And this (unless you want to take pillions on it), is a very good thing IMO;- I don’t know what the weight of it is, but it feels a lot lighter than it actually is, and about half the weight of my H2 -it made that feel like an absolute tank…
It encourages you (or me, anyway), to ride it like a light-middleweight, in the same way as a 790 Duke does.
Very buzzy, and had me constantly reaching for a 7th gear, but that’s conventional IL4s for you, I do it on the H2 as well- such a contrast to a big twin like the Multistrada, which it’s not happy in 6th unless you’re doing minimum 80, and built-up areas mean 3rd is effectively the highest gear you use, you can run the Zed down to 20 -30mph in top.
That in itself wasn’t surprising, but what was, was the mid-range- it never felt lacking for me, you can wind it on in 5th or 6th from low speed without feeling you need to drop a gear or two, it just goes, which is unlike his K1300 where I would often feel the need to drop it down one or two to get a move on.
Admittedly its lower geared than the Multi ( 6k in top is 85ish with 7k bang on 100mph), but that’s comparable with its peers really.
It doesn’t have the ballistic top-end of the K1300, but it’s a screamer alright and even more so since the QS has been fitted- a very well developed, smooth power delivery with a real nice rush towards the top-end.
I put 150-200ish miles on it over the couple of days I had it, including a 40-50 mile ride in the pissing rain and whilst it isn’t a contender for me in my garage, I can see why they are popular- a very well developed bike IMO that I’d as happily thrape around Donington as much as go on a tour with it – what Kawasaki really need to do is get the H2 motor in this chassis, now that really would be a package!
Not something i fancy riding myself much, but when we were in there on Friday i can see the appeal of some of the Kawasakis.
