I have to admit that Streetfighters are my favorite type of bike now. When I was younger, I wouldn’t be seen on anything less than the latest and fastest Sportbike. But as age, and some back problems have caught up with me, I really look for comfort over style now- but I’m not really willing to sacrifice performance and do the cruiser thing. So right now, I’m riding a Honda 919 and loving it. Some of my recent bikes have been a Buell XB9, several Ducati 900 Monsters, an SV1000 and countless SV650’s. Since I only ride them until they are sold, I usually don’t have them for very long. One of the few I haven’t ever ridden, is the Kawasaki Z1000. I always loved the look, but I’ve never had one come through the shop. Maybe this summer, but they are quite rare.
So here is a review of the Z1000 over at the AMA website. I really like the styling of the bike, but I don’t know about the pipes. A little overdone. The earlier bikes had some nice multi-outlet mufflers that I think look a lot better.
If you go all the way back to the origins, a streetfighter is just a sportbike with the bodywork stripped off (often due to a crash) and the necessary lights bolted up to get the bike back on the street at minimal expense. But when a manufacturer sets out to build a mass-production motorcycle with streetfighter style, that’s a different matter. Buyers shelling out the money for a new bike don’t want dangling fairing stays, exposed radiator plumbing meant to be covered up by bodywork, and other ugly bits typical of a home-built (or crash-built) streetfighter. You want a little spit polish.
Kawasaki considered those realities when building its Z1000 naked bike, which has been refined for 2007. Styling-wise, the big Z has the streetfighter cues in the form of a bulbous tank, an exposed engine, a somewhat-sporty riding position, a skimpy bikini fairing and a double-barrel exhaust that makes a visual statement like nothing else in the business.
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