2017 Kawasaki Z1000 R Edition Announced for Europe
Kawasaki announced a new R Edition version of the Z1000 for Europe but the future of the naked roadster remains unclear with a new Z900 model on the way. Kawasaki Europe will still offer the base model Z1000 for the 2017 model year but the R Edition may turn out to be a final production run special edition.
2017 Kawasaki Z900 Pre-Preview
The R Edition offers some refinements over the Z1000. The petal-style dual brake rotors have been replaced by Brembo discs with heat-dissipating grooves and M50 calipers paired with stainless steel braided lines.
The rear shock was swapped out for an Öhlins S46DR1S rear shock offers remote preload adjustments, necessitating a modified rear suspension linkage ratio. Up front, the Showa Separate Function Fork-Big Piston’s settings were revised, with Kawasaki claiming more refined and responsive handling.
The 1043cc Inline-Four engine is the same as found on the regular Z1000 but with revised ECU settings for smoother power delivery. The R Edition’s instrument cluster also receives a gear position indicator and an adjustable shift-up light that shows when the engine reaches a desired speed for an upshift.
The 2017 Kawasaki Z1000 R Edition comes in a Metallic Spark Black and Metallic Graphite Gray color scheme with yellow-green accents. Other special edition touches include a Z logo-embossed seat and tank pads.
Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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This is typical Japanese motorcycles great motor!!!! poor brakes and suspension, I ride a an 08 CBR 1000 and ZX 14 (these are great bikes) the guys I ride with that have those exotics the handling and the brakes are just awesome. For some reason they think by having 200 hp is the answer it's not I rather have a 130-150 rw hp that weights in at 450 lbs or less! that has great suspension and brakes without feeling like the bike was made for someone that's 5ft/5 in and weight 130 lbs seriously!!!
If you want a good super naked and are on a welfare budget, find a nicely modded '06 or later FZ1 with a flashed ECU, full exhaust, Penske (or adapted R1) shock, front brake pads/lines. FZ1 forks can be made to work "well enough" by adding 5 weight fork oil in the compression side, 10 weight rebound side.
Such a bike weighs under 450, makes 145 at the wheel with a screaming 13,000 rpm top end (they can safely rev higher, the ECU flash unlocks this), is comfy and even well modded bikes run around 4-5.5K. Bonus, the FZ1 does not look like a prop bike from a bad sci fi movie. Naked bike problem solved :)