2014 Kawasaki Z1000SX ongoing review

[Cav]

I was/am always more cautious with my front tyres. 500-1000 miles after the tyre starts to lose grip is when I would change it. Usually, on the road the front tyre would wear out in a horrible way which meant fast riding was nearly impossible.

I'm quite excited by the prospect of getting some Sport touring rubber for my bike next... I'll use those for the road and for wet trackdays. Michelin PR3/4?

[Kwacky]

I'll change them at the end of this month, start of next. I won't be using the bike much between now and then.

[Kwacky]

The bike clocked over 24,000 miles yesterday. I've done about 21,000 of those in the 19 months I've owned it. A couple of the cheap brackets have rust on them but other than that no complaints.

The tyres (Z8) are close to 7,000 miles and squaring off. You can feel they're struggling a bit but there's loads of warning from them.

Roadtec 01s booked to be fitted at the end of the month, which is the earliest I can get to Addison Tyres.

[C00kiemonster]

The bike clocked over 24,000 miles yesterday. I've done about 21,000 of those in the 19 months I've owned it. A couple of the cheap brackets have rust on them but other than that no complaints.

The tyres (Z8) are close to 7,000 miles and squaring off. You can feel they're struggling a bit but there's loads of warning from them.

Roadtec 01s booked to be fitted at the end of the month, which is the earliest I can get to Addison Tyres.

It was certainly a good buy for you at the time - commuting, touring and a bit of fun - its serving you very well.

Great mileage from the tyres too - saves a few pennies ..

[Kwacky]

It's the best all rounder I've owned. It may not excel at anything but as a package for under £10k it's hard to beat.

[Kwacky]

Z8s have done over 7,000 miles now and are certainly going off the boil. You can feel them tracking the road and hunting for grip (which I guess is in part due to the road conditions). No issues with them yet though, they're not sliding about.

Just over a week until I get some new rubber on the bike.

[Cav]

What are you going for..?

[Kwacky]

Metzeler Roadtec 01s

[Kwacky]

New clutch cable is on, which means that the lever feel is much lighter and smoother.

The bike is coming up to 25,000 miles.

I need to get those tyres sorted as these are squared off now. Close to 7800 miles on them.

[Kwacky]

Bike booked in for this Saturday. Not an ideal time to be spending £300 but needs must.

[Kwacky]

Rear brake line ordered thanks to StMarks

Now I need to find a nice rear brake fluid reservoir to go with it.

[TonyB]

I have a red anodised rizoma front and rear one if you're interested?

[Kwacky]

Cheers Tony but I've already got a black front one and the red at the rear would look out of place.

If I get that F3 though I'll give you a shout

[Kwacky]

New renthal chain and sprockets fitted at 20,700 miles.

Lets hope these last longer.

5,000 miles done on it and as yet it doesn't need adjusting.

[Kwacky]

The plan when I bought this bike was to keep it for a couple of years then replace it with another commuter before the constant riding caught up with the bike.

Because I didn't intend to keep and because the bling should have been going on the zx6r the z1000sx was going to stay pretty much stock.

Well the zx6r went pop and it looks like I want to buy a new bike to replace the zx6r, which means that the SX is staying.

So that's a licence to bling it up

I'll do small changes at first. Some of the bolts and brackets could do with being replaced. The bike has done 26,000 miles in a short space of time. It's ridden all year round and in all conditions. The SX is a budget bike. You get a lot for your money but Kwak have used some cheap bits. The rearsets are showing signs of wear. The coating on the rear set levers is starting to wear and allowing rust to get in. I could get new bits or I could replace the rearsets entirely.

Long term the plan is to make the bike more sports than tourer. So that to me means single seat cowl, replacing the rear pillion pegs with can holders, replacement rear shock, upgrade the front springs, change the master cylinder and consider an ECU remap.

There's no rush and much depends on what I buy as a second bike, when I buy it and if I want to bling that one up as well.

[Kwacky]

blingy nuts

[kiwikrasher]

Never thought I'd be saying this to another bloke but....

Nice Nuts!

[Kwacky]

A bloke off the z1000sx forum has sold his so I've bought some levers and a satnav holder off him.

The SatNav is from SW Motech who do some good stuff.

The levers are Chinese ones but at £15 posted I can't turn them down.

[Monty]

I'm saving up (selling stuff on eBay) to get some SW Motech sports bike panniers. Really good kit

[Kwacky]

The bike is showing it's usual Kawasaki traits of being used a lot. The paint on the mirror stems is starting to flake and the side stand is getting some rust on it.

I suspect a lot of it is caused by the physical effect of the road salt being blasted against the metalwork. When you're riding along at night behind cars you can see the dust coming at you at speed. The same thing happened to the ZX6r in the same places, as well as on the front forks.