Cycle News

VOL. 55 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 9, 2018 P81 Everything else about the power- plant and the way it transmits the go to the rear wheel is done beautifully. Fu- eling at low revs in high gears is well mapped, which, when combined with the lower final drive from the Z900, makes the 900RS good fun when the pace isn't too hot. There's no variable engine maps on the 900RS, but for your extra $2500 you do get two-stage Kawasaki TRac- tion (sic) Control (KTRC), an excellent system you'll soon forget is there, if you notice it at all. The gearbox action, coupled with the cable-actuated, slip-and-assist clutch, is direct and smooth, even if the new gearboxes we rode at the launch were a touch stiff. This will no doubt fade away with more use and we'll be getting a long-term 900RS soon so we'll be able to tell you if this is the case. Fancy Dress Party Kawasaki hasn't just slapped together a Z900 chassis and given it some new clothes. The steel trellis unit was revised so the teardrop tank could be fitted, and the weight balance has been shifted slightly by raising the front and lowering the rear, giving the chassis a more neutral stance. This makes the Z900RS not quite the weapon the Z900 is in the twist- ies, but it will still be happy to play along if you want to get on it on Sun- day morning. The suspension is set quite soft, and you will reach the limits of it rather quickly if you ride the bike with a little too much aggression—its damping rates are engineered for medium pace cruising. As Kawasaki Product Manager, Croft Long, put it to me, "The suspension is designed to give you plenty of feedback and make you feel like you're going fast, without going over the top." It's another ex- ample of the kid not being as aggres- sive as the dad. As such, the ride on roads that are not too chopped up is supremely smooth. The 900RS will glide along, the soft suspension combining with the relaxed riding position to make the rider appreciate some of the slower speeds in life. A 900RS rider will get some higher- spec brakes in the four-piston mono- bloc calipers compared to the con- ventionally mounted calipers of the Z900. They are exceptional stoppers, At low rpm, the exhaust gasses escape the engine in a straight line, while at high rpm, an additional passage route is used that houses glass wool packing and different fiber density to give the exhaust those deep, dulcet tones. As for the chassis, the Z900RS uses the same lightweight steel trellis-style layout that first ap- peared on a modern Kawasaki with the supercharged H2 and later the Z900. The top frame rails have been modified to allow the fitment of the teardrop gas tank, and the rear frame/subframe (it can't be detached) needed to be modified to fit the long one-piece seat. Up front the upper triple clamp has increased its offset by 6mm and has a slightly reduced trail over the Z900, with the inverted suspension giving 10-way compres- sion, 12-way rebound and preload adjustment. The rear suspension is a monoshock that comes with preload and rebound damping adjustment. On the electronics side you get ABS and two-stage traction control, but no adjustable riding modes (the Z900 only gets ABS). More work went into this exhaust than you'd believe. Throttle response could be smoother, especially in long corners like this one.

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