Took one of these puppys for a bit of a run today, I've had my eye on one, as far as a 2nd bike for 2-up longer distance work for the past 6 months (since the motobike mag's started raving about their performance and comfort).

Firstly, let me say as far as comfort goes they have it spot on, a little more aggressive compared to the Versys for sure, but still not as pushed forward as a lot of Sports Tourers I've tried and with none of the associated back and wrist twinges that I get after a bit of time in the saddle. (clip on style bars, make it highly ajustable too)

The screen is truely awesome i had it in its uppermost position for the majority of my ride and it gave a steady stream of air into my helmet with no buffeting at all to speak of. and no pressure at all on the chest.

It took a bit of getting used to the extra weight of the SX/Ninja, I found myself having to think a bit more about getting the bike down into corners, however the front end seemed very well planted in all of the assorted road conditions we went through.

Now for the thing that i think kills me to say, but as much as I love the performance of the motor it seems to have a resonant frequency around 5.5k rpm and up that sends a tingly vibe up through your nether parts that drove me bonkers. It has oodles of pulling power and is very Linear in its delivery from 1500rpm and up. But i just cant get away from the feeling that with the vibe, semingly in the sweet spot of the power delivery, its would annoy me no end.

Am i being too fussy to expect no vibes? should i get a gel pad or something?....OR A 1400 Connie? I'm going to take the wife to the shop on Saturday to see if she finds it comfortable on the back of it, and perhaps go for another spin.

That's is the exact bike i am thinking of getting on my wish list as a 2nd bike to the versys, took a friend 06 Z1000 out the other day but like the full fairing look of the SX and will be very interested in hearing more about it, especially if you get it would love a full run down of pro's and cons.

Cheers Phil

That is my favorite new motorcycle as well. Have not heard about excessive vibration, something may need tightening on that one.

My hubby was looking at trading in his zx10R for a z1000, but I do like the setup on the Ninja 1000 better with the fairing and all.

Looks like we are stuck with the 10R for another year, due to the hit we took on the value the first year. Sad, I won't ride the 10R but I would have loved to see what the z1000/Ninja 1000 has going for it.

Wish the inline fours had better fuel efficiency, but I understand why they don't. Reading here, this bike is around 36mpg:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/630/81...irst-Look.aspx

or that's just how it is. magazine writers tend to omit details about these kinds of warts. i've never read anything about versys mirrors or fairings outside of this forum. hopefully you are correct.

Apparently Kawasaki have actually dialed in some vibration, from what I've read, in a similar way to Honda with their VFR1200. I had another chat with the sales dude and he was going to get it checked out ...it may be that the bike is still only 250 miles old and still on its running in oil.
I remember after my first service and going onto synthetic Oil with the Versys, lt smoothed the engine out a lot.

A killer for me is that I read economy of 27 low and 36 high for an average of ~32mpg. Not great. The Z has never been known for it's economy. It's something I am having a hard time swallowing with this otherwise seemingly stellar bike.

I sat on one of these, as well as a new Honda VFR today. Both bikes look great. But both are way too forward leaning for me.

I would be interested in a bike like those if they could make it more upright and have better fuel economy. But then I guess it wouldn't be a bike like that.

Anyway, that doesn't mean they're not great bikes.

I am very interested in one of these so presume you could put risers on to push your bars up and back they may solve the forward lean issue.

Yeah, I was thinking about that as well. Both use those "clip-on" (I don't remember the term) bars I think. Not to say you couldn't do a riser, though, just like they have for the Concours 14.

"clip-on" is the proper term. helibar, gen-mar and others make solutions for repositioning clip-ons. they will surely develop something for this bike. i had the gen-mar risers on my old vfr. they (and helis) use the stock cables/hoses, so they will not bring the bars back far enough to sit you upright, versys-style. as you say, that would be a different bike. 1050 Tigerlike.

The Z is very lightweight for a sport tourer and as such a single bike stable is very do-able but the poor MPG is a deal killer for me. Kawi increased the tank capacity, I assume, for this reason. Get it up to 45-50 MPG and I may have a new bike. My ZRX1200 got that and it was very powerful.

Well today I test drove both the new Ninja 1000 and the new Versys ,as I have a 2009 with a years riding time and 15000 miles with all the mods... The new style Versys buzzed more than my 09 and the seat needs shaping like I did...The new Ninja 1000 has too much power It's wicked fast...Our test ride guide took us up to triple digits and the 1000 has midrange from the gods...Good Lord...seamless torque curve from 3000 up , but at 5500, the seat and pegs buzz terribly...Man , my trusty 650 Versys is a keeper...

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My Z got 2500 km on it and can't say i have noticed any real bad buzz at 5500 rpm and above but man get to 7000-8000 rpm and she sounds good. Made myself slightly motion sick today for a few minutes after practicing how quick you could stop with ABS, have to be careful when going back to riding the V. 0 to 60 mph is quick, it feels like about 3 sec. It is one sweet ride.

People need to stop saying good things about this bike. Makes me pout a little that I can't get one. But seeing as you're getting yours broken in now, any eco feedback? One of the riders in the Cycle World Kawasaki Ninja 1000 Experience (a mouthful, no?) tracked fuel consumption, managing an average of 45mpg, with outliers at 35 and 62. If those numbers are achievable, I may consider the N1K instead of a Sprint in a couple of years.

Will be happy to answer any questions on the Ninja 1000 as they call it in Aust/USA and in the UK/NZ they call it the Z1000sx as honestly as i can.

My only real issue so far is the seat, my Versys has a stock seat and can ride 350 miles and have no discomfort at all on my butt but the Z seat, will see about taking it to a upholsterer to soften.

Fuel economy, can tell you right now if you open up that throttle your fuel usage does not go up in a linear but exponential, so 0-60 in under 3 sec you pay but if you do not need to ride like a squid all the time your fuel usage returns to a more accepted figure and i have not got exact numbers as have not record data on how many km's getting out of a litre, at a guess about 15 km to a litre but remember i have hammered her (up to 245 km/h at times).

Summing up, if I could only have one bike it would be the Versys but since we are selling my wifes cruiser the Ninja 1000 is the dream bike for me. I am not one for trying to incease power of a stock bike so the 1000 gives me that day ride power and the Versys is my reliable long trip, comfotable, full givi bin system, twisty fun, very forgiving safe horse. If you can afford to have the Ninja 1000 and the Versys its a great combination in my opinion

thanks for posting up, Kiwi.

If memory serves, Motorcycle Consumer News wasn't too keen on this bike. Anyone else check out the article?

CJ

Memory check......

If I remember correctly, they were quite enthusiastic about the bike!