The Kawasaki Z900 that was teased at the Intermot show has been officially unveiled at the EICMA show.
We don’t get a trendy retro naked bike with the Z900 — it has very contemporary styling, with steel trellis frame and 41 mm USD forks. The 950 cc inline-four makes 123 hp. An assist/slipper clutch is standard.
The rear shock is adjustable for rebound and preload-adjustable rear shock, and the 41 mm forks are spring-adjustable for preload; ABS is optional, and the dual disc brakes are mated to four-pot calipers.
Kawasaki cut weight to 210 kg, but we can’t tell if that’s curb weight or dry weight — the previous Z800 was 10 kg porkier. Maybe Kawasaki sees the stratospheric sales of the Yamaha FZ-09 and its derivatives, and figures it’s time to bring in their own lightweight, muscular naked bike?
It’s a little longer than the Z800 (wheelbase increased 5 mm) and rake has changed from 31 degrees to 33 degrees, so it should be a little more stable-handling.
The Z900 has a six-speed tranny; the bottom five gears are supposed to be close-ratio, for torque delivery, while sixth gear drops the revs for high-speed riding.
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