Building the most powerful street bike to public for mass use is neither politically correct nor easy but this is what Kawasaki is doing with new ZX-14R which is incredibly potent.
ZX-14R is always been a big player in wars of hyper bike since it was first introduced in the year 2006. It was the only bike that could rub shoulders with mega-powerful (almost 160 hp) Hayabusa from Suzuki which was introduced way back in the year 1999. ZX-14 could crank out 171 hp on dyno which was remarkable and this must have worried engineering and marketing department team at Suzuki’s; they made more heavier Hayabusa in the year 2008 having bigger engine which produced about 165 hp.
Kawasaki then surprised all with renovated ZX-14 in the year 2008, just 2 years after it debuted, for meeting the new challenge from Suzuki. While Kawi was smoother and also more accommodating option, the emissions regulations took chunk out of top class performance of ZX’s. Running too rich for preserving the catalyzers, ZX gave ten peak hp less than original.
This certainly did not go well at Kawasaki, and hence they have now responded with ZX-14R for the year 2012. Notice the ‘R’ in the name; it is an addition. Engineers at Kawi’s made a lot of upgrades to power plant at ZX’s, the biggest one was adding 4 mm to stroke of the engine’s which ups the displacement to 1441cc from 1352cc. This 6.5 percent increase size along with tricks of hot-rodding like the intake hand-finished ports, more radical cam shaft specs, increase in compression ratio & tapered exhaust headers has resulted in what the manufacturer says is most powerful motor cycle engine in mass-production right now around the world.
Rickey Gadson, the ace drag racing champ says that when it is dynode you should get Gen II ’Busa at same time; what you’ll see will be unbelievable, according to him.
So the question is – is the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R really powerful? Well, it is hard to tell till we don’t test it but we are made to believe it will spin dyno drum to tune of about 185 hp, maybe even 190. If all this is true, then the big hitter status of Hayabusa’s will be demoted severely. Kawasaki press material says that the total domination is just twist of throttle away.”
The Strip Show at Vegas
For putting the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R for testing the manufacturer took us to Nevada for 2 phase performance. I spent all the morning riding the deserted roads of desert and this was followed by an after noon on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There was a lot of exhilaration and all this was achieved without any dollar bills exchange.
Beauty Pageant
Watching 14R personally, the impressiveness is most dominant impression. This machine is big, and a lot of times, big times find it difficult to be beautiful. However, biggest ZX surely looks part of fast and powerful machine.
On the up front, the quad head lamp intimidating design has got an update, bisected by bigger induction ram-air scoop. Distinctive strakes like Testarossa along fairing sides are now retooled, and this is a part of the functional improvements which also includes bigger ducting which routes heat of engine away from the rider. Unseen is addition of addition cooling fan for radiator. Clear-lens, flush-mounted turn signals help in streamlining the looks, and a lot of effort is made for making body work fasteners nearly invisible.
Tail section is streamlined and it culminates along with V-shaped smooth clear tail light lens, and seat cowl is also included for standard equipment model. Back half of the bike dominated by mufflers which are howitzer-sized and they are impressive, but aren’t really pretty. But their big volume will help in generating power and also meet the noise restrictions.
Rocket pilot, meet the cockpit
2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R doesn’t feel too different from previous model. The ergonomic triangle here is quite identical, along with seat height of 31.5 inches. Saddle is reshaped and thereis some width added to the rear for getting extra support while you are keeping forward end slim to get easy reach of leg to ground. Contrasting to the wide appearance, things get very narrow between knees. Both the handle bar levers can be adjusted for your reach. A billet, drilled nut of steering-stem and triple sculpted clamp will jazz up your view.
The instrumentation is quite thorough. Analog speedo and tach are stainless-steel trim ringed, but LCD info display is located in the middle. Displays for fuel range, gear position, and fuel economy, are there and they are joined by gauge of air temperature and screen for eco mode of the ECU which turns on if you are riding lightly – the manufacturer is claiming a 20 percent increase in the fuel low-speed economy. Also, you can toggle all the screens through the new switch gear located on left handle bar.
Info display also too tabs on new power-management settings and traction-control system of 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R. You can select the low power mode when you don’t need full boost the output will be lopped off starting at 6500 rpm to a 25 percent deficiency at the top end.
