VOL. 54 ISSUE 13 APRIL 4, 2017 P115
rev-happy than the old 800 and
less intimidating than the 1000.
Kawasaki made an emphasis on
low-to mid-range torque to make
this engine as appealing as pos-
sible to everyday commuters.
The same end game is said for
the dual 36mm throttle bodies,
a system that was employed on
the 1000 with its 38mm throttle
bodies but not the slightly jerky
800's 34mm units, a bike that
didn't have the smoothest throt-
tle response from fully closed.
The intake houses different
length funnels (the two outer
funnels are shorter than the two
center ones), with the airbox
specifically tuned to get the best
audio note under acceleration.
No, really, Kawasaki actually had
an acoustics team work with the
engineers to "develop" a more
pleasing, muscular intake sound
than either the old 800 or 1000!
The pistons come from the
same machining process as
the H2's; the connecting pas-
sageways at the bottom of the
cylinders help reduce pumping
losses and contribute to better
high rpm performance, and the
crankshaft has been lightened
to enable to the motor to spin up
quicker. A secondary balancer
driven off a gear on the sixth
web of the crank helps to reduce
the overall vibration.
There's no quickshifter for the
six-speed gearbox, but you do
get a slip and assist clutch and
what Kawasaki is calling a true
overdrive sixth gear for economi-
cal highway cruising.
On the exhaust side, there are
four new 35mm headers, fed
into a smaller catalytic converter
and single muffler that's slightly
more aggressive looking than
the Z650's.
The Z900's chassis is all
new, developed from the H2.
The steel trellis looks absolutely
awesome in Kawasaki's metallic
lime green (it looks pretty plain-
Jane in the black color scheme)
and weighs only a claimed 30
pounds, with the subframe
no longer detachable and the
engine mounted as a stressed
member. That light weight
extends to the swingarm, which
