[scottynoface]

so you dont see many zx14 track bikes

Because the 14 (and Hayabusa) are not track weapons, they weigh a bit much to compete with the 1k's with almost the same power but less weight and more race-oriented geometry.

However, the 14 wont kill your back in an hour and will cruise at 140mph from east coast to west coast with 0 hiccups. Plus there's the intake note...music.

[The CyberPoet]

OK, having owned it for a few weeks, here's my additional insights at this point:

1. Underseat space -- what underseat space? I mean, seriously, there' not enough room in there for a white bread PBJ without mashing the sandwich; forget storing a disk lock. Kawasaki could have easily blown more volume into the rear fender/underseat but didn't. That means space for a lot of upgrades that are easy on the Kat can be a royal PIA on the ZX, especially if you're heavy on electrical items.

2. Panels, panels, and then some panels. Where the Kat is a simple chore to strip of all the fairings (at least by comparison), the ZX-14 isn't. Between the additional wiring and the three-panel access just to get to the battery (which is slotted inside the airbox, which is fabricated as part of the frame itself), it's a PIA to get down "into" the bike to do mods, and room to mount extraneous additions is limited. Like a chain oiler, HIDs, etc.

3. Owner's manuals and factory manuals. Suzuki definitely has the Kawasaki boys upped on that... The ZX-14 owner's manual AND the factory manual neither state which spec headlight bulbs (H9 high, H11 low) are installed in the bike, so if you need a new headlight bulb, you either need to call a dealer or remove the old one before you hit the auto parts store (I needed to know so I could order the right HID kit).

4. Tail Light - LED's are cool, but that white-out plate over them makes the rear brake/running lights neigh-on-invisible in the daytime in bright sunlight. Bad enough that I got secondary brake/running lights on a license plate frame and on the Givi bags to augment it.

5. Bars, bar risers, and lever position. The stock position on the handlebars was reasonably good, but in that position, I couldn't rotate the levers far enough down to fit my particular ergonomic's requirements. Had to get risers just to adjust the levers' rotation.

6. Goes like stink. Stopping isn't quite as good, and I can see a lot of riders getting into trouble with this.

7. OEM seating is fantastic in terms of comfort, broad butt support. Material doesn't permit butt-sliding (left-right) though; corbin upgrade cured that.

8. USA models don't get the centerstand, but if you buy the centerstand kit, it does come with both the centerstand, and an extra grab handle for the left side of the bike to use to lift it up (in a very logical placement). You do lose the rear belly fairing (which harks back to the panels, panels, panels comment earlier).

9. Headlights are great, and you will be seen from the front.

10. Mirrors could use extenders, at least with my build, so I ordered them. Unlike the Kat's simple bolt-on, on the ZX you have to (say it with me) remove a bunch of panels to get at the inside of the mirror mounting point to attach the mirror extenders.

11. Shifting is smoother than anything else I've ever ridden. Period. And I've ridden a lot of bikes.

12. Data available on demand from the data screen is fantastic. But Kawasaki should have included a button to access that data from the hands-on-grips position, instead of just buttons in the center of the dash.

13. Handling is damn impressive.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

__________________________________________________ ________
CyberPoet's Katana Maintence and Upgrade Parts Offerings
The Best Metal Steel Aluminum Motorcycle Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[allblackkat]

Glad you're liking it... Hope to see some pics of it with all the luggage and new brake/running lights...

[EBritain]

OOOOOOO the sweet ZX14, well I don't own one but will someday. I am with everyone else about the insurance and rear tires. WOW I would not want those bills..

Here is a disturbing Video on a ZX14 Do Not Try This At Home!!!!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9XaY4GxUIw"]YouTube - How Not To Ride A 14[/ame]

[scottynoface]

6. Goes like stink. Stopping isn't quite as good, and I can see a lot of riders getting into trouble with this.

A huge number of ZX14 owners have had problems with this. It gets up to speed ridiculously fast but feels too heavy for its brakes. The stock calipers are powerful as all ****, but the master cylinder on the 14 is garbage stock. Most of them swap over an 05+ zx6r or 07+ (I think) ZX10R radial mount master cylinder and stainless lines. The four pot Nissin calipers are the best I've ever felt, but it was on an 08 6R.

[squiggy]

5. Bars, bar risers, and lever position. The stock position on the handlebars was reasonably good, but in that position, I couldn't rotate the levers far enough down to fit my particular ergonomic's requirements. Had to get risers just to adjust the levers' rotation.

I noticed the same thing with the ZZR1200. Very limited downward angle to match the hands natural angle.

9. Headlights are great, and you will be seen from the front.

A very big dito.

I was in my truck, ohhh about a half to a block in front of an unknown motorcycle type. I immediately noticed these strange headlights like I've never seen before; very wide placement. It ended up being a ZX14.

Here is a disturbing Video on a ZX14 Do Not Try This At Home!!!

Ohhh, that is funny. Brand new bike. Time for a brand new engine. What was that from, oil starvation?

[The CyberPoet]

A huge number of ZX14 owners have had problems with this. It gets up to speed ridiculously fast but feels too heavy for its brakes. The stock calipers are powerful as all ****, but the master cylinder on the 14 is garbage stock. Most of them swap over an 05+ zx6r or 07+ (I think) ZX10R radial mount master cylinder and stainless lines. The four pot Nissin calipers are the best I've ever felt, but it was on an 08 6R.

I've got the HEL lines here, and was planning on moving to EBC HH pads; typically, this is enough (for Florida, with it's flat open expanses) to do the trick on any bike... Will report back when I know for sure. The OEM brakes aren't bad, but I can see riders who don't clean their rotors of grime regularly running into all sorts of issues...

