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TEST<br />
Kawasaki Z1000SX<br />
I<br />
got to whizz around on the<br />
Kwacker for a few days<br />
before I met up with the<br />
others. Impressions weren’t too<br />
bad. It worked well enough and<br />
with a pretty flexible motor, good<br />
brakes, decent chassis manners,<br />
and an ability to cover ground<br />
quickly and comfortably, the SX<br />
seemed like it would score fairly<br />
highly. The only thing I was likely<br />
to knock it back for was a lack of<br />
any real basic appeal. By that I<br />
mean that all-important X-factor<br />
that gives you the horn and<br />
makes you want to get on the<br />
bloody thing and ride itasoften<br />
as possible. Every time I clawed<br />
down the side stand at the end of<br />
a run, I had a ‘so what’ feeling<br />
about the bike. There’s no way<br />
I’d personally want to buy one.<br />
To me, nomatterhowdecent<br />
the dynamic qualities of 1000<br />
are, itjustfeels like yet another<br />
Japanese inline four. And then I<br />
got together with the others and<br />
their Euro tools.<br />
Two things dented my views,<br />
with each mile that went under<br />
the Zed’s wheels having me<br />
thinking even less of it. First<br />
issue was how much more I<br />
enjoyed the other two bikes.<br />
I’ll go into more detail in the<br />
conclusion, but any time I<br />
jumped onto the Kawasaki after<br />
sampling either the Duke or<br />
KTM, I took a pretty dim view of<br />
it. The other thing that poured<br />
cold water on the Japanese bike<br />
came when the pace got hotter.<br />
To be fair, the first time I<br />
compared it directly to the Euro<br />
bikes was at Oulton and man did<br />
it feel somuchtougherlapping<br />
thetrack. If you just try to<br />
circulate rapidly, things aren’t<br />
too bad. Doing that pretty much<br />
had me come to the same<br />
conclusion I did after my first<br />
couple of hundred miles on the<br />
road. It didn’t feel special in<br />
any way, but it was at least<br />
good enough to boogie.<br />
Start upping your pace<br />
though, and you can’t help<br />
but think the Kawasaki is<br />
getting out of its depth. Two<br />
key issues hinder progress and<br />
confidence – its weight and soft<br />
suspension. Neil had said he<br />
expected it to be okay, but like<br />
me he began to change his tune<br />
with every lap. You can go fast,<br />
but bloody hell you need to be<br />
right on the case and not risk<br />
making any mistakes. There’s<br />
just too much mass to correct if<br />
you cock up and go off line, or<br />
miss a braking marker. It’s<br />
a bike that forces you<br />
to concentrate<br />
really hard if you want to<br />
seriously go for it. The brakes<br />
are pretty strong, and their<br />
progressive feel remains in place<br />
lap after lap. But it feels like a<br />
real lard arse at times and the<br />
sloppy suspension does bugger<br />
all to boost confidence.<br />
When you’re trying to get the<br />
best of the motor, it just has to<br />
be revved harder. The g’box is<br />
slick enough, which is a good job<br />
as your left foot is kept pretty<br />
busy keeping the motor spinning<br />
hard enough to make its<br />
strongest power. Riding at a<br />
spirited pace alldaylongis easy<br />
enough, but raise your ambitions<br />
justabitand the effort needed<br />
increases disproportionately.<br />
You’re very much made aware of<br />
the huge extra effort needed to<br />
get just a tiny improvement in<br />
lap time. It affects the enjoyment<br />
and overall mood. The pegs<br />
scrape all too easily, the ABS and<br />
traction control start cutting in,<br />
the lack of quick-shifter begins<br />
to seem a bigger issue than it<br />
perhaps should be. All in all you<br />
stop enjoying going round. And<br />
it wasn’t just me. Gary and Neil<br />
moaned about the excess weight<br />
and mushiness each time they<br />
came back in, andtowardsthe<br />
endofthedayitstayedparked<br />
andunlovedinthepitlane.<br />
Thepoorbugger!<br />
It was more popular on the<br />
road runsbefore and after<br />
Oulton, but no-one ever found it<br />
especially endearing. Ridden in<br />
isolation and lessaggressively,<br />
theKawasakifeelsawholelot<br />
better.Butinthiscompanyit’s<br />
not in the same league. It seems<br />
odd that the bike features a good<br />
selection of clever electronics to<br />
help use its power and brakes to<br />
the full when the basic platforms<br />
of too much weight and soft<br />
suspension stop that potential<br />
being fully realised.<br />
Perhaps we’re beingabit<br />
unfair, and the lad who<br />
overheard our criticisms<br />
reminded us to judge the<br />
Kawasaki for what it was – just a<br />
road bike. But then again so are<br />
the Ducati and KTM…<br />
Abit old-school, but westill love a<br />
proper rev-counter atleast!<br />
It does a job on track,<br />
just not much of one!<br />
36 JULY <strong>2017</strong> WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
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