I was also interested in aspect of traction-control. Mode 3 works quite similar to arrangement of Concours KTRC and it gives sure grip in the situations low-traction. Modes 2 and 1 are quite like system of S-KTRC found on ZX-10R, so they aren’t really intrusive. Actually, the Mode 1 is so good at dragstrip, that even pros Gadson could go only about a one tenth of a second faster down strip with the TC switched off. Results will vastly vary.
Warming up
New Idle Speed Control valve will automatically adjust the idle levels depending on the temperature of engine, and it is also believed to lower the emissions while decelerating for allowing the smaller catalyzers to unleash a lot more power. 14R is surprisingly docile at the slower speeds for fastest-accelerating production motor cycle around the world. The clutch of radial-pump is easy to modulate, and the fueling at low-speed is totally glitch-free. Wide steering brush will give you greater maneuverability than what you’d expect for long bike like this.
However, docile isn’t the right word that will turn up in your mind when you have pinned throttle of the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R. The extra cubes of the engine give it little low-end extra torque, but party really starts at 6500 rpm when this bike unleashes Herculean wallop which does not end till it goes past. This is the time when you are wondering if your eye balls are actually retracted to touch the cerebral cortex.
Cruising on freeway is nearly painless, particularly if you are long on the arms when bar reach does not cause any hunching over and the foot pegs are placed comfortably. Protection from wind is good considering this is a sport bike, the engine vibes are scarcely distinguishable, and the mirrors of wide-set give you good view of federales that are chasing you.
Twisting
A lot of changes that are made to 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R add up on scales and there is gain of 17 pounds in process to the tank-empty 549-lb weight. Adding 35 pounds more with the rationally sized tank of 5.8 gallons will top it off. Some of the blame for extra lard should go to the body work which is more complicated; a lot of additional grams are due to metal use, like section of new steering stem on the frame of aluminum for getting optimized balance of rigidity and 10 mm bigger aluminum swing arm, latter stretching the wheel base by about 0.8 inch to about 58.3 inches.
More of weight and bigger wheel base should sounds like it will give you Cow-asaki on twisty roads, but the performance isn’t so in spite of the geometry of identical steering. The credit should go to the new ten spoke wheels which can cut 3.3 pounds of rotational unsprung mass from previous hoops. That said, 14R will turns at least as fast as ZX-14. M5 Metzeler Sportec tires will give you a good grip.
During my past experiences with ZX-14, I did complain about excessive pitching of chassis when it was aggressively ridden, and hence I was glad that Kawasaki stiffened up spring rates rear and front. Damping rates juggling in suspension which is fully adjustable keeps ride comfortable and smooth and they are better controlled by the suspenders who are sitting higher in the strokes. The feel of front-end on previous ZX was a bit inferior to that of Hayabusa’s; however the 14R’s suspension, chassis, and wheel up grades give the bike a sportier feedback. Stability at high speeds is really good even when the speeds are more than 120 miles per hour.
When I tested it back to back, I preferred brakes of ZX’s as compared to that of ’Busa’s, but these ones also got an upgrade for the R duty. Petal-style reshaped 310 mm discs on the front give you warp resistance and better cooling, and new material for individual brake pads for every piston resist the issues of heat from any heavy usage. Lever of Front brake gives you response that is satisfyingly firm courtesy of master radial-pump cylinder and four-piston calipers which are mounted radially. The speed retardation is inspires confidence when you are riding a missile like this. There is slipper clutch for reducing drive train and any rider stress which might arise during aggressive down shifts.
Quick At Strip
Ever since my childhood days, I was a big fan of roadracing, and hence dragracing was largely boring for me. But not anymore! It was 3rd time aboard ZX-14 at strip, and it is always been intensely complex and super exciting, as riders struggle endlessly for gaining an edge. My visit at The Strip on 14R had confirmed this impression.
Launch determines 90 percent of run down quarter-mile, & excellent torquey motor and clutch of ZX makes possible for any bike having perhaps 210 of crank shaft hp. During my first full run on the strip, I was clocking 9.91 ET when I was going through traps at almost 148 miles per hour – this makes it a serious weapon dragstrip!
