Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe piles on the winter miles
Even in the depths of winter the Zed warms the cockles...
I’m standing in soaking wet biking kit desperately trying to dry out, my winter gloves on a hand-drier in the gents’ toilets. It’s late at night, I didn’t manage to leave the office until well after dark and I’m on my 90-mile commute home to East Yorkshire from MCN in Peterborough. The services on the A1 north of Newark are a welcome respite. It’s been raining heavily for the last hour and temperatures are barely above freezing. As I trudge towards the cashier, leaving a trail of dirty water I get a look that says ‘Riding still? Really? You must be mad’ from two truckers near the Costa coffee machine. I pay for my fuel, slowly reach back inside my wet gloves and head back out into the darkness.
But, in the dimly-lit garage forecourt there’s the explosion of lime-green that emanates from my Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe and it never fails to make me smile.
After a day in the office I’m tired, have around 30 miles more to go before I reach home and the rain is biblical, but I know the Zed is still going to be fun.
I turn the ignition key, smirk at the rasping bark from the Akrapovic exhaust and revel in the little backfire after blipping the throttle. It might be immature, but it still makes me smile.
The digital dash flashes up ‘Ice warning’, a daily event now, but I simply switch on the Zed’s heated grips, re-attach my heated waistcoat, turn the traction control to level 2 and we’re good to go.
As I let the inline four-cylinder motor idle, I can feel the heat spreading through my body from the heated vest. Meanwhile the heated grips are coming up to temperature nicely.
The A1 is in complete darkness, there’s virtually no traffic and after a quick look over my shoulder I rejoin the carriageway and resume my journey home. The HealTech quickshifter causes little pops between changes and the TC does a dashboard disco as the cold rear tyre tries to maintain adhesion as we accelerate smartly into the night. Acceleration is strong, the torque is impressive and, despite the conditions, I’d still rather be on my Zed then stuck in a car, dreading every set of brake lights ahead. Yes, it’s cold, wet, conditions are bordering on the hazardous and anyone witnessing my antics from the warmth of their car must think I’m either battling misery or am congenitally stupid. But behind my rain-streaked visor is one happy Yorkshireman heading home. Only motorbikes can do that to you and the Zed RS Café does it better than most.
‘I’d still rather be on my Zed than stuck in a car’