Kawasaki ZX14..Who haz one??

Here is my girl loaded up on a camping trip last year. The saddlebags won't work unless you have short pipes. The tank bag is a magnetic Rapid Transit that works great. The duffel is a scuba gear bag so it's waterproof. I used 4 1" fasteners to clip the duffel to the saddlebags which had the receivers for a tail bag. It all held up to a couple thousand mile trip including a lot of playing on the dragon and Interstate speeds .

I just sold my 2001 750cc katana and looking to buy either a zx-14 or a busa. A good friend of mine owns a zx-14, but he has also owned Kawasaki all of his life so he might be a bit biased. That said, I have a few questions:

1.- How are the ergonomics, I mean which biks is more comfortable for 300-500 mi a day rides?

2.- Which bike is smoother?

3.- How does a busa measure up to a zx-14?

Thank you.

I have had both a 2000 Hayabusa and now a 2006 ZX14 and i think the zx14 is a better machine than my Busa ever was. Both had suspension work done with full aftermarket exhaust and Power commander and secondary throttle slides yanked out,And the 14 outhandled and out stopped the Busa. The only place the Busa had an edge is maybe in low end grunt .Had them also on the dragstrip and the 14 was always faster in ET and speed by about 5mph at the end of the 1/8 mile. Also i like it better for touring as well.

No comments on how the ergo's compare...or ride and engine smoothness? I doubt the drag strip is where most people will spend majority of time on a bike.

This link http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28899&highlight=busa will take you to a site that is full of Busa touring info. The guy that runs the site tours extensively on his busa.

I just picked up a bone stock 07 zx14 for my summer touring bike. I haven't done any long rides yet, but it's very comfortable to me, the hour and a half ride home was fantastic. The choice of the zx over the busa? I feel the zx is the better value out on the used market. But I could be happy with either. Amazing bikes for the money.



Here's a link to a ZX14 sport touring build with a lot of info: http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,19501.msg446543.html#msg446543

Its more comfortable for me.Smooth? Its very smooth,That's why mine has Givi hard bags for big miles and the stock seat ,so take it for what it is,Plus the fact that i have the 14 and not the Busa

That's a beautiful bike. I love the contradictions in the picture...hotrod dragracer superbike with hard bags and a roadracer group sticker! It definitely hints to the versatility of the biggest ZX.

Thank you, Yes its a do-all machine. A few years back i could only afford one bike so i had to make sure that bike would do it all. Now of course i have a wee bit more money so i am spreading the love.

Yeah, I know...I have one, too.

Put 27,000 miles on mine in 14 months, it was one of the best sporttouring bikes I've ever had. Supremely smooth, and a great bike to cover ground on.

Fantastic bikes, just wish they weren't so heavy.

I've been ringing around getting prices on new old stock 2010 models today. Hope to pull the trigger soon. Not much heavier than the old VFR800 but near twice the horsepower!

exactly

The little bit of extra weight really makes them the smooth riding bikes that they are. And if I drive mine like a normal commuter bike- I get in the mid to high 40 mpg's, too.

On the weight issue, I have had both a VFR800 (non-vtec) and CBR1100xx and the ZX-14 is no heavier than the VFR800 in my opinion, the only time you notice the weight being a negative is moving it around the driveway if there is a slope. Otherwise, you don't notice any added heft when cornering unless you are doing a trackday

yeah, yeah, yeah.....everyone thinks the horsepower chews up the tires. Nobody rides like that all the time, I doubt many people ride the 14 like that much at all....or they'd be uninsurable and without a license.
I got 5k out of a set of tires, same as any other sportbike or sporttouring bike, and got great mileage - well over 200 miles per tank on an average ride.

Ridden hard any bike will suck fuel, but you can't hammer a 14 in any gear without being in ticketland constantly. Same's true of any big hp bike.

My buddy gets about 6,500 miles out of a rear Pilot Road 2 (the B or pillion version of the PR2) and he's no slouch on it.

But ya know I don't care, back in the 70's I could only ever get 3K miles out of tires on the trusty CB750 Honda.

PS. I just paid the deposit for my new 2010 model ZX10 today!

So today I FINALLY got the 14 back together after FINALLY getting the painting done. I think it looks kind of sinister in "Low Gloss Black". Now I need to decide on decals/graphics if any.

That is gorgeous!

I ended up buying this one - new old stock 2010. This pic taken on its very first ride.



Blakebird - what pipes are they in the picture of your ZX14?