Z1000 – Creating a “Future heritage”…

Kawasaki’s take on a big capacity “Streetfighter” style machine burst onto the motorcycle landscape in 2004 and made a huge impact for a whole raft of reasons over and above its intriguing visual presence.

With a lusty engine unit based on the venerable Ninja ZX-9R supersport bike, the “Zed Thou” used a mix of Kawasaki iconography from the early and mid-70’s, the 80’s and beyond; shapes, images and timeless styling cues drawn from a rich heritage by a development team led by the now legendary designer, Shunji Tanaka.

Fresh from penning the world’s most successful ever sports car for Mazda, Tanaka moved to head Kawasaki’s K-Tec design division and to say he had a sea-change influence from day one would not be an exaggeration. With the sort of confidence you get from heading the MX-5 design team, Tanaka-san applied as much radical surgery to K-Tec itself as he did to the catalogue of embryonic concepts and half-formed new model ideas he inherited.

Some early colour options

De-structuring was at the heart of his plan. “Take apart, rebuild and reflect” was the theme and by so doing fresh, interesting and new ideas emerged. For the Z1000 – and many other new models such as the epoch making ER-6n – Tanaka created a western element of competition within the young, forward thinking design team.

Vying with each other to produce the most influential and workable concept for the Z1000, the strongest and most practical design won out and the junior designer who drafted the most striking sketch was asked to work alongside Tanaka to guide the personality and look of the new bike. Unlocking this latent enthusiasm pushed Tanaka’s team, and Kawasaki, to new heights and created the platform for today’s innovative machines.

At an uncharacteristically emotionally charged media launch in Germany, the Z1000 hit the ground running thanks to a widely reported speech by Kawasaki’s then head of motorcycles, Shinichi Morita, as Editor of AshOnBikes.com, Kevin Ash, explains.

“Morita admitted in a brave and dramatic break with Japanese tradition that the previous years of falling sales worldwide were due simply to Kawasaki failing to satisfy its own customers. He said that Kawasaki’s bikes; “had become too broad in their focus and their appeal was becoming diluted, so it was harder for people to know what Kawasaki stood for. Bikes like the Z1000 should be powerful, bold, different and exciting”.

Those pipes are amazing!

Kevin has ridden all the most influential machines of the last twenty years – his opinion counts and he liked the Z1000 right from the start, saying in his Daily Telegraph report.

“The champagne finished grenade-launcher silencers were not only original and eye-catching, there were a deliberate link to earlier good times rolling as a modern take on the first Z1’s memorable four-pipe system.

It was savagely quick too, with lots of high rev power, just as a Kawasaki ought to have. As a warning shot to rivals that Kawasaki was back doing what it does best, this was uncomfortably close to the bows...”

It wasn’t just the new Tanaka-led regime at K-Tec that marked a change in thinking with the advent of the new Z1000. The Kawasaki factory hierarchy were also keen to draw a line in the sand with the radical streetfighter style machine on the back of Mr Morita’s startlingly frank comments at Intermot, the German international motorcycle show.

Moving on to invite a small, hand-picked coterie of journalists to Kawasaki’s beating industrial heart in Kobe, the likes of MCN Editor, Marc Potter, then met the design team, toured the factory and were allowed the very first media rides on the Z1000 in a suitably impressive environment, as Marc explains:

“The trip really was something truly special and, to top it all, Kawasaki wheeled out every single one of the men behind the motorcycle for us to interview. Every trick was pulled to make sure we knew the sheer size and weight of Kawasaki, from a full factory tour including the rare honour of being shown Kawasaki’s private museum, to dinner with the company President.

The bike was something special too, redefining Kawasaki as a company with an exciting new style and attitude that started the modern era of sales of Japanese naked motorcycles which continues to this day.

Riding it on the mystical volcanic island of Miyazaki with a backdrop of hot rock pools and steaming volcanoes we half expected Godzilla to step onto the road! Instead we got a great bike on some incredible roads and knew that Kawasaki really meant business with this exciting new bike. It was one of our biggest-selling issues of the year and the Z1000 started a shift in UK motorcycling trends.”

