KAWASAKI Z1000
RIDING IMPRESSION
P98
livery is immediate and angry
(see the theme here?) as the
four 38mm Keihin throttle
bodies plough fuel and air
into the engine with the bike
bursting forward as cars
around just disappear behind
you. The gearbox action itself
is smooth and precise with a
short, positive throw, and
the best thing about snap-
ping up through the gear-
box under big power is
that intoxicating induction
roar—the Zee sounds like
it could suck in small chil-
dren from 1000 feet away.
The gearing feels like it'd
suit track riding quite eas-
ily but it also makes quick
getaways a breeze. And that's
another factor about the Zee
– it hasn't forgotten how to be
a nice roadbike. It might look
like a wrestler, but you can
take it on a dinner date. You
can cruise around and never
take the thing above 4000
rpm and the Zee will happily
accommodate your short-
shifts as you go hunting for
coffee on Sunday morning.
That smooth action throttle
matched to the beautiful fuel-
ing shows through here – the
angriest looking bike in Kawa-
saki's lineup quickly becom-
ing as docile as a Labrador.
The chassis of the Zee is
modeled closely on the ZX-
10R's, ensuring the machine
is light and nimble at slow
speeds, but at the same
time providing good high-
speed stability. It's narrow
mid-section makes it easy to
maneuver when lane splitting,
although the seat height of
just 32.1 inches can put you
right at shoulder height for
wide car mirrors. Despite that
seat height the Zee doesn't
feel cramped, which for me at
6'1" is a nice surprise.
The Zee is graced with
Showa's 41mm SFF-BP
(Separate Function Fork–Big
Piston, the right fork looks af-
ter compression and rebound,
the left does preload) front
end and a Showa mono-
shock, mounted horizontally
atop the swingarm to move it
away from the heat coming off
the exhaust and to improve
mass-centralization. The stan-
dard settings are quite firm for
"THAT SMOOTH
ACTION THROTTLE
MATCHED TO THE
BEAUTIFUL FUELING
SHOWS THROUGH
HERE THE ANGRIEST
LOOKING BIKE IN
KAWASAKI'S LINEUP
QUICKLY BECOMING
AS DOCILE AS A
LABRADOR."
(Clockwise) The Zee
does its best Predator
impression. The Zee seat
pattern is a nice touch.
Whadayoulookinat? Dash
looks cheap and can be
hard to read at speed.
Radiator is very exposed
and it wouldn't take much
for a stone to go straight
through it.
