Ya....pass is right...but ya can't make someone smoke .

The clunk is virtually gone.They just don't know what they're talking about..

Now it's a mod monster? That means more HP and I thought there was too much already. You are attacking the same mods once again as if the bike is neutered. YOu should be saying, wow, kawi pulled one out of their ass this time. I don't know if mods will help? I can't find a clean road to open it up as is.

My idea of a fast bike is to pass someone's fender, it was too late to correct, thinking you had to move into someone else is lane. I cleared the car that fast and they still moved over, me looking back to see the car cross the line and reenter the lane they were in. I was already cleared that split of a second.

I should have the torque in 6th gear, not step down a gear, or step up a sprocket change. I'm back to chasing 6th on the R, correct? And, no one takes a 10 with the slip parts, tries to land a lawn job or sand it at the beach... Nada!

What happened to the peace pipe...you're supposed to puff, puff & pass .

SHTICK dis in yer pipe en smoke it!!

Thr 14r is fuckin awesome at 200+ rwhp without a fuckin tune even!!!! DO YOU NEED THAT? FUCK NO YOU DON"T NEED IT but you want it. you want all that power who ever said anything about needing anything this is all about what we want not what we need!!!

See! We can get along!
Hub. I would love more grunt in 6th too. lots of people including mag testers said the 6th had no use and I agree. on the hwa i get max fuel economy in 5th.

Hi Green,

fwiw, I've been reading your comments with interest for some time. I too ride the ZX14 in the real world only. it is never off the road. I've modded my 08 to address the weakness below 4k rpm. not something i was expecting to need to do when i bought such a large engined mc. I'm still not happy with the result. it is better (stronger down low) but not perfect. drinks more fuel, not so smooth, despite being balanced. I dont want to tune bikes anymore, I want something that will haul strongly from 1500 rpm, building smoothly to an insane peak hp. I want to ride gently in traffic. accelerate strongly away from the lights, without needing to develop drag racing starts. I don't drag race, i don't track race, i ride it on the road. that's why KHI fitted lights and blinkers, right?

from your reviews, it sounds like the 14R just might be the bike for me.

Tell me, does the stock 14R have the same leap in torque at low rpm like the gen 2? I could always feel the flies open at about 3800rpm when it would sudden;y lurch forward without any change in throttle settings.

Keep writing, Green. numbers don't matter, if this bike makes you so happy you shout from the roof top then good, KHI has done its job. I would rather buy the right bike and ride it, than spend $$ and time trying to do better than KHI engineers...

I'd like to hear your impressions of the difference between the 14 and the 14R in low rpm, low throttle situations. this is where the sophistication and finesse of the bike counts most.

Thanks

What is with some here taking a bike comment personal? Who is standing in front of me, I'm speaking to mother tea bag!? Now, does that sound like things are getting personal or are a few people standing to close to the fan. I'll take an R right now, no problem. There, I said it. But, go clean your pipes, this has nothing to do with your purchase, which was an excellent choice, btw, an now if yull'all exsqueeze me... I'm headed for the food tray.

This is a cruiseshit an all you can eat. Eventually, things turn all poo-poo platter, I listen to joe average ride my bike. Yes, I have to purchase a joe average bike. I want all the egos checked at the door they rather ride a joe-R. Now, the sun still rises with tradition. You may each bark at the moon running to your dealer door.

I'm ready when I'm ready. I'm one spoiled brat worst for wear and the horse is power has just started. If I say it's slow... Don't get in front of my words, they were not meant for you. Once you do step in it, get the peace pipe out of my face. There, that's for shoving it in my face.

I am talking about brute, blow you off the bike, sea lick my chops mode. It's the bike a legend is made of. I may stable a Blusa. How do you do say I forgot about a few ponies I still left in the corral. SeaLowly I turn. Step bye step. The imaginary legend pee deuces another myth. And the battle continues. Since 1999, mother tea bag let it slip away.

The 12 was the bike, but somehow, that Bluesay blew them away... Sales Say, Tea Bag? And now it will slip away with one joe average rider on both bikes. The legend eeks out one more historical number. And it's all about sales numbers if numbers mean anything. All that pissing all night long, this morning, the whole afternoon. I'm barking at the moon and wouldn't you know it...

... I forgot. I brought a bag lunch with me. Wanna trade a pee nut butt tear... Are you crying? There is no crying on my sandwich.... You see me pissing in your peet say?

* Last updated by: Hub on 12/27/2011 @ 5:56 PM *

Drag, I'm a hand rubber. If I run my hands together real slow, I don't feel friction (heat). That is 6th gear to me. low rpm hours. On the other hand, I rub my hands in 5th gear, I'm high rpm'ing it. That says hours, vs. how much level of that full tank did you save?

Then, I try to justify the parts and labor of the more worn, higher hour runner. Say we are even money. Yours is down, I'm still in 6th waxing fenders I shouldn't be near. Well, "I like the high ones" if we are going to go crying in baseball... I ate ball sports, btw.

You drop the ball, the whole team goes with it. WOT if you play for higher stakes on your own, against them and don't?

Whiner takes all.

