is there a consensus here on the life of our rad hoses? the model is 10years old but I read almost nothing about expected life and whether failure comes suddenly or becomes noticeable over time/mileage. have some owners suffered small leaks on older machines or is 10 years still 'early' to think about a planned change?

I'm pretty sure the SM suggests replacing all rubber parts in far less than 10 years. I still have the original water pipes on my 08 and no sign of a problem.

Samco is now making a silicone set guaranteed for life. I will bet it is cheaper than OEM replacements. The Samco set does not include the small tubes but they do make straight tube in a variety of sizes so I'm sure you could get the right size though it would not be molded to rout as perfectly as OEM. I plan to do this and replace the breather hoses as well. All Orange!

http://racebikebitz.com/street-bike-hose-kits/Kawasaki-Street-Road-Samco-Silicone-Hose-Kits/Kawasaki-ZX-14-2006-2016-5-Piece-Samco--Sport-Coolant-Hose-Kit

SM for the 14R says replace the juice every 3 yrs and hoses every 3 yrs or 22K miles. I agree with the juice but not the hoses if the bike has been garage kept and hoses have been regularly checked for drips, bulges and cracks. I generally go by the manual but in this case unless I was going cross country probably would wait until the 30K valve adjust and just do the whole mess at once.

same for me Rook, thanks for the Samco suggestion I hadn't heard the name but will look for the product soon I think. thanks again.