Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1481963
COMPARISON I KAWASAKI Z900RS SE VS. HONDA CB1000R BLACK EDITION P94 some ripping acceleration easily, with the extra benefit of being in the meat of the torque curve for much of the time when in city/ slow-speed riding. SO, WHICH ONE DO YOU TAKE? For two bikes that look pretty different, they ride remarkably similar. If the Honda had a better rear shock, I'd certainly give that portion of the test to the Big H. The Kawasaki performs much better than I remember my 2018 test bike did thanks to the intro- duction of the Ohlins shock, but it's let down by a higher price tag than I feel is warranted for a bike that doesn't come with at least a quickshifter, let alone cruise control or heated grips. At the end of the day, neither bike is going to win any perfor- mance naked-bike shootout. So, that means, at least for me, it's all about which bike I will happily crack a beer and look at in my garage for longer than I should, so long as there's decent perfor- mance to back up the looks. And despite not having the bits I feel it should have, I still must give the win to the Kawa- saki Z900RS SE. For my money, it's one of the prettiest bikes on the market to- day. It's a comfortable all-around ride, capable of long distances as much as it is riding to the beach or scratching with a few friends in the canyons. The Honda's ride position was a bit of a let-down in that I found it didn't offer the right position for someone of my height (6'1"). The CB's motor was indeed more ex- hilarating than the Z900RS SE's, but as I said at the beginning of this test, outright performance isn't everything here. The Kawasaki ticks almost all the boxes for me, so for that, it takes the W. CN SPECIFICATIONS 2022 KAWASAKI Z900RS SE ($13,449) / 2023 HONDA CB1000R BLACK EDITION ($12,999) ENGINE Inline 4-cylinder 4-stroke/Inline 4-cylinder 4-stroke VALVETRAIN DOHC 16-valve /DOHC 16-valve COOLING SYSTEM Liquid/Liquid DISPLACEMENT 948cc/998cc BORE X STROKE 73.4 x 56mm / 75 x 56.5mm COMPRESSION RATIO 10.8:1 /11.6:1 CLUTCH Wet multi-plate / Wet multi-plate TRANSMISSION 6-speed / 6-speed CHASSIS Tubular steel trellis frame / Steel backbone frame FRONT SUSPENSION 41mm inverted USD fork fully adjustable / 43mm Showa SFF-BP USD fork, fully adjustable REAR SUSPENSION Horizontal back-link Ohlins S46 single shock, fully adjustable / Showa single shock, fully adjustable FRONT BRAKE Dual 300mm dual semi-floating discs, radial-mounted 4-piston Brembo calipers; ABS / Dual 310mm full-floating discs, radial-mounted 4-piston Tokico calipers; ABS REAR BRAKE 250mm disc, 1-piston caliper; ABS / 256mm disc, 1-caliper caliper; ABS FRONT TIRE 120/70 ZR17 / 120/70 ZR17 in. REAR TIRE 180/55 ZR17 / 190/55 ZR17 in. WHEELBASE 58.1 in. / 57.3 in. SEAT HEIGHT 31.5 in. / 32.7 in. FUEL CAPACITY 4.5 gal. / 4.3 gal. WEIGHT (CURB, CLAIMED) 471.9 lbs. / 467 lbs. COLOR Yellow Ball / Graphite Black