Finally, Takahisa asked me the magical question: "Take it for a ride?" Let’s get it on. He popped out the four little cloth balls residing in the flatslides’ air intakes (no need to give any mischievous mice a place to deposit their belongings) and fired up the bike. The triple outlets of Suda’s designed-in-house Project 328 exhaust do a nice job keeping the decibels down; the bike just sits and idles peacefully without setting off any car alarms.

I swung onto the bike’s wide, comfy saddle, and moved out into the traffic. As I tooled down the road, I saw women and children run for cover as the sound of four unfiltered flatslides sucking wind filled the air with Darth Vader-like menace. "Braaap, braaap." Feel the Force.

Finding an uncrowded little side street, I decided to see what this hooligan bike could do. Whacking the throttle in first gear, there was absolutely zero hesitation before the front wheel started climbing for the sky. Rear brake alert! Whoa, I backed way off. I thought I’d try that in second gear instead, I didn’t want to loop this thing.

Whack. Again no hesitation, except this time the front wheel didn’t come up as fast. It still looked at the clouds, but it just arrived in the up position at a more leisurely pace. Third gear? More wheelie action, but finally in a manner I could easily control. Yep, I like this third gear, it makes life easy. And oh my stars. . . how can carburetors work that well? No dips, flat spots, or downward spirals in the power curve. Just sheer power that builds like a dynamo, daring you to give it a little more.

I’ve ridden three different stock ZRX1100s in a variety of riding conditions, and none could match the stability of Suda’s ZRX when it comes to taut suspension. I wish I'd had a chance to wing it on a track with this bike, the potholes of Machida were a bit hard on me because of this bike's uncompromising suspension settings (again, this bike was set up for circuit use).

When I finally tired of wheelies ‘n whiplash, I headed back to the Suda shop. As I dismounted, I realized that my left elbow was actually sore from the ultra, leap-forward effect of the machine. This ZRX1100 features Suda’s "Stage 4" kit for the 158-hp reading. Suda also offers a less-gnarly version called "Stage 2" (Suda ain't got no "Stage 3"... just like that guy in Spinal Tap, "4 is better than 3."). The "Stage 2" kit still gets the flatslides and oversized pistons, but retains the stock cams, pushing the power up to around 140-hp at the rear wheel. A "Stage 1" kit is offered for those not willing to rip up the pavement, consisting of basic airbox/jetting mods for a 6-8 horsepower increase over a stock ZRX.

Just for kicks, the Suda guys once ordered up some lighter pistons and camshafts offering musclecar-like lift and duration, and recorded a 165-horsepower reading on Suda’s Dynojet dynomometer with that ZRX engine. Boys and toys. . . it doesn't matter what country you’re from, we all like to play.

Suda’s experience in 1994 with their ZX-11 top-speed pursuit gave them the knowledge they needed to transform the Kawasaki ZRX1100. But why build a naked bike? "A lot of Japanese riders like naked bikes," said Takahisa. "They are very comfortable bikes, so you can use them to go touring to the mountains as well as riding around on city streets. And many owners like tuning to get high power. We knew the power was there, it was very easy for us to build this bike. It’s almost the same engine as the ZX-11, and parts are very easy to find."

So how do you say "more power please" in Japanese? It might not show up in an English-Japanese dictionary, but I think the answer to that question could be, "Dr. Suda."

And now the ZRX is set to invade America... let the hot-rodding begin!