Hey we're all friends here, this is just a discussion, nothing wrong with that IMHO. I think the 14R is pretty awesome, dyno's don't lie, it brings serious heat. I think the new bike has vast untapped potential, can't be any more fair than that.

We're just comparing press intro write-ups on two different versions of the same machine, six years apart and drawing conclusions on stock or near stock machines.

The numbers are close, very close between stock and lightly modded '06 and '12s. That appears to be the facts. One thing I'm noticing after going back through the writeups. The '06 was praised for ease of launch,(flies helping here?) the 14R seems a bit tougher to get a clean launch. Didn't Gadson loop one? Also he improved his ET by gearing up two teeth. That tells me the new machine may be overpowering the contact patch. Cool, they get that figured out and they'll have a monster. OK, so no reason to get anyones feathers ruffled, we're all I'n agreement the new machine will eclipse the old model on the dragstrip once sorted.

Nicely put Kruz. I've put close to 6k on my '11 and still have only put risers, center stand, n throttlmeister on it, so I feel there's still ALOT of uncharted territory to explore...so I'm not going anywhere for a good while :) Maybe 2,3 years from now....what will be on the plate then???

Rust tea, no weakness below 4000 with my '06. Flies out, Yoshi slips and Ivan's TRE and tune (sorry Hub...LOL) and she pulls like a freight train off the bottom. This was the gold standard back in '06 and nothings changed. Mine will stand up in first gear at 1500 rpm, more than this I don't need. It's easy to mess up the low end on a Gen 1 or Gen 2 with the wrong pipe and tune. Dyno tests proved the Gen 1 had max grunt with just a slip and gave up very little on top to a full system. Seems mother Kaw got the headers mostly right on the Gen 1 and put the Cats where they belonged, back in the bazookas where they could be easily ditched.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/27/2011 @ 6:57 PM *

I would love more grunt in 6th too. lots of people including mag testers said the 6th had no use and I agree. on the hwa i get max fuel economy in 5th.

There you go. There is a variable. From point A-coast to point B-coast, we start off in said gears. Would not the 6th gear ratio, pick you up in cans ass, pass you for the win at, pen sell tuck key? No, I am stabbing for 7th gear as it is. I'm running 15.1:1 AFR at cruise in 6th.

Maybe I loopholed it that way against the 5th gear syndrome. I'll tell you the weakest point of that bike is me missing 4th way too many times. As bulletproof she still shifts today, you wanna back-cut that puppy, or do something so it slips in easier. I'm no engineer, but, I'll find that miss in the tune as much as that toe jam can. Same as there is too much air'ing on lift when that sub shaft takes over. That means, high speed work [with the flies out] eliminate this high speed keynoidol. Not the low speed annoyance of the subs. Some thing(s) still need work, so flies out on mine once again. I don't find them [subs] to be a serious complaint. I can handle something fresh off the drawing board. I'd say either that heat treat on the gears is better than I remember. No crying here.

The next step to is to run an italian tune up at the shifter. Ape's patented, no needing to pull the lever for up shifts; here you eliminate the need for an air bottle and all that hydraulic linkage on the outside. I'm sure it's a solenoid drum or behind the star? Somehow, that solenoid has to slam that drum in milliseconds. I haven't seen a FSM on their latest model, meaning, to see that design layout. I'd like to know how it really works from the inside.

Someone needs a lesson and shit is happening fast. This is not a power war. This is an electronics war.

* Last updated by: Hub on 12/27/2011 @ 7:08 PM *

Nicely put Kruz. I've put close to 6k on my '11 and still have only put risers, center stand, n throttlmeister on it, so I feel there's still ALOT of uncharted territory to explore...so I'm not going anywhere for a good while :) Maybe 2,3 years from now....what will be on the plate then???

Same here, new bike is great but the timeframe is all wrong for me. Maybe a Gen 4 if Big Red is getting long I'n tooth about 2014 or so. By then, Suzuki will have struck back with a clean sheet redesign on their Hayabusa. I don't believe there's enough growth potential in the existing platform.

Hub's bogartin the peace pipe and what he's smokin you don't want to know...LOL!

I could always feel the flies open at about 3800rpm when it would sudden;y lurch forward without any change in throttle settings.

.....although I am curious if the 2012 has this little peccadillo. (not armadillo) ....and I wouldn't want to talk you out of buying a 2012, russty..........just paint it Midnight Sapphire Blue

* Last updated by: Rook on 12/27/2011 @ 7:56 PM *

Twas written: "they added 30 lbs and thirty hp". (believe the weight increase is actually less than 20 lbs, btw)

Question: How many drag racers would not take a lb for a hp? That's a pretty steep ratio of power to weight.

If that ratio held true for the whole pkg, then that bad boy would be making 580 hp stock! Thats a bit North of the most radical turbo mods now isn't it?

All of a sudden, 14 fans are now wanting it to be some sort of liter size Moto GP bike? and drag strip Boss Hoss simultaneously?

This new 14 is so improved in so many ways, it would seem, it is a whole new standard for a big man's supersonic transport. If Suzuki, BMW or whomever wants to play; welcome and let the games begin but don't start making apples to oranges comparisons with sub 57 inch wheelbases or hard bag interstate cruisers. First and foremost they have to get in the right ballpark and only Suzuki comes close to being there, IMHO.

