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Reviewed on June 27, 2024
1200cc of torque to the street, Smooth turns, sold response - Super Power response
ZZR1200 arrived with a mildly bewildering split personality: part 145-horsepower cruise missile, part comfy long-haul sport-tourist. Was it a kinder, gentler ZX-12R or a slimmed-down Concours with anger-management...
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1200cc of torque to the street, Smooth turns, sold response - Super Power response
ZZR1200 arrived with a mildly bewildering split personality: part 145-horsepower cruise missile, part comfy long-haul sport-tourist. Was it a kinder, gentler ZX-12R or a slimmed-down Concours with anger-management issues? Both, actually, which is hardly a bad thing if you slow down long enough to think about it. After that, this one runs as fast as physics and the local constabulary will allow.
Kawasaki figured a stronger, more comfortable version of the beloved ZX-11 would bury entrenched 'Bahnstormers like the Ducati ST4S and Triumph Sprint ST under an onslaught of sweet handling and Japanese horsepower. Especially when it cost about $5000 less. Adding 3mm more bore and a 1.6mm longer stroke bumped displacement to 1164cc. And those horses arrive in methodical fashion from idle to 6000 rpm, followed by an eyeball-flattening stampede from 8000 to the 145.2-bhp peak at 9750. That's stronger than Honda's CBR1100XX or an equivalent Suzuki GSX-R1000. Those ponies live in a stout twin-spar aluminum chassis, complete with a steel subframe designed to carry a passenger and the optional Givi hard luggage. Roomy, upright ergos are more humane than a ZX-11's, and the 609-lb. 1200 still covered the quarter-mile in 10.12 seconds at 136.9 mph. Land Rocket
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