Kawasaki Z300

£2300 to £3995 for a minter | 296cc parallel-twin | 39bhp | 20lb-ft Tested by: Steve Lamb | Usually rides a Ducati Scrambler

Bits of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire are flat. Very flat indeed. The roads are often long, straight, unprotected and on this particular late afternoon/evening, very windy. I was on my way back from Horncastle to St Ives, and, riding into a particularly strong headwind, I was starting to dislike the Z300 Kawasaki. I say dislike – perhaps that doesn’t quite express my feelings in enough depth. I hated the bike... loathed it, detested it, despised it... you get the idea; I was not a happy chap.

The bike was slow, the engine gutless, the seat hard, the handlebars too low, the pegs too high. It took me an age to build up enough speed for an overtake, and the bumpy road was not being kind to my nether regions. When I got home, I parked the bike in the garage and began to regale my wife with tales of how slow and painful it was.

As I retold the story, to my surprise, it started off in a completely different direction. I told her how initially I loved the smooth engine, the slick gear changes, how the little 296cc liquid-cooled, parallel twin engine howled a pleasing induction roar above 7000rpm. How it was light and flickable, how good-looking it was and how I felt I had got the pick of the crop against the others.

I started to wonder then, what had changed, for me to sing the bike’s praises one minute and yet hate it with passion the next. I suddenly realised why the bike had transformed... I was tired and as the day progressed, had become lazy. I wasn’t using the whole rev range, and so the engine seemed lacklustre. I wasn’t moving around on the bike, and so saddle soreness had set in. I’d positioned myself in a straightarm, straight-back position and so my wrists, hips and knees had begun to ache. Could my attitude to the bike be such a game changer?

The next morning, and with a 25-mile B-road commute into Cambridge ahead, I decided to try out my theory. I would ride the little Ninja how it was intended to be ridden. I held each gear right up to the 11,000rpm peak power before deftly snicking another gear.

A subtle change to my riding position – hanging off more, rather than an upright touring position – and roundabouts, country bends and overtakes were despatched with ease, grace and, dare I say it, utter enjoyment. It was a revelation. The bike was transformed. Okay, 39bhp and 20lb-ft is never going to feel that fast, but the ride to work was a sheer delight.

The Kawasaki was always good looking in my eyes, and this was confirmed by non-biking colleagues at work asking about it, commenting on the ‘lovely colour’ and even one fellow biker mistaking it for the similarly-styled Z800.

The wide aggressive side and seat panels give the impression of a much bigger bike, while the flat bars and cowled headlight all add to the street-fighter image. Practicality is not ignored though, with a surprising amount of underseat storage (though the security of the passenger seat is somewhat questionable, as it’s all too easy to pull off), and even bungee hooks on the rear tail tidy.

While commuting, running errands into town and sneaking the odd evening hack, the pattern repeated many times – enjoyably lithe and revvy when I was fresh and eager, and a pain in the backside – metaphorically and physically – when I was tired, wet or just feeling a bit lazy. It was a bike that rewarded and punished in equal measure.