Suspension and Chassis.
This bike was straight off the floor with original ex factory suspension settings. For me, they were virtually spot on. Front end dive was negligible under heavy braking and all irregularities in the road surface were absorbed without jarring or getting the bike out of line in corners. That same high speed stability is there in the fast sweepers. It is rock solid and holds its line perfectly but the line can be altered by minimal steering input as required.
Frankly, I was expecting this bike to be a bit of a barge in the tight stuff, as it looks so long. Normally, a longer wheelbase means a stable, high speed line, through a sweeper but at the sacrifice of flickability in the tighter stuff. Not so here. Kawasaki has tuned the whole package to perform amazingly well whatever you toss at it.
The first long sweeper appears and I head towards it at a higher speed than normal, which is easy enough to do on this bike. A little counter steering drops her into the corner and I hold the throttle slightly open to keep the line. Absolutely rock solid, the odd ripple absorbed without a fuss. Out of the apex and on with the throttle and I sling shot out of the corner with that melodious induction roar in my ears. With confidence in the bikes ability to handle corners, up the speed goes and the next few sweepers are taken at a brisk pace with no signs of chassis movement or flexing. The Bridgestone BT014’s grip well and there is no ground clearance issues.
I pick a very twisty road and make a mistake. The road has not dried out as it’s in a gully and very tight. Now I know why this bike has been setup to bring the power on gradually under 5000rpm as I tip into the wet corners going easy on the throttle coming out. Only once did I provoke the rear into a slight twitch and only to see how much throttle would be required to do so. Again, I am impressed. This bike is easy to ride on a wet twisty section of road, unless you get too heavy handed on the throttle.
The ultimate test arrives as I reach my favourite piece of road with many tight curves and chicanes. My GSX1400 has to be literally muscled through this section with heaps of counter steering input, which can set up some headshake, powering out of one bend into the next. Initially, I take things easy to get a feel for the bike as these corners leave no room for error. The bike tips in easy and comes up easy. Transitions from side to side are nearly effortless, so I find my speed picking up with the bikes ever increasing confidence, inspiring ride. I can’t fault its handling. For a bike this large and powerful, the Kawasaki engineers have done an incredible job of making it a complete package that works well.
Okay, let’s see what late braking into a corner will do. Hard on the front binders, deep into a corner and slowly releasing the brake as the lean angle increases and no sign of the front end pushing away at all: amazing! Not once did I upset the bike. I didn’t want to push things too much seeing this was not my bike but suffice to say, I went through this section of road, three times, trying different lines, braking patterns and speeds and never once did I feel out of my depth.
The ride back to Mt Eden Motorcycles was disappointing. I had to return this skillfully constructed piece of Japanese Engineering. Traffic on the motorway was building and yet again this bike proved it could filter and change lines and lanes, as good as a full on sports bike.
Summary. I am impressed and blown away by such a well handling and capable package. This baby is well and truly on my short, short list.
Pros:
Speed freaks satisfied.
Cornering freaks satisfied.
Drag racers satisfied.
Wannabe astronauts satisfied.
Too many to list……
Cons:
I like my licence.
Heavy throttle handlers better have shares in BP.
(BUT, if you buy a bike like this, you aren’t going to worry about fuel costs are you? You aren’t going to ride this bike like a Nana, but you actually can if you want).
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Originally Posted by sugilite
extremely good review.. green rep sent
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