VOL. 52 ISSUE 20 MAY 19, 2015 P95
Z1000 CAN BE A DOCILE
YOU'D USE TO GET MILK ON,
MAKE IT ANGRY…
WILSON
I
t seems inconceivable for
a manufacturer to create a
placid looking naked bike
these days. Angry is the name
of the game, like the design-
ers need to create a bike with
a chip on its shoulder.
Kawasaki was arguably the
first to come up with this de-
sign philosophy with the first
new Z1000 back in 2003,
the year in which the Big K
celebrated 30 years since
the birth of the bike that went
on to become the most fa-
mous Kawi of all, the Z1. That
machine was a cut above
This is the color
Kawasaki should
paint the ZX-10R.
The metallic flake
in the paint comes
up a treat under
sunlight and
streetlights.
in the anger stakes from
what was coming out of the
Honda, Yamaha and Ducati
camps at the time. Naked
bikes back then needed a
change of image from plain
old commuters to bikes with
their own style and iden-
tity, and that original Z1000
helped spawn a market that
now includes the KTM Super
Duke and BMW S 1000 R—
two bikes that weren't loved
enough as kids and are now
just inherently pissed off.
Those bikes have re-
ally upped the performance
game over the last couple
of years, and even though
Kawasaki gave the Zee a
freshen up back in 2010, the
recent arrival of the Euros
meant that if Japan was to
stay in the race, Kawasaki
had to beef up the 1000 even
further. Honda and Yamaha
have fallen off the 1000cc
naked bike bandwagon,
with Suzuki the only other
Japanese builder to take the
supernaked class seriously,
and even then they only
came to fight this year with
the GSX-1000S.
