If you are keen to get your hands on a naked bike, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to Kawasaki’s line-up
Kawasaki recently gave their Z range a slight makeover and I got to sample the middleweight naked, the Z900. At almost 1000cc it is hard to imagine that I am calling this the middleweight, but it sits in the middle of the Z400, Z650, Z1000 and Z H2. The silky smooth 948 cc engine still does duty in the Z900, but Kawasaki has fiddled with the frame making it stiffer than the outgoing model. The front forks have been tuned to compliment the stiffened frame and the Z900 becomes a nimble beast when you have to change direction.
The layout is nicely done and provides a lot of information.
The styling is still as aggressive as before with the striking LED headlight and hunched over look. The big change for 2020 is the new full colour TFT. Kawasaki stuck to a fairly dated design for the instrumentation for a very long time, but now the screen is bang up to date. Using Kawasaki’s Rideology app on your phone, you can connect to the bike to record a wealth of data while you are riding. You sit fairly upright on the Z900 with wide, upright handlebars. The seat is comfortable and supportive. The Z900 is meant to be ridden as a daily commuter, but when you up the pace and the road gets twisty the seat offers enough room for you to move around. It was hard for me to contain the Z because with 125hp on tap, the front wheel goes very light at the slightest provocation. It is hard to just ride it sedately. The sound of the in-line four is enhanced by a combination of air intake and a very quiet exhaust. Sometimes the air intake overwhelms the exhaust and in full flight, the Z900 makes beautiful music! Being a naked, you obviously have no wind protection and that enhances the sensation of speed even more. When you throw it at a corner, the Z900 is so much fun. In this sector, the bikes the Z is up against are quite varied. The Z has an in-line four, the KTM 890 Duke has a parallel twin, the Ducati Monster a V-Twin and each one of them has a character of its own. So your preference will dictate what you ultimately buy, but I suggest that you take the Z900 for a test ride. You will be mighty impressed.
