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My third bike was the computer controlled electronic fuel injected GPz1000, the per-cursor of the Ninja. Indeed, when the Ninja first came out back in the dark ages of the 80's, it has GPz stamped on the engine casing. That old GPz was one of my favorite bikes, stupidly fast both off the line and at top highway speed (it was known as the "Arrest Me Red, GPzed" for good reason), ferocious brakes (for the day), and very agile and one hell of a step up from the sedate Honda CB750 I traded in for her.

I remember when the first Ninja's appeared, in what at the time was a most shocking lime green colour, indeed we joked that the poor thing suffered from Quacker Disease, your bike turns a shocking green colour and its bottom end falls out. The first Ninja's did have some reliability issues.

Still the Ninja line has gone on from strength to strength and although has long dropped the GPz badging, it still retains the heart and soul of those early Zed's, the Zed1's, the KZed's and of course the GPzed's. Of all the RR types of bikes out there, the Kawasaki Ninja has a special place in my heart. I would not own one today as I am no longer a suicidal 20 something rider who believed he was near immortal when he was on his GPz, nor do I fold up with great ease into the proper riding position these machines demand, but I still like it, and so give it a cool rating.

I think it is cool but would not spend my money on one. Sat on an r6 and the lean forward was too much. I don't want to feel like i'm doing a close grip bench press all the time. On my fjr i'm just doing a partial bench

I went with: Cool

It's hard not to vote cool for a bike that's this light, this fast and handles like it's on rails. But IMO, it's a short time bike (ride it for a short time) as the riding position, the seat comfort and perky powerband will wear on you. Shame the 600cc sportbike field is full of these uncomfortable bikes built for those young enough to have the flexibility to contort to ride them. Unfortunately "young enough" and "experienced biker" don't seem to cross often. And marketing being profit, the companies keep making these bikes appealing to the previously mentioned group, thus we see a lot of experienced riders telling new riders "OMG, don't start on a 600cc!" which is 100% right, don't start on one.


Mike

Your Coolness Factor of the 2014 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R ABS is:

Awesome (3 points) 29% [ 7 ]
Cool (2 points) 50% [ 12 ]
Uncool (1 point) 21% [ 5 ]
Fail (0 point) 0% [ 0 ]

Total votes : 24

= a Coolwall Factor of 69.4%

NOTES: if you ARE experienced enough, like a quick, fast ride, don't mind the lack of comfort and a speeding ticket or two, this might just be that Sunday afternoon blaster you have always wanted...

Next bike is now up for voting on, have fun!!