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2002 Kawasaki ZZ-R1200

I'd been pleasantly surprised with what I'd read about the ZZ-R1200 in the recent bike rags. I thought it was pretty attractive, though our friend David (who very nicely subjected himself to hanging out with us at the show) had an immediate gut reaction of "eww!". I especially like the front turn indicators, which are the usual amber, but under a clear plastic bubble for a more transparent look. Unlike the big honking orange buck teeth look from another big-name sports-tourer who shall go unmentioned. Mufflers are low, which aren't as sexy as the VFR's, but they'll have no problem accomodating soft or hard luggage.

My thoughts from the saddle: The ergonomics weren't ideal for me, but realistically, no one makes stock bikes for a 5'0" female. It was taller than I'd hoped -- I was well on my way to tiptoeing, and its large gas tank made it a bit topheavy. Tiptoes and topheavy make for a bad combination, but I'm sure the bike can be lowered. All in all, it felt a little more cumbersome than I'd have liked. I'd be curious to hear commentary from someone closer to the target market -- neither Peter nor David sat on it, so my report on this one is a little skewed.

Kawasaki's spec page for the ZZ-R1200
[Note: Kawasaki, since their web team is apparently staffed by developmentally challenged banana slugs, requires Flash in order to even view their spec pages. Because I feel that this goes against all that is good in the world, here's a nice write-up from MotorSports-Network.com. The only spec not listed on the latter is MSRP, which the Kawa site lists as $10,499.]