warbill
Reviewed: 21 October 2012
Acceleration takes my breath away. Smooth, comfortable & fast. Good build quality & materials. 56mpg, nuffsaid
Smooth & refined at all speeds
Programmable Traction Control & ABS
Properly quick
Effective fairing
More in reserve at any speed than you'll ever need
50-60mpg attainable if you're happy to ride within speed limits
Good lighting, 1st bike I've owned that doesn't need a HID kit
Everything is deeply plated/painted &/or made of alloy. Even the axles. Hard to find something that'll rust
Proper bungy attachment points built in
Comfy seat
High quality, fully adjustable suspension
Comes with Bridgstone S20s - these tyres offer uncanny levels of grip in all conditions & can last 6000 miles with care
Speedo should be big & digital
Tyre can be lunched in 2000 miles if you use more than 1/3 throttle
Foot pegs could be adjustable
Steering lock poor, tight turns difficult
Its 1/4 tonne wet & feels it at very low speeds
Who was responsible for those minging exhausts?
Exhaust note: a big bike can be *too* quiet, especially one that 'comes out of nowhere' as cage drivers would no doubt put it when filling in their accident report forms
Which brings me to the audible means for warning of approach- 'puny tinny beep'. Should have *loud* twin horns. Perhaps they've just tried too hard to save weight
Extravagently powerful- I suspect most riders will never use more tahn 2/3 throttle unless they go touring in a country with relaxed speed limits and take on the Audis/BMWs/Mercedis that seem to prowl their motorways at 150mph+.
But having so much in resereve is not pointless: what you've paid £11K for is the same feeling of effortlessness that a cage driver would have to spend £100K+ for and still not be able to filter throught the traffic and get 50mpg with.
Considering it makes such monster figures, its actually very practical & easy to live with. The fuelling is perfect, the engine is vibration-free (twin counterbalancers), the seat is comfy over 100s of miles - which is just as well, considering it will easily do 200 miles on a tankful of fuel. And the sophisticated ABS and KTRAC have saved my bacon on greasy city centre roads & roundabouts already.
So I'm actually struggling to find a seriously weak point: I've mentioned some niggles in the 'Cons' section above, but most of them can be addressed after market (except the poor turning circle). For what it is, its pretty much unbeatable in terms of value and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Kawasaki are losing money on each one they sell. Sure, there are one or two compromises, such as it'll never return 70mpg (like some Triumph Sprint riders claim to achieve) and it'll always be an awkward bugger to manouvre around tight obstacles - but its the closest to perfection of all the heavyweight sports tourers I've owned.
