First Look: 2018 Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe
Hot on the heels of the new Kawasaki Z900RS comes a café racer variant sporting a bikini fairing and drop-style handlebars.
Mechanically, the 2018 Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe is the same as the regular Z900RS revealed last month at the Tokyo Motor Show. The engine is the same 948cc Inline-Four claiming 110 hp at 8,500 rpm and 72.6 lb-ft. 6,500 rpm, again paired with an assist and slipper clutch, six-speed transmission and megaphone exhaust (which receives a brushed finish for the Cafe version).
The Cafe version sports a green paint job with a white stripe running along both sides of the tank, continuing to the fairing and circling around the single headlight. The black, drop-style handlebars lend for a more aggressive posture, while the cafe-style seat is 32.2-inches from the ground, or 0.6 inches lower than on the Z900RS.
The suspension system is the same as on the Z900RS, with a 41mm inverted fork offering 10-way compression and 12-way rebound adjustability and stepless preload adjustability and a horizontal back-link shock like the Z900RS and Z900. Dual 300mm discs are matched with monoblock four-piston calipers up front, while a single-piston caliper stops the single 250mm rear disc. The wheels, as on the Z900RS, are cast with flat spokes that give the illusion of wire spokes.
With the fairing and change in seat designs, the Z900RS Cafe claims a weight of 476 pounds, or 4.4 pounds more than the Z900RS’ claimed weight.
As with the Z900RS, we await word from Kawasaki about U.S. availability and pricing.
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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Well done Kawi.
Still like my GS1000S 1980