For coping with such a high-performance use, the manufacturer has made a lot of updates to drive train of the ZX’s. Forged pistons have a new designed; they are stronger and still weigh six grams less as compared to the predecessor. They are now cooled by new system which directs the oil to undersides. This lowers the operating temperatures of the engine “to a great extent.” Crank shaft’s journals are thicker, and longer con-rods are made up of stronger material. The small ends are “beefier” too. Transmission gears have more durability due to surface and heat treatments. The manufacturer had 5 bikes at strip meant to be run all throughout the day, and they gave flawlessly performance in spite ham-fist thrashing by the journalists who were mechanically unsympathetic.
No one of us would have been as fast as we did without Gadson’s expert coaching. Any one who is interested mastering the dragracing art should look up website for school of Rickey. Surprisingly, he advised me to launch along with mere 3000-3400rpm on tach, helped by launch lamp that is programmable for any zone of rpm. This was sounding like absurdly low revs amount for high-G start, but the new torque mill of the R’s pulled all of it very easily.
More powerful ZX motor makes getting away fast more difficult because the front wheel has to leave ground in 1st & 2nd gears and hence there is a limit to the amount of acceleration you can apply. In my testing, I had kept traction control to TC1 for helping variable limits, but this didn’t prevent the wheelies like the TC2 does. Post initial launch, hardest part is to get the left leg to over power G forces & get to gear lever before illumination of shift light.
After I got balance between clutch throttle and lever right, I could knock out best run of about 9.77 seconds at speeds of 148.9 mph. This stat is impressive for bone-stock production motor bike, but it is more remarkable when atmospheric conditions factor in. Dry desert air along with altitude of 1800 foot of the track’s equated to elevation of 3000-foot. Corrected to the conditions of sea-level, my times dropped by about 2.5 tenths of one second. In ideal conditions, ET of 9.5-second is with in possibility realms!
I got chance for seeing Gadson riding on lowered 14R; otherwise it is totally stock. He could click off pair of the 9.31 ETs on track which was getting extensively slippery after sunset; the temperatures were dropping too and this showed tremendous platform potential. It is possible that lowered 14R can achieve a time in zone of eight second along with addition of after market exhaust and the ECU up grade provided conditions are perfect.
I Won!
The day was capped with a competition amongst journalists for seeing who time quickest between 2 runs. As quickest journo of that day, my pressure was there on me for keeping readybike.net honor intact.
However, my practice run showed that all this wasn’t really easy. In spite of launching along with same force amount as that of my previous runs, cooling track could not give enough of grip and sprint too was spoiled by the wheel spin for 1st time in the day.
I was asked to make sure that the tires were heated fully in burnout box before the first timed official run. I eased in to staging zone forward and all eyes of journalists, Gadson, and Kawasaki engineers were tuned to see if I could handle all the pressure for pulling a quick and clean run. Anxiety was up when I held revs at speed 3200 rpm as Christmas tree lights had counted down.
The clutch was released by me too quickly on 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R. I dared and was pretty pleased for feeling grip from rear tire driving me forward when I balanced small wheelie along with throttle. The traction control was kicking in and I could hear traction as revs were climbing. I was praying that things would hook up quickly as the red line was approaching. Shift light had flashed when my went to shifter for deft change of gear. However, I again heard the TC kicking in at second gear’s top. After going in to the third, I could stretch throttle cable after speed pile and rest of my run was pretty smooth.
Result was 10.00 ET a bit short of run of nine second I thought I would need for outgunning 9 other moto journos. 3 of them had done passes of nine second earlier in day; all of them hadn’t made their runs of competition. I was given 1 more shot at nine, but my best numbers were 10.06. I went past 3 editors who had a run before I did but after that, I had to wait for 6 others.
A lot of were close to my ET, but fortunately all of them failed, and I was the quickest editor at all the 3 three press introductions of ZX-14
Wrap up
While walking away from strip chuffed after performance, I kept thinking about the wide riding environments ranges from my day and the performance of ZX-14R in those situations. It is docile when you ride around the town, comfy and smooth on high way, and obedient and trustworthy on twisty road.
Same might can be said about the other sport bikes, but none of these touched phenomenal prowess of drag strip of 14R. For me this one is the king of hyper bikes.
Just like all the regal things, 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R isn’t cheap. This bike has starting price of $14,699, which is $1100 more over the 2011’s MSRP. You get to choose from Candy Surf Blue or Metallic Spark Black. $200 more will get you Golden Blazed Green version along with flame graphics, side color-matched fins and cock pit cowling, and the wheels having machined edges.