Kawasaki Z1000 review

A mate turned up at my place the other weekend on a new Z1000 and threw the keys at me saying "I'll be back in an hour, give it a thrash!". What a lovely trusting soul - and he knows me! One hour later and I'm not sure about this bike, I can't work out what it is supposed to be, it's not a cruiser, race‑rep, commuter or a real streetfighter, perhaps its an all‑rounder then, bit of a puzzle, first the tech stuff, it's basically a ZX9R motor bored out a tad giving 953cc and 120bhp with the engine shoved into a frame as a stressed member, it's shorter than I like with a sharp rake. The styling is probably supposed to make it look like a streetfighter but it doesn't do it for me, looking on the internet I discovered that the guy who designed it is better known for that girly MX5 Mazda four‑wheeled thing.

Now I'm an old school kinda bloke and like big brutal bikes that feel like motorbikes, GS1000, Z900, with a 20 year old FJ1200 being my current ride, this felt far too light to be a real bike and the first mile or so did nothing to inspire me, the little fairing is a complete joke, as are the ridiculous mirrors, which you might as well throw away, I didn't have time to change any settings for the suspension and I think I would have to make quite a few changes to get the bike to handle the way I like, the front end felt very spongy, out of some corners the whole bike felt too light and twitchy and at speed it tended to wallow a bit which reminded me of the old GT750 Kwacker that wallowed at the same speed in the same way, slow cornering was interesting. I didn't like the steep rake that gave the bike an odd feel at low speeds. That odd feel combined with (or because of) the soft and spongy front end didn't give me a lot of confidence at low speeds, the faster you went though the better it felt and with a few adjustments to suit my own riding style I could certainly live the handling. At 6 foot tall and 52 years old I found the seating position a bit irritating with the standard 'forward lean' heavy on my wrists until the wind pressure released the strain, raise the bars 2 inches take them back an inch and move the pegs forward a couple of inches and I would be very happy with this bikes riding position.

Start opening the throttle and you can start having fun, the front wheel came up with very little provocation and the mid range grunt was perfect for fast overtaking, but the faster the engine span the more it vibrated until it became really annoying, mainly through the handlebars and pegs, at certain revs it was so bad you couldn't see anything in the mirrors, which to be honest was no big loss, the high frequency vibes came in at different revs in different gears which is probably to do with the fact the engine is a stressed part of the frame. Below about 4000 revs it was like wading through mud then everything happened with a rush until around 9000 when the vibes get an bit much, although it does pull well until over 10.500 rpm, after that though you better change gear.

The exhaust sound at tickover is odd but slightly reminiscent of the old Zeds that had that slightly off tune burble when sitting ticking over, then as you twist the throttle a deep growl starts and gets deeper the more you open it, the exhaust has the potential, with the right pipes, to be a real deep‑throated animal.

I found the Z1000 engine to be a really good cruiser, get the revs and speed right and it floats along quite well, with a few minor changes this will make a good long distance bike, in my opinion it comes across as a good bike for commuting middle distances with a mix of roads.

Talking with Mark, the bike's owner, a few things became apparent, he had not noticed the front end effect that I had and claimed the vibes had started after its second service, he said before that it wasn't too bad and the shop was going to look at in the next week, maybe the front didn't affect him cos he rides like a wuss, he is going to bring it back after the shop has looked at it for me to try again, he absolutely loves this bike and reckons its the best bike he has owned, although how he comes to that conclusion after only 1500 miles (I think that's what it had on the clock) is beyond me.

The Z1000 has the potential to be a cracking streetfighter, I can see quite a few people playing around with the styling as they come on to the second‑hand market, some ideas have come to my mind already. Would I buy one? I can't afford a new one but second‑hand, if the price was right, yes! Then I'd change the seat, lose the silly fairing, raise the bars and move the footrests and of course matt black it!

Perhaps a ride on a different Z1000 will show up if this one just had a few glitches, Mark doesn't bother to check even his tyre pressures, I much prefer heavy bikes that take a bit of work to get around but we will shall try again when he brings it back after the shop has had it.

* After I wrote this Mark emailed me to say the front tyre pressure was only 19psi, this could explain the weird handling problem, I have decided to leave this article as it stands because I don't know if that was the pressure when I rode it.