2020 KAWAS AKI Z900 ABS
R I D E R E V I E W
P54
A saving grace here is the motor is velvety
smooth with hardly any vibrations coming to
the bars and pegs. This is no mean feat for
an inline-four and shows Kawasaki's five-point
mounting system does more than aid in chas-
sis stiffness.
Once we turn our attention to the chassis,
here's where I start to have some issues. Be-
ing 6'1", I found the riding position to be pretty
cramped. Everything is compact on the Z900,
including the triangle between the seat, foot-
pegs and handlebar. Those of shorter stature
to me likely won't be as affected by this issue,
but on a long ride around San Diego, I would
be stretching my legs at any given opportunity.
Given that the riding position was cramped
(for me), it took some of the shine away from a
chassis that was happy moving along through
the twisties at a fair clip. The suspension
action in traffic was nice and plush, offering
good road comfort and holding, but up the
pace and the spec of the springers begins to
show through. Heavy braking would see the
fork plunge through the stroke, and converse-
ly, trying to ride fast and get on the gas early
would have the shock sink in its stroke and
you'd run wide.
The suspension is designed primarily for
commuting and medium-speed riding, so if
you start riding aggressively fast, you'll begin
to reach the limits pretty quickly.
The same can be said of the brakes. The
master-cylinder and conventionally mounted
skywards, just like the old Z1000
loved to do. Plus, the chassis is
pretty stable, so doing one-wheel
salutes is simple—if you so desire.
Around town, the Z900 is an
absolute pussycat. You can cruise
all day and never see 6000 rpm,
or even need to. It'd be nice if the
engineers fitted a quickshifter to
the otherwise nice gearbox, but
then that would see the price shoot
past that magic $9000 mark.
The first three gear ratios are
quite short, which help keep the
motor revving, so you've got power
when you need it. Fifth and es-
pecially sixth are much taller, and
I'll admit to rarely using sixth gear
even on the freeway.
(Top) Still very
much undecided
if we like this
head or not.
(Above) The
seat padding
is comfortable,
but the space
between the seat
and the pegs
is too cramped
for our liking.
(Right) Kawi's
948cc inline four-
cylinder motor is
a carryover from
the 2017 model.
