After months of teasers Kawasaki has finally unveiled the Z900RS retro naked bike. And it looks good.
We first got wind of the Z900RS way back in 2015 when Kawasaki registered an interest in a trademark on the name. More recently we’ve seen teaser videos and leaked specifications for the bike, and now it’s been unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show.
And it’s much as we expected; a Z900-based ‘standard’ with retro styling that invokes the spirit of the 1972 Z1 900.
The engine is a retuned version of the Z900’s four. Power is down from 92kW at 9500rpm to 82kW at 8500rpm, with a boost in mid-range to suit the Z900RS’s retro style. The frame, while visibly similar to the Z900’s steel trellis, is actually a new design – the beauty of a simple, tubular steel frame makes it relatively straightforward to create new versions. The Z900RS gets slight changes to its geometry as a result. The swingarm is from the Z900, while the upside-down forks gain radial brake calipers for the RS; an odd move given that it’s a slower, less powerful bike than the Z900, which makes do with conventional calipers.
Of course, the Z900RS is all about the look. The engine’s internal changes might be minimal but on the outside it gets new covers and a cylinder head with cosmetic fins to add some visual interest. A new cam cover tops it off. Above it sits a new 17 litre teardrop fuel tank, a double-stitched seat and a duck-bill-shaped tail unit that’s just like the original Z1’s.
At the front, the round headlight and dual, bullet-shaped clocks stick to the retro theme, while the cast alloy wheels are designed to look like wire spoked ones. In reality, those old-school lights are actually lit by modern LEDs and those clocks have an LCD multi-function readout between them. In 1972 it would have looked like sorcery.
Kawasaki hasn’t officially confirmed the weight, but we’ve seen documents that reveal the Z900RS is 5kg heavier than the Z900 at 215kg (wet). That’s actually still pretty light for a 948cc four-cylinder, so performance should be perky.
Kawasaki hasn’t show it yet, but we’ve also seen documents confirming that there will be a second Z900RS variant – the Z900RS Café – on sale in 2018. We don’t know how it differs, but presumably it’s a largely cosmetic change as the specifications we’ve seen for the Café version match the normal RS. Our bet is that it will get a small nose fairing and a humped, café-racer-style seat.
