VOL. 52 ISSUE 24 JUNE 16, 2015 P61
K
awasaki is set to bring
in the new-for-North
America Kawasaki
Z800 for the 2016 model
year. This machine has
been on sale in Europe
and Australasia since 2013,
however has only now just
made it to the U.S.—although
not California—and will retail
for $8399 with a 12 month
warranty.
The Z800 is not just a
Z1000 that's been sleeved
down, and indeed was
created before the current
Z1000 that hit dealer floors
last year. The 800 is pow-
ered by an inline four-cylin-
der 806cc, DOHC, 16-valve,
liquid-cooled four-stroke mo-
tor that's fed its fuel mixture
by a quartet of 34mm Keihin
throttle bodies with two dif-
ferent length intake funnels,
designed to optimize mixture
at varying rpms. The engine
uses wide radius crankshaft
journals as well as large
1.2mm piston-cooling oil jets
and a low-friction camshaft
chain to help durability.
The exhaust's headers
have a large curved radius
to make them as long as
possible and a stubby muf-
fler eliminates the need for a
mid pipe, which in turn helps
mass centralization.
On the chassis side of
things, the skeleton of the
Z800 is a high-tensile tubular
steel chassis, matched to a
steel swingarm and an alloy
subframe. As for suspen-
sion, 41mm KYB forks sit up
front that are rebound damp-
ing and preload adjustable,
while a rebound adjuster
is fitted to the shock that is
also preload adjustable.
Front brakes are small
twin petal type 277mm discs
gripped by Nissin calipers
with ABS, while a 216mm
disc with a single piston cali-
per sits out the back.
It's clear the styling of the
Z800 is closely related to
that of bigger bro Z1000,
even down to the Zee pat-
tern seat and similar front
cowl. The riding position
means this will be an all-day
comfort machine, although
wind protection is kept to a
minimum.
