All Tests – 2014 Kawasaki Z1000 Review: the big bad look – Discovery of the new Kawasaki Z1000

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2014 Kawasaki Z1000 review: the big bad look

All Tests - 2014 Kawasaki Z1000 Review: the big bad look - Discovery of the new Kawasaki Z1000

After the Z1000SX 2014, it is the turn of the new Z1000 to pass between the gloves of Site. Kawasaki’s outright roadster differs from the old model with a more bestial attitude and multiple mechanical tweaks. First try !

Discovery of the new Kawasaki Z1000

Once installed at the controls of the Kawasaki maxi roadster, the pilot notices that the new 2014 Z1000 has had a new dashboard. Originality of this new element: the tachometer is in two parts! The first 4000 laps are displayed on the LCD screen, while the following 7500 panic with white then red LEDs, noticeable even from the corner of the eye.

The arrival of this new instrumentation, which is more readable than the old yellow meter, is accompanied by new functions: "fuel economy indicator light, remaining range, current and average fuel consumption, coolant temperature".

Inaugurated on the 1400GTR, the fuel economy indicator is akin to a rather useless gadget on the roadster. It seems "automatically when driving conditions are economical: less than 6,000 rpm, less than 30% throttle opening and less than 140 km / h"recalls Kawasaki.

Future trainers using the Zed would no doubt have preferred a gear indicator engaged – and we will see why a little later … -, but they can already take comfort in noting the appearance of a much more important, especially in the urban jungle: the warnings !

On the subject of turn signals precisely, French bikers, eternally dissatisfied, will regret that the new Z1000 has not adopted LED (Kawasaki explains on this point in our video interview). Finally, some may also blame the Greens for not having "signed" their new double Z roadster adorning the rear light of the Z800. !

"We actually thought about it", retorts designer Shibuta San,"but above all we wanted to refine the rear of the machine as much as possible, hence the inverted V-shape of its LED tail light". And the cut of the passenger seat follows the same objective.

Very compact, the passenger seat of the new Z1000 mimics the lines of a sports seat cover. An excellent choice in terms of aesthetics, there is no doubt, but much less pleasant from the point of view of the "co-pilot", perched on a folding seat without any handle – worthy of the name…

The new mirrors are more convincing, because they combine elegance and efficiency. However, be careful to check, when you receive your model at the dealership, that the pretty perforated supports – depending on the levers – are fixed at a good angle on the handlebars. The latitude for adjusting the mirrors is not huge, so you quickly find yourself "stuck".

Continuing the owner’s turn, we note – on the rider’s saddle this time – the appearance of the Z pattern present on the Z800. This detail perfectly illustrates the attention paid by the Akashi factory to the quality of the finish of its new "flagship" model..

Other clues are easily detectable, such as the reservoir of smoked brake fluid, the arrangement of cables and wires at the level of the neat fork crown, the fit of the plastics on the reservoir and around the impeccable radiator, the camouflage of the ‘injection on the left side – unfortunately absent on the right -, the polished exhausts or the "Kawasaki" marking on the new monobloc calipers carried out by laser.

Kawasaki at the same time wanted to keep the chain tension adjustment by eccentrics, the cutting of the discs like "petals", the six levels of spacing of the brake lever – only one on the other hand for the clutch -, the double frame Aluminum beam and horizontal Back-link type rear suspension, as on the ZX-10R !

At the front, however, the Z1000 gets a new fork, "Synthesis of Showa techniques for SFF (Separate Function Fork) and BP (Big Piston) large pistons", say the Greens.

"It contains springs on each side", they specify,"the preload setting being assigned to the left tube and the damping one (compression and relaxation, Editor’s note) to the straight tube". This fork has a double advantage: the adjustments are made at the top of the tubes and in one go !

The brakes also undergo some modifications, the Z1000 2014 adopting the same Tokico monobloc calipers as the SX and widening as a bonus the diameter of its discs (310 mm against 300 previously), as well as that of the master cylinder piston (19.05 mm instead of 17.46).

Finally, Kawasaki emphasizes the presence on its new "Zed" of six-spoke rims thinner than the five sticks of the previous rims, which make "the total unsprung weight of about 1.5 kg". D214 developed in collaboration with Dunlop come to fit them. Want to try them? See you on the next page !

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