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Wednesday, 30 August 2006 |
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Shooting straight by Mike Emery ~ Straight Shooting by Nelson & Riles
2006 Kawasaki ZX-14
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The usual Nevada adage is, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, Kawasaki would prefer I tell you the whole sordid story on the ZX-14 so lets step away from the 2Dub norm here by visiting the Las Vegas Motor Speedway drag strip and throw in a pretty interesting scoot around the NASCAR "bowl" at the same speedway. I'd like to have brought things back into perspective with a street report, but I couldn't drag (pardon the pun) myself away from the 1/4 mile to do so.
As it turns out, there were a couple of things made for each other in life - Las Vegas and Elvis Presley theme weddings - Kawasaki ZX-14's and drag strips, both daft in their own right and both thoroughly recommended. |
I can't say I am a drag racing fan, I just didn't get it, there seemed to be minimal skill involved in a typical run and I've been thrown out of my local drag strip more times than I can remember for wheelieing the quarter on whatever bike I was riding. The big plan at this event, quite honestly, was to do that very same thing. A plan was hatched with a fellow journo' that we'd see who was the wheelie king and get the fastest 1/4 mile time on one wheel - it didn't happen - my very first run ended with a 10.52 and from that moment on I was hooked - hook, line and sinker - more on that later.
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Kawasaki's intent with this bike was a not so subtle dig at Suzuki's Hayabusa. That's it, plain and simple - a 1400cc middle finger indeed. The Kawasaki legacy, since the flexi-flyer days of the original H1, is to build the most powerful, brutal motorcycles in existence. The Hayabusa came on strong back in 1999, overshadowing the ZX1100, and even the newer ZX12R to some extent. The bird was big, but it flew pretty well. The new ZX-14 is intended to silence the Hayabusa owner with some impressive numbers. The model concept was not to be a little better, but to be a whole lot better. This bike is also here to represent the flagship model in the Kawi' line-up. Is the bike up to the task? Lets go find out - (follow me I know a short cut). |
| Lets start with that motor shall we? For starters it's a no-nonsense displacement king of the sportbike class and Kawasaki's largest sportbike engine ever at 1352cc's. The basis of evolution is a bored and stroked 12R with an additional balancer for harmonious harmonics. The tranny is stacked to keep things compact and despite it's ‘roided internals, enjoys a slightly slimmer profile than the 12R. It's rigid mounted too, rather than the old 12's rubber mounts, for a nice rigid feel. The internals are unremarkable outside of its displacement, but it does have an interesting technological twist with the cam chain tensioner - it's aided by oil pressure to ensure an optimally tensioned tensioner tension at all times. (all versions of tension covered, I think) |
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Cuddling that motor is an all new "next generation" (better than Captain Kirk?) frame, based on an aluminum monocoque design. This frame is no sporty twin spar, its over-the-top style, in the literal sense rather than the figurative. The plus side to this potentially plus size frame is that it is narrow, it's light and it's rigid too. Further compactness is promoted with the airbox within the frame, with easy side access (no more gas tank removal). Even the battery comes in its own little "house" within that frame, low too - to aid with a lower center of gravity. The big 5.8 gallon gas tank is also centrally mounted to all these goings on and extends in front of, and below, the seat. Can you say mass centralization? Goblessyapeople. |
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