Ohhh, that is funny. Brand new bike. Time for a brand new engine. What was that from, oil starvation?

I would suspect so. Looking at the oil pan on the ZX, it's a huge, flat rectangle, and I see zero special design provisions for feeding the engine oil from the sump while the bike is wheel-skywards. It simply wasn't designed to be wheelied in that sense...

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

__________________________________________________ ________
CyberPoet's Katana Maintence and Upgrade Parts Offerings
The Best Metal Steel Aluminum Motorcycle Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[allblackkat]

I didn't catch it if you mentioned it earlier but did you get the ECU gadget that tricks the bike into thinking it is in 6th gear all the time... Supposed to allow the secondary butterflies to open up in the FI while in the lower gears... Giving a helluva performance bump in the acceleration department...

[The CyberPoet]

I didn't catch it if you mentioned it earlier but did you get the ECU gadget that tricks the bike into thinking it is in 6th gear all the time... Supposed to allow the secondary butterflies to open up in the FI while in the lower gears... Giving a helluva performance bump in the acceleration department...

If that question is targeted at me, no, I haven't put Ivan's TRE kit on the ZX-14 (at least not yet). Personally, I really value the gear display in the dash and am more-than happy with the power levels I've got at this time (we zipped across the state yesterday to do BikeWeek and demo-rides; report upcoming when I catch up on my workload here -- which reminds me, it's time for the first oil change/service to be done too, darn-it!). One of the American cycle mags just wrapped up their 2-year long loaner review of the bike and said that TRE-mod was the best bang-for-the-buck upgrade...

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

__________________________________________________ ________
CyberPoet's Katana Maintence and Upgrade Parts Offerings
The Best Metal Steel Aluminum Motorcycle Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.

[ctandc]

It's funny this thread came up in new posts...I actually rode a ZX-14 for the first time recently. Ran into an old friend that I served with, and we ended up talking bikes. I think his is a 2006?

He's got over 30K miles on his....It's funny CP, he does all his own work / maintenance on cars and bikes like I do and his gripes about the ZX were close to yours..

He said it takes longer to GET to something to fix it, than actually fixing it.

He went to the ZX14 as a longtime VFR rider. He had a VFR1000 (86 I think) for a LONG time, then got a mid 90's VFR and put almost 100K on that one before getting the ZX. So he wasn't as spoiled as I am owning a Kat...as it's really easy to work on my bike and get to everything.

Actually he said he HATED the looks of the ZX14 when he first saw 'em. He was leaning towards a new VFR, but he said it 'didn't feel the same' as the old VFR and to him it felt more like riding a SS bike.

He was in the midst of buying a new Busa....he said that changed when he was in the store talking to some kid and the kid came up asking him if he was going to chrome, polish and stretch his Busa like everyone else..lol...

He ended up getting the ZX from a local ad in the newspaper. Guy who bought it new, and rode it a good bit, had a pretty reasonable story why he was selling...

It was part of his PLEA agreement with the District Attorney. Turns out he was an early 40's Male, no tickets in years, when he got ****ed off at work, and just happen to be riding the ZX that day. He showed my friend the copies of the tickets....it was WELL into triple-digits.....so needless to say he got a pretty good deal on an almost perfect ZX...with all kinds of extras.

My ride report?

Very comfy bike for me (I'm 6'3 230)....feels alot like the old Kat at low speeds (handling wise)....to me it feels WIDE when in the riding position.

Fast I can deal with...but this thing feels BETTER at 80mph than it does at 40mph. And it's like there are 6 more inches of throttle travel on this thing than the Kat!!! LOL

And it's pretty cool that the speedo needle seems to move as fast as the tach..

My friend's only "real" complaint was the cost of tires. He said he's going to try a new brand the next time around. Not sure what he's using now, but it's a "sport touring" type tire. He said the front will be due when the next rear is due....and he mentioned it's much cheaper on shipping to order 2-3 of the tires at the same time

[tjroux]

Buddy has 2 of them, one for his wife and one for himself now ( sold his ZX10 to buy an 09 ZX14 )

I think that speaks for itself. He owns 2, same mods on each, two bros exhaust, GPR stabalizers, smoked windscreens and both lowerd 1 inch.

[kidblooper]

Nero , Also The Cyber Poet just bought a ZX-14 , he's a person of great intelligence and could most likely offer some detailed info.. i know he doesn't like the storage space on the zx14 so info like that you could prolly use.. but ya your not comparing apples to apples on this one. 1. Price 2.Gas Milage 3.Horse Power etc

[allblackkat]

One of the American cycle mags just wrapped up their 2-year long loaner review of the bike and said that TRE-mod was the best bang-for-the-buck upgrade...

I just read that article a couple days ago... that's why I asked...

[Zepp]

13. Handling is damn impressive.

Throw some new tires on it and tune the suspension, then really see what it can do

[The CyberPoet]

Throw some new tires on it and tune the suspension, then really see what it can do

I was eyeballing both carbon fiber and magnesium wheels for it yesterday A bit outside my price-range, esp. given that I live in a state that is primarily flat and has an over-abundance of straight roads

But the first group ride out (with the KR guys), I ate a couple BMW K1200S/K1200R's in the twisties -- without ever breaking the break-in RPM limit.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

__________________________________________________ ________
CyberPoet's Katana Maintence and Upgrade Parts Offerings
The Best Metal Steel Aluminum Motorcycle Tire Valves in the World, plus lots of motorcycle & Katana (GSX600F / GSX750F) specific help files.