Words: Jock McLauchlan / Photos: Geoff Osborne
The same engine, but in very
different bikes. Jock McLauchlan
steps up to referee between the
Z1000R and Z1000SX.
T
hese two Kawasaki 1000cc machines
are very similar in a lot of ways,
although they look quite different
and offer very different riding
experiences. Take a brief glance
though the spec sheets for both bikes
in isolation and you’d be forgiven for
thinking they were the same bike,
but just that one is heavier than the
other – isn’t that always the case with siblings?
However, in the case of these two Kawasaki kids,
this couldn’t be further from the truth. The SX
is a relaxed, yet extremely quick tourer and
the Z1000R is a sharp-edged street-fighter.
On the similarity front, both machines share a
typically excellent Kawasaki inline four-cylinder
engine with the same peak torque and power
numbers, but they don’t feel the same. The skinnier
R feels a little perkier, like it’s running lower gearing.
Kawasaki’s spec sheets say the gearbox ratios are
the same, and I never got around to counting the
teeth on the sprockets... well, because dirty fingers
just aren’t my thing. Anyway, it may be that it feels
livelier because the chassis has an edgier, more
connected feel that brings out your inner hoon, or
it could well be the fact that the R is 14kg lighter,
down from the SX’s 235kg kerb weight. The weight