As someone who has owned a CBR600, albeit a bit of a rat one, I grabbed the offer of a ride on Kawasaki's latest pretender to the throne with both hands. Truth to tell, I had not been too impressed with previous ZZR efforts. Bags of power, for sure, but too heavy and too fat-cat in looks.
The latest ZZR600 has enough subtle differences to throw off the shackles of the staid image of old. To my taste, not as stunning as the splendidly integrated CBR 600 but flash enough to give even the most ardent Honda protagonist pause for thought. A tad more comfortable than the CBR, I felt instantly at home even if the steering, at low speeds, needed slightly more effort, down to 25lbs extra mass and a two inch longer wheelbase. All things are relative and anyone brought up on old fours will find nothing but praise for the ZZR600's handling.
The gearbox was another matter. To be fair, Kawasakis do need rather more running in than other makes, so the crunchy, almost BMW noisy, feel may well have dissipated by the time more than the 3000 miles that were on this machine's clock have been done. The cush drive has been modified but I could not discern much difference to earlier machines - there was still a deal of unpleasantness at low revs in high gears if a sudden burst of power was employed. Once into third there was a marked improvement in the change and under acceleration the box became almost silky smooth.
Not that the early CBR could boast a smooth gearbox, either, although the latest version is okay. There's no excuse for sloppy boxes in a nineties machine and it's worth bearing in mind that a minor irritant at low miles may well become a major one once the first 50,000 miles have been accomplished. I know if I had one of these bikes there would be little that would keep me off the saddle and I'd do at least 25000 miles a year.
The ZZR is certainly faster than earlier CBR600s. In fact, I could see little reason to buy anything bigger.......the damn thing would growl through the ton in fourth gear without being in the slightest bit flustered, then power up to 140mph before its lack of cubes began to tell. 160mph could be put on the clock without any problems. Far too fast for even vaguely safe travel on UK roads, it at least meant that the machine could tour on German autobahns at 120 to 130mph without losing a moment's poise.
The ZZR is easily the smoothest of the 600s, although none of them could be said to vibrate harshly (at least not when newish and in good tune). The very slightest of tingles was noted in the midrange during the first day's riding but so mild was its nature that it soon faded into the background. Neither my extremities nor any part of the machine suffered
With the six hundreds all making nigh on a hundred ponies, top speeds are becoming rather academic even at this capacity. Careful aerodynamics are more likely to yield the higher top speeds than extracting even more power out of the watercooled DOHC four cylinder engines. The ZZR's fairing was surprising in the amount of protection it gave to knees and hands (I'm slim, I doubt if it would do much for a 200lb gorilla) although the screen would have benefited from another twelve inches in height. I don't like racing crouches which was the only way to stop the helmet buffeting above the ton.
Stability was fine even when the bike was attacked by back roads that had not seen any tender loving care for a decade or so. The suspension was tauter than the previous model which kept the 450lbs in line but could allow a bit of a bone shaking ride on the really rough stuff. The bike never felt like it was going to flop over when riding through the worst pot-holes but my back felt like it could do with a day off to recover. If it was my bike I would be happy enough with this compromise between comfort and stability.
Previous experience of Kawasaki suspension units would suggest, though, that they go off tune come the end of the guarantee, although they may be of higher specs these days. The same goes for finish, a lot of their bikes looking a bit tatty after just two or three years, although I could not fault the ZZR, not even the black exhaust down-pipes had yet started to rust. Also, the fit of the panels was better than in previous efforts.
Town work was a bit fear inspiring. Not because the motor was vicious (it wasn't, although eight grand was needed for the really hard power) but because I was always worried that the bike would slide away on the greasy road surface. The Michelin tyres were magnificent grippers at high speeds but at town speeds I had absolutely no idea what they were going to do. On a couple of occasions I felt the front wheel start to slide away with no warning when it hit a bit of diesel. To be fair, there was always time to react and it recovered its poise rapidly enough. I hate to think how much it would cost to replace the plastic.
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dare say some race track jockey could write reams on how the wheels let loose as he dug into a corner at 120mph, but your humble scribe could find nothing else to complain about at higher speeds. I figure you'd have to be riding at such diabolical velocities to upset the ZZR in the corners that if anything did go wrong then you wouldn't survive to tell the tale. The wrap-around alloy frame is more or less state of the art, as is the alloy swinging arm but the whole plot could be lighter and stronger if more attention was paid to the engine/frame interface.
More pertinent are running costs. I found fuel varied between 40 and 63mpg, averaging out at about 48mpg, although you'd do a lot better than that if you always obeyed the speed limits. As the engine revs to 14000rpm but pulls smoothly from 1500rpm (in the lower gears) there's obviously a huge range of power to play with. It's a pussy-cat up to 6000 revs but moves sharpish enough to clear away from most cagers at the traffic light GP. A useful power punch for the next 2000 revs is then followed by the grin inducing, arm wrenching stuff. Wheelies are but a violent twist of the wrist away. Maybe I'm getting old, but I rarely found it necessary to use anything close to the power's potential.
With 4000 miles on the clock by the time I gave the machine back the rear Michelin looked good for little more than a 1000 miles whilst the front was about half worn. Not outrageous wear for this kind of nutcasers' carriage, but expensive nonetheless. The O-ring chain didn't need any adjustment during my all too brief tenure. The engine is a wickedly complex beast, so much so that after running in and a proper service it'd probably be left to its own devices. As they are designed to withstand a thrashing more mild use should see long engine life.
I had some great times during a weekend of hard charging, a particular favourite being rushing up near vertical hills, throwing the ZZR off the top and being well impressed by the way, when both wheels finally hit the ground again, that instant, immense security was regained without so much as a twitch. All that madness at over the ton. If I did the same trick on some of the old hacks I've owned, even at half the speed, the bike would've thrown me right off in retribution. My pillion was clinging on for dear life, though, even on the Kawa!
If you talk nicely to your dealer you'd probably get a new one for around five grand and there's the odd used one filtering on to the market at around £4000. Too much for me and I'd still buy the CBR600 if I had that kind of dosh to off-load. The Honda has a slightly harder edge and more feedback, as well as one of the toughest motors around. Five years down the road I'd be quite happy to buy either one at a bargain price.
Dick Lewis