Think about it for a second, you have a brief to design a “mass-produced machine with a unique personality”, something that can be proudly owned and ridden “as-is” as well as acting as a platform for further personalisation. It worked and spawned a raft of after-market parts from Kawasaki and a mass of accessory manufacturers, all fuelling the owner’s desire to fashion their very own personal Zed.

In addition, every model of modern Z1000 continues the invisible yet tangible thread of machines that feed the emotions and unswerving loyalty of a legion of Kawasaki fans. People who live and breathe Kawasaki like three members of the Zed Owners club we spoke to, Dennis, Gary and Marcus. We asked them all what attracted them to Z1000’s and whether Kawasaki’s heritage was important to them.

Dennis – who owns one of the most radical Z1000’s on the site with a huge rear wheel and single sided swing-arm said: “The "raw" looks of the Z1000 attracted me first, then, after I’d bought one, the way the power is delivered.”

Dennis' bike - stunning

Owner of the most recent 2010 Z1000 in Orange, Gary, from Ireland agrees, saying: “I love the aggressive styling. Prior to the modern Z1000 manufacturers concentrated on naked bikes having a “retro” appeal so the Z was a breath of fresh air with an unmistakable appearance. The winning combination in all three modern generation Z’s was achieved by putting a super smooth and powerful engine in the bike”

Telford resident Marcus added: “I used to own a 2007 Z750 and all the time I used to visit bike shows to find my next replacement with no luck as there was just nothing that I liked.

That’s until the new Z1000 was launched. It had all the equipment I wanted, radial brakes, fully adjustable suspension, plus the bike also maintained some of the previous generations style but with a modern look.”

Properly into their Kawasaki heritage, all three were sure that KHI’s engineering background was important.

Marcus commented that; “Kawasaki owners I know from our forum www.ZedOc.co.uk are very loyal. We have quite a few members on not only their 3rd or 4th Kawasaki but many on their 3rd or 4th Z1000.

Moody in Black and White from Marcus

Gary said; “Kawasaki riders tend to be very loyal to the brand and Kawasaki Owner Groups like ours like ours tend to be amongst the most loyal bikers to their brand on the planet. I think the latest incarnation of the Z1000 captures Kawasaki’s commitment to the rider, presenting an ultra-modern street bike yet keeping within the spirit of the Z”

Gary's tasty Zed

Agreeing, Dennis said; “Yes, it’s important because it shows what and who Kawasaki is.. and what it stands for. Look at the technical growth and innovation of the last decades; it makes you proud to ride a Kawasaki.”

From a dealer perspective, there is equal enthusiasm for the Z1000 – launched as it was, at the start of the “naked revolution”; the trend for un-faired bikes that made the Z750 a Euro best seller and tempted many litre Supersports owners away from race-rep machines.

Dan Fulford from Bridge Motorcycles in Exeter commented; “It has a really addictive induction roar, and I think that’s one of the things that makes it so appealing to Ninja customers who now perhaps want an upright style of bike without losing the hard edged Kawasaki image. To be honest, you could take every badge off it and it would still be easily identifiable as a Kawasaki, that’s surely the hardest test of a manufacturers DNA and the Z1000 and new Z1000SX pass this exam with flying colours”.

Certainly as a logical mile stone in a development path that began with Mr Morita’s speech, the appointment of Tanaka-san and the creation of the stunning Z1000 and its siblings, the Z1000SX is a deservingly widely acclaimed machine. Traditionally hard to please, motorcycle journalists are falling over themselves to praise the SX and SX Tourer.

According to no less than former WSB Champion, Neil Hodgson (who rode all three models at a recent dealer launch), the praise is justified and points the way forwards for many riders.

“What Kawasaki has done is basic common sense but also rather clever. While they’ve developed the latest Ninja to retain its hard-core appeal, they have recognised that some riders want to looks of a Supersport but the convenience of a more conventional bike.

Mr Neeves gets his knee down

At the same time, there are a huge number of riders who identify with Kawasaki’s heritage personified by the looks and attitude of the Z1000. I don’t think anyone realised what a revolution was started in 2004 and Kawasaki fans are now reaping the rewards of that bold, forward thinking, move”.