Kawasaki Z1000SX a hit with sportsbike refugees

The Kawasaki Z1000SX – a sports touring version of the Z1000 – proved very popular in our snap poll of Motorcycle Live show-goers.

• Read the Kawasaki Z1000SX review

Les Baines, 56, Hayfield, Derbyshire: “I love it. It’s got everything. It’s got the touring capability and a sports bike engine. They handle well and you’ve got the luggage for long distances. At the moment I’ve got a Suzuki GSX1250 but I will very likely buy one of these now. I’ve only been at the show 20 minutes and I came straight to this stand to see it. It’s a new concept for Kawasaki. They’ve never really made a sports tourer before.”  

• Full picture gallery of 2011 Kawasaki Z1000SX

Jason Toland, 40, Blackpool: “It looks like a very good every-day bike. I’ve got a ZX-9R but I’m getting older and it’s not that comfortable. I’d like the Z1000SX’s upright handlebars. The ZZR1400 was supposed to be a sports tourer but it was really more of a tourer. The Z1000SX actually is a sports a tourer.”

Steve Denison, 39, Kendal, Cumbria: “I really like it. My last bike was a ZX-6R but, being a bit older now, I’d quite like something like this. It’s more relevant to real-life road riding than the ZX-10R. You’d get more use out of it because you could tour on it or commute to work.”

Larry O’Toole, 53, Ilkeston, Derbyshire: “I don’t like it. What’s it trying to be? It’s somewhere between the naked Z1000, the ZX-10R and something else. The panniers don’t go with the sports bike-style tail unit. They look like an afterthought. You could lose a child in the gap between them and the bodywork. The bracket holding them on is hideous. Why have Kawasaki put the rear brake caliper on the bottom of the disc, where it will pick up all the road salt?”

The new Kawasaki Z1000SX costs £8799 for the stock model or £9,599 for the touring version (with panniers).