Kawasaki ZZR1400
It’s the elder statesman of Kawasaki’s sports tourer trio, but the ZZR still delivers the goods…
THE ORIGINAL ZZR1400 was launched in 2006, and as the older gentleman of the three bikes it might be expected to feel a bit left behind. Er, no. Left behind is not something you feel on a ZZR1400, unless you stray into a top fuel drag meet. And even then you won’t be that far behind – at the launch of the current ZZR14 model in 2012, American racer Ricky Gadson sat on a stock bike with stock tyres with stock pressures and a full tank of ordinary unleaded and covered a quarter mile in 9.64 seconds. For the record, that’s faster than a 1200bhp, £1.5m, Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (which is a car). On the road, that performance never pales. For these group tests we usually ride the bikes every day for two weeks, and over that period you can’t help but acclimatise, learning the electronics, no longer fumbling to find the sidestand, twiddling the suspension and – usually – getting used to the power delivery. Not so the ZZR14. Even after a fortnight, opening the throttle at 7000rpm at the beginning of my local sliproad never ceased to produce a wideeyed moment of disbelief at how fast this motorcycle accelerates. No matter what machine a member of the Bike team had just ridden, when then got off the ZZR, the first words were always a version of: ‘Wow. than Of all course, I’d the forgotten latest on paper, litre how sportsbikes, it’s fast no the quicker ZZR but is’. the way the ZZR shifts feels surprisingly different. Its weight – 267kg wet – conspires with its rock solid stability and the velvety smoothness of the engine to make it seem immense, yet effortless. Where a sportsbike – the new Ducati V4S, for example – feels like you’re on a ludicrously powerful but tiny speedboat rattling across rough seas, the ZZR is an impossibly fast aircraft carrier. It’s less exciting, but no less impressive and far more dangerous to your licence – I lost count of the number of times I looked down to see if I was doing much more than 70mph as the ZZR purred along and the speedo said 110. Ooops. Another indication of the ZZR’S performance is hopping onto the Z1000SX. The Z is by no means a slow motorcycle, what with its 1000cc, 140bhp engine. But it feels positively stately after the ZZR and H2. It’s in a different league. Chasing the ZZR down a fast A-road I was caning the life out of the Z1000 to keep it in sight down the straights, and when we met up later it was as I suspected – the ZZR rider wasn’t even trying, just monstering along using the midrange thrust (peak torque is an almighty 120 lb.ft at 7500rpm). Though the H2 feels just as rapid – no small feat in itself – it lacks the ZZR’S total, unflappable composure, especially as the speeds approach throw-away-the-key illegal. No matter how bumpy the road, the ZZR’S stability is flawless, whereas the H2 – especially when the rear tyre gets frazzled – starts to feel a tad too flighty for comfort if you’re thrashing over less than perfect roads. In a sense the ZZR’S stability is at odds with the riding position, because that is by far the most sporty of our trio. You stretch out over the long tank (which continues under the saddle, displacing the battery to an inaccessible slot behind the cylinders on the right), and grab clip-ons that put a sizeable chunk of weight through your wrists. It doesn’t take long for the ZZR to be a pain in the neck – literally – in town. Pegs aren’t as high as some sportsbikes, but they’re more sporty than tourey, and if you’ve got dodgy knees you’ll be in trouble in under an hour. It is, by some measure, the most uncomfortable of the three. And though you’re positioned like a sportsbike rider, that’s not the steering you get. The downside of the peerless high-speed stability is a slow, treacly turn-in that feels positively lugubrious after riding the Z1000SX with its wide, easily-levered bars. Jacking up you the carve ZZR’S a ZZR1400, rear preload never speeds flick things it. Even up at a slow bit, but speeds, not much the weight – of the ZZR makes itself felt through that syrupy steering – you feel like you’re mooring it, not parking it. Paddle backwards out of a parking space and you half expect it to issue warning beeps like a removal lorry does. When the ZZR had its update in 2012, the big changes were to the engine – a longer stroke and more compression upping both power and torque – but it also got the ZX-10R’S electronics. These serve it well, the three-level traction control in particular acting as a genuinely useful safety net (120 lb.ft of torque over-powers the rear effortlessly if roads are slimy), without noticeably affecting performance. The H2’s electronics have more bells and whistles, but do much the same thing.
‘No matter how bumpy the road, the ZZR’S stability is flawless’