Kawasaki Z1000 preview

It seems India Kawasaki Motors want to make amends for its late entry to the performance segment of our two-wheeler market and for this purpose it launched its first naked bike in India, the Z1000. The launch of the Z1000 closely follows that of the Ninja ZX-10R and ZX-14R, which entered our market in September.  The street bike offering was recently unveiled at the prestigious 2013 EICMA Motor Show in Milan and it being launched in our country just after a month of its international launch showcases the importance, the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer has for the Indian market. With its latest iteration of the Z1000, Kawasaki wants to repeat the success it had in the international market similar to 2003, when the naked four-cylinder revived the firm as manufacturer of exciting bikes as Kawasaki had turned subdued to become more mainstream akin to its Japanese opponents. The Z1000 has its task cut-out globally, as it will be pitched against some fierce rivals, which have been launched recently like the BMW S1000R, Ducati Monster 1200 and the KTM 1290 Super Duke. Though closer to our home, Kawasaki wouldn’t be expecting it to match the sales numbers it generates in the international spectrum but will be expecting it to accomplish its sales target of 100 motorcycles for the Z1000 without much effort.

In terms of visual appeal, the Z1000 scores highly as it is among the most striking naked motorcycles on sale globally. The styling of the new offering has been based on what Kawasaki labels as “Sugomi”, which in simpler words means that the focus of the designers was to endow the Z1000 with a lower and hefty front while a leanerand raised rear section. This has resulted in a very aggressive side profile, endowing it with an appearance ofa crouching carnivore ready to attack a prey and it is certainly the most visually arresting naked offering when pitched against its Japanese rivals. The headlight of the Z1000 has to be one of the highlights of the bike both in terms of design and technology, as it is for the first time that Kawasaki have employed four LED bulbs.

All four long-life, low-energy LED bulbs: two low-beam (centre), two high-beam (outside) illuminate when the high-beams are on, and a separate LED position lamp is located on the all-digital instrument cluster cover.Powering the behemoth is a 1043cc, DOHC, inline- four cylinder, liquid cooled motor boasting a power figure of 142PS @ 10,000rpm and torque rating of 111Nm @ 7,3000rpm. As part of the 2013 revisions, the Z1000 gets new intake cams, revised velocity stacks and an aggressive ECU setting to improve its throttle response, also shorter final-drive gearing has been done to offer harder acceleration and tall sixth gear helps in enhancing its cruising ability.  

The powerplant is mated to a six-speed transmission and the bike weighs in at 221kg. A twin-spar aluminium frame has been employed, which has been cast as a single unit with swingarm pivot to eliminate the use of welds while the engine acts as a stressed member and is bolted directly to the frame. Kawasaki has endowed the Z1000 with a new 41mm inverted Showa Separate Function-Big Piston Fork (SSF-BP) up front, while a preload- and rebound-adjustable horizontal back-link shock does duty in the rear. The damper of the single-shock system in the rear has been mounted almost horizontally above the swingarm for better mass centralisation and heat resistance.

For braking responsibilities, Kawasaki has employed twin 310mm petal discs at front and single 250mmpetal at rear with ABS. The new, monobloc front calipers are machined from a single piece of aluminium for weight reduction and the cast-aluminium supersport-style wheels reduce unsprung weight by 1.5kg. Sadly, Kawasaki has skipped the KTRC (Kawasaki Traction Control) system on the Z1000, which would have been much appreciated by its customers. The Kawasaki Z1000 would be positioned against the Honda CB1000R and the Yamaha FZ1.

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In terms of pricing, the Z1000 is priced at 12.5 lakh (ex-showroom Pune/Delhi), which makes it Rs 1.78 lakh and 0.5 lakh more expensive than the FZ1 and CB1000R (ABS) respectively.Yet it makes a curious case for itself as it has both the wild styling along with good performance to stomp its authority and is among the best offering in its segment, if not the best option for a buyer, who is in the market for a litre-class street bike.