‘It sounds great when you open it up!’ Reader rates a year with his Kawasaki Z1000SX
Brand loyalty can hold a lot of sway when choosing a new bike and it’s further underlined when you’re smitten by a particular model, as is the case with MCN reader Martyn Ward.
“I left school at 16 and bought a Honda SS50 for £100,” he told MCN. “Then a year later I got a brand new Suzuki GT185.” A GT250 X7 followed, which he kept until his first Kawasaki, a Z400J with a Rickman Tempest fairing. “That was a good bike, it never missed a beat,” he continues. “And it started me on the Kawasaki route - these days if I cut my finger I’d probably bleed green!” Since then Martyn has owned a Z400F, which he rode to destruction, and a GPX600R, which lasted for a good 20 years. “The GPX blew up too,” he says. “But I fitted another engine to keep it going. In the end I traded it in for a ZX-6R G1.” In 2015 Martyn attended a BikeSafe event at Castle Combe, where, among others, he had the opportunity to test ride a Z1000SX. “I ended up part-exchanging my ZX-6 for one at Blade Motorcycles of Swindon,” says Martyn. “It was on a 12-plate and I kept it for two years before finding an unregistered 2018 model at Branson’s in Yeovil, which I arranged to pick up on March 1 last year as a 19-reg.”
miles 0
Branson’s offered me £4K for my 30,000-mile, 12-plate SX and I paid the balance in cash. Having had the earlier bike I knew how to tailor my new one, so I’d bought Oxford heated grips (£79.99), Puig tall screen (£70.96) and Puig front fender extenders (£30.50 and £40.99) and kept my ASV levers (£230), Leo Vince cans (£448) and Scottoiler (£99.99).
miles 500
Prior to purchase I took out a demonstrator fitted with OE Bridgestone S20 tyres, but didn’t feel comfortable with them. I asked the dealer to change them for T30 EVOs and so far they’ve performed perfectly. It took around a month to cover the initial 500 miles, however as Kawasaki state servicing has to be done by ‘a competent mechanic’ rather than book it in with a dealer, I did the first one myself.
miles 1000
I’m a big motorcycle sport fan so my first proper trip out was to Silverstone in Northamptonshire to see the BSB, which is a nice ride from here in Somerset. One of the first things I noticed was that there wasn’t much of a change in performance, if any, over the old model. I’ve gone through all the settings – high power, low power and the various Kawasaki Traction Control (KTRC) options – but I can’t see a difference between any of them. So I tend to leave the engine on full power and have set the traction control to 1.
miles 2000
On any bike I try and lock the front wheel so I know the level of grip in an emergency – it’s something I picked up years ago. The SX’s ABS totally does its job as I’ve never been able to do it – I can’t even feel the lever pulse. One fault down to me is I usually ride with my foot riding the rear brake but hadn’t adjusted it enough to allow for it so ended up cooking the fluid and frying the pads. I’ve since dropped the lever, changed the fluid and pads and there’s no problem now.
miles 3000
The suspension is perfectly acceptable and I’ve had no issues. It’s easy to adjust and I’ve played around with some of the settings but ultimately have gone back to those recommended in the handbook. It seems to perform the same regardless of whether it’s loaded up with luggage or just me on it. I have noticed that the bike has started to wallow in corners a bit and pick up on white lines but I think that’s more down to the fact the rear tyre is losing its profile.
miles 4000
They’ve changed the shape and padding in the seat. I still don’t think it’s there but that’s my only issue in terms of comfort. One improvement over my old bike is the lever bosses are no longer welded to the bars, so you can adjust them – I’ve tweaked mine a bit so they’re more comfortable.
miles 4406
I get around 47mpg, which is pretty reasonable for a big four although it can drop to 30 if I press on. I get something like 175-180 miles from a tank but have yet to find out just how far it will actually go. If you want to be particularly economy conscious there’s a light that comes on the dash (Kawsaki’s Economical Riding Indicator) to tell you that you’re in the ‘good patch’. It makes a lovely sound when you open it up, though, that Kawasaki airbox howl is one of the reasons I ride a motorcycle.