![]() Having said that, just like Kawasaki’s previous Z900 I still can’t see the dash, no matter how fancy, without tipping my head forward. The new, tipped-up riding position feels much more compact and puts me totally in touch with the front-end feel it’s quite a revelation. As we batter along the back roads near Silverstone, skirting puddles and black mastic strips, the Z900 shows off seriously competent high-paced handling, careering along with a sure-footed intent the old bike would struggle to match in the wet. So never mind about traction control and fancy new dials – what matters is the Z is now a fully fledged, sporty naked with a chassis and riding position entirely in keeping with its smooth, high revving, 123bhp engine output. The new bike lifts the rider up to 820mm with a fatter seat, stiffens suspension, jacks the back up with a shorter rear suspension tie-bar, and wears Dunlop Roadsmart II tyres instead of awful Dunlop D214s. The previous Z900 sat the rider low in the bike with a 785mm seat height and with soft suspension, which gave the Z a strangely relaxed, wafty ride out of keeping with its revvy, frenetic, 123bhp inline-four power delivery. The Z900 is updated for 2020, now also with traction control, riding modes, a flagshipstyle 4.3in colour TFT dash, and costs £9045.īut under the skin the Z900 has important chassis tweaks that Kawasaki kept quiet about. I take the Kawasaki and continue my spec talk in silence. "And we want to get going, please." We saddle up and ride. "You could stand here all day listing the spec," says Bruce. and the 6.5in TFT colour screen from the flagship S and R series.As supplied, it’s £11,315. The base-model F900R starts at £8660 but this £9880 SE-spec bike adds Comfort and Premium packs on top, meaning it comes with everything from pannier rails and cornering ABS to full dynamic traction control, heated grips, remote key fob, cornering lights. BMW’s F900R is a case in point.Īll new for 2020, the F900R uses a beefed-up F850GS parallel twin making 103bhp, doing away with its 800cc predecessor’s vestigial conrod balancer and 360° interval, switching instead to the same 270° interval and twin balancer shaft as pretty much everyone else. Now, traction control, rider modes and TFT screens with Bluetooth integration have filtered down to more everyday motorbikes. A few years ago we’d have just got on and ridden. Here Bruce, Justin and I are in early spring showers, making sure we know what we’re dealing with on a trio of mid-priced, mid-capacity naked bikes. All three bikes scored four stars, and it was seriously tough deciding a winner. In February 2020 MCN pit the Z900 against its closest rivals, the all-new BMW F900R and the excellent Yamaha MT-09. MCN250 verdict: Kawasaki Z900 vs BMW F900R vs Yamaha MT-09įirst published 26 February 2020 by Simon Hargreaves With capacity slowly creeping up over the years the 'mid Zed' is as near as dammit a 1000cc, so insurance won’t be as cheap as it was in its Z750 days, but servicing is spread over generous 7500 mile intervals and overall you get a lot of bike for little money.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |