A Tribute to the ZX14R: How the King Earned Its Crown

The warrior king of displacement is stepping down from his throne. The brute force battle he waged in his heyday has become a digital brand of warfare with TFT displays, launch control, wheelie control, electronically adjustable suspension and quick shifters defining the new era of superbikes. The rules have shifted as well with ever tightening emissions regulations - I'm looking at you Euro 5! The King gracefully acknowledges his time has passed, and we, his humble subjects acknowledge that his specific blend of power, style and authority, can never precisely be matched again. I am talking about the venerable ZX14R, also known in certain markets as the ZZR1400. Kawasaki's big boss Ninja will be riding off into the sunset, but not before making one last stand in showroom floors with a final edition 2021 model.

Living in LA, it was very rare for me to spot a ZX14 in the wild, but here in Kobe, I see one of these almost daily - a tribute to the refinement, ease of use and daily road manners of this beast for those in the know. Its nearly 600 pound curb weight fully-fueled and nearly 1.5 liter power-plant belies its ease of use and comfortable handling at city traffic speeds - a fact which truly surprised me since I had long considered it an oaf around town. I knew it as the drag-strip destroying missile of my teen-age dreams, but hardly imagined it as a daily driver. After having ridden one for a spell, I have to admit I was wrong. I could very well live with the ZX14 on a commuting basis. In practice, it is a luxury sport-touring machine, just as capable of crossing continents as slipping through a twisty canyon, all with a predictable albeit mountain-moving eruption of power and ergos that envelop you in a pocket of comfort. In intention, it is a world-beating declaration of engineering prowess by a company intent on being numero uno. In effect, It is a jack-of-all trades and a definite candidate for that one bike to rule them all, at least in my eyes.

I often ride with a group in their 40's and 50's, and out of a dozen members, half of them own the big boss Ninja. At least one of those dudes rides his into work each day - I know because we work in the same building. I'm sure it has something to do with Kobe being the birthplace and headquarters of Kawasaki Heavy Industries - riders bleed bright green in these parts. Kawasaki sets itself apart from the other three bike manufacturers in Japan by the unique breadth machines it produces. From bullet trains to bridges to power plants to aircraft carriers and even the jets that might land on them - they have their fingerprints on some awe-inspiring tech. When was the last time you checked the branding on a subway car or a bridge? You might be using a Kawasaki product daily without realizing it. We all tend to take those infrastructure level feats of engineering for granted as they fade into the fabric of our daily lives. Simply put, Kawasaki, at least in Japan but in many places the world over, makes the things that makes cities work. Case in point, many of the light rail passenger cars zipping along Los Angeles Metro are made by Kawasaki's rolling stock division. But there is very little glory in such dirty work. Hence, the motorcycle branch of Kawasaki Heavy Industries was given the responsibility of generating brand awareness as much as anything else. On road and on track, it was intended to offer a platform for the company to conspicuously display the full might of its engineering expertise in a blaze of bright green.

With all this in mind, Kawasaki's history of pushing the envelope in motorcycle performance makes a bit more sense. They have always had a penchant for one-upping the competition. In the early 70's, when the modern super-bike was being defined by the likes of Honda's four-stroke inline four-cylinder CB750, Kawasaki, who had their own 750 in development, had to reconsider their approach after big red narrowly beat team green in releasing their flagship. Undaunted and determined to blow Honda out of the water, Kawasaki went back to the drawing board and bumped up their displacement to 900 cc's with the release of the legendary Z1. Honda didn't stand a chance. The title of fastest, most powerful bike carried the prestige that Kawasaki had always made a priority to achieve, and it captured the imagination of riders worldwide. Had I grown up in the '70's, the Z1 is the bike I'd have hanging up in my locker next to a photo of Farrah Fawcett. Instead, I had a photo of Penelope Cruz and a ZX14R. The big Ninja carried that same swagger of the Z1, the kind that goes around knocking the ice cream cones from Honda's hands simply because it could. And the bullying didn't stop at Honda either, as the ZX14R could be seen as a huge middle finger pointed in the direction of the Suzuki Hayabusa. The other 200 horsepower elephant in the room.

The ZX14R is the pinnacle of the industry's high horsepower fever from the 1990's, an era which saw Kawasaki and Honda continue their battle for title of fastest production bike. Kawasaki's ZX11 revolutionized the industry by introducing ram-air technology into motorcycle design. It arrived in 1990 and held the title of fastest sport-bike for a half-dozen years with a top speed of 176 mph, before Honda knocked the ice cream cone out of their hands at 180 mph with the CBR1100XX in 1996. Kawasaki's reply, the ZX12 was intended to destroy all competition with a 1199 cc engine that could overtake Honda once again. However, another Japanese company decided to enter the fray in perfect time to spoil the party. In 1999, the limelight was stolen by Suzuki's GSX1300R, dubbed the Hayabusa. The market demand for ever-increasing power led Suzuki to release their own beast, whose 1299 cc power plant rocketed the bike to a claimed 197 mph. That number had never been seen before in street legal production bikes, and just as the Z1 had captured the imagination of the masses 30 years prior, a whole generation of speed obsessed gear-heads had a collective nosebleed.

For all the adulation and acclaim the Hayabusa garnered, the backlash was just as strong. Many decried the speed and power as unnecessary, dangerous and even irresponsible. The line had to be drawn somewhere, and with mounting pressure from indignant politicians and finger-wagging safety proponents the world over, the Japanese manufacturers entered what is today known as "the gentleman's agreement" with European companies to limit speeds of bikes to 186 mph or 300 kph. The "agreement" went into effect in 2000, the same year Kawasaki had slated the release of its ZX12, now completely overshadowed by the 1999 Hayabusa. Although Kawi's new flagship was a formidable bike in its own right, with more horsepower than the first generation 'busa, the new rules capped its speed at 186 mph (though there may be some factory un-capped ZX12's that rolled off the line pre-agreement). The un-regulated 1999 model year Hayabusa quickly reached mythical status and a cult-like adoration followed shortly thereafter. Part of me wishes Kawasaki had taken the ZX12 back to the drawing board and bumped up displacement just as they did the Z1 when Honda beat them to the 750 race 30 years prior. Instead, they kept it in production for 6 years where it battled the 'busa in the hearts and minds of motorcyclists worldwide, as well as on the sales floors and drag strips for the title of apex predator. Though I don't believe sales figures were ever released, I'd be willing to bet the GSX1300R won on all fronts - it certainly won the barbershop debates on the virtue of size alone, bigger being obvoiusly better, and no replacement for displacement repeated ad nauseam.

In 2006, Kawasaki decided to end the conversation. Barbershops would have to find something else to debate because the new bike Kawasaki had up their sleeves carried the philosophy of "King of the open road." It wasn't just the internal company memo behind the project, the royal moniker graced marketing materials and word quickly spread - the KING of sportsbikes had arrived. The ZX14, though still limited to 186 mph per the industry-wide agreement, beat the Hayabusa in every other measurable category. Its massive 1352 cc engine produced a claimed 190 hp at the crank and 104 foot pounds of torque compared to the 'busa's 173 hp and 99 foot pounds. No more splitting hairs with Suzuki, Kawasaki had reclaimed the title of fastest, most powerful production motorcycle by lighting their competitor's head on fire. A true return to form for team green. Suzuki would counter-punch with an updated Hayabusa in 2008, increasing displacement from 1299 to 1340 cc's and claimed horsepower/torque to 194 and 102 ft/lbs respectively, but the effort was too little too late. Kawasaki easily parried this feeble attempt to knock off their crown by releasing an updated ZX14 the very same year, adding new injectors, a revised exhaust, larger secondary air ports in the cylinder head as well as advanced aluminum die casting methods to increase strength and decrease weight in key areas such as the steering head and swing arm pivots. The ZX14 was a Kawasaki masterclass in engineering and 'busa bros were having a harder and harder time making their argument.

Which brings me to my brief time at the helm of a 2012 ZX14R - the year Kawasaki blessed us with the final iteration of this glorious machine and added an "R" to its moniker to commemorate the occasion. Why don't you give my bike a spin, he said. No, no, I couldn't handle that much power, I replied. I won't make this offer ever again. Ok, give me the keys. As I started the engine and lumbered out of the parking lot, I had a flashback to the lime green ZX14R taped to the inside of my locker. I was realizing a boyhood dream and so I knew the significance of this machine. I knew this was the year Kawasaki increased engine stroke to bump displacement almost 100 cc's to 1441 and that it made a savage 208 claimed hp at the crank and a mental 113 foot pounds of torque. What I didn't know was all the engineering minutiae that accompanied that increase. The cam profiles were made more aggressive which necessitated a new stronger type of cam chain. Myriad engine internals were modified, milled, strengthened and blessed by shaman to increase power, we're talking combustion chambers, ports, valves, pistons, rods, injection system, crankshaft, air-cleaner and more. Kawasaki threw the whole manual at the ZX14R's power-plant and nearly every page needed an addendum. When I stepped off the bike and stood back to admire the King, I realized that the numbers didn't matter and that displacement was only one facet of this gem. I realized that hiding underneath that shiny green facade was an untold fortune of research and development with the singular aim of blurring the line between rider, bike and road. You step off a truly great bike feeling as though you were a part of it, that you could feel the road through the bike, that every movement is intuitive and natural. Although we are bidding farewell to the King in 2021, the ZX14R has tattooed its impression on the hearts of anyone fortunate enough to take a brief seat beside his throne.