When some of you fellas who have that bent of mind, get the wheelbase stretched and new pipes and nitrous bolted on and on and on and on; I am sure you will be setting new drag strip records! Can Harley be dethroned at the strip?

And when some of you fellas with the super light wheels and the carbon part substitutes and unobtanium alloy suspensions and on and on and so forth get done with it; I am sure it will carve the curves nearly as well as the liter bikes.

But it is what it is, and what it comes as from the factory is NOT what you mod it to be. It is a major step up in the so called "hypersport" category and that's good enough for me.

Cheers.

The liter comparo started when liters started to make as much hp. It's like going to the gym and watching a corner lift more weight than a lineman. what is the word coming to? lol

Yeah but like I said look at a mighty beemer dyno chart its making great power above 12K or so. And that equates to what above 70 80 mph not from a low speed roll. Were talking 441 extra here.

I'm not a drag racer so I'll give this example... you're enjoying a nice hway cruise at 70mph when a bmw comes and blast you. I know our bikes can crush a liter once well into the triple digit but u know the distance u need to reach 170mph and the ticket u are going to get? The new 14R is better but hyperbikes should crush liters from 70mph to 140 mph

Don't get me wrong there is nothing like getting on a hway with the 14 but

"Seems someone else heard the same noise I did"...ya...so what...I never said it was totally gone.Show me where I said it's completely gone.

"Now it's a mod monster? That means more HP and I thought there was too much already. You are attacking the same mods once again as if the bike is neutered. YOu should be saying, wow, kawi pulled one out of their ass this time. I don't know if mods will help? . I can't find a clean road to open it up as is"...

"I can't find a clean road to open it up as is"..this is YOUR thinking.I've got PLENTY of clean open roads to rip on this girl.Geez....None of what you're throwing out there as something I intimated is anywhere NEAR a truthful statement.None of it.Am I the only one seeing this BS?

let me clarify one thing..I NEVER said I didn't want more HP or 'it had too much already"...geez.I've NO idea how that got thrown into MY statements.Someone can't get there stories straight around here.Not my problem.Good to hear some guys on here are truly getting it.I for one want all I can get.The new bird is gonna be my ticket(for now..and most likely a long ways up the road as well).The statement I made about a mod monster is exactly that.This bike has fantastic potential for modding.I never said I was gonna mod anything except in passing or 'daydreaming".Fantastic potential means...."now hear this wankers...this baby needs no mods....but if you do...hold onto yer azz..."....clear enough for you ones who are saying I said she needed mods.Neutered?...not my opinion...someone elses here....you know who you are.Along with the rest of your koo koo misinterpretations of what I in particular have said.ZX14R...killer bike and not for the squeamish....if the 14 is 'too much' for ya...best ferget about this new bird.Let someone who can handle her buy it.

Like THIS statement>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"YOu should be saying, wow, kawi pulled one out of their ass this time"....am I the only one here seeing this blatant false idea being directed at me personally.

What the hell you think I've been saying even BEFORE I bought mine."Awesome bike...I'm getting one"....and my short reviews after I rode her.WHERE did you come up with THIS idea that I somehow played the bike down ever...I got hammered for saying what a great bike it was.Yeah...hammered by the same ones here that are STILL twisting things and trying to weasel their way out of their slamming of the growing group that can see what a bitchen new bike this really is.Not my problem...I HAVE a new 14r..and LOVE it!!!!!!!!No way would I ever go back to an earlier model...ever.BTW...this bike needs NO mods.But if you do....hold on...she's gonna be a handful ALREADY!

Aw what the hell...everyone runs what they brung.For anyone here wondering...I say...if you're considering a new 14r....get her.You will not be disappointed.She very well might be the last bike you'll ever want.

"I want something that will haul strongly from 1500 rpm, building smoothly to an insane peak hp. I want to ride gently in traffic. accelerate strongly away from the lights, without needing to develop drag racing starts. I don't drag race, i don't track race, i ride it on the road. that's why KHI fitted lights and blinkers, right?"...nicely put.Exactly my ideas as well.I could care less about 1/4 mile times or top speed runs.This bike rides and rolls like no other sportbike on the road.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 12/28/2011 @ 1:40 AM *

Don't get me wrong there is nothing like getting on a hway with the 14 but

She very well might be the last bike you'll ever want.

I think, I may already have that bike.

I want something that will haul strongly from 1500 rpm, building smoothly to an insane peak hp.

I know, I already have that bike.

I want to ride gently in traffic. accelerate strongly away from the lights, without needing to develop drag racing starts. I don't drag race, i don't track race, i ride it on the road.

Sounds a lot like what I do.

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/28/2011 @ 6:12 AM *

but u know the distance u need to reach 170mph and the ticket u are going to get?

A ticket would be the least of your worries at that speed on a public road.

This bike rides and rolls like no other sportbike on the road.

See this is the kind of statement I have a problem with Green, that is only your opinion and very subjective. I've drunk that new bike Kool Aid over and over again, six times in the past five years. Everyone of them was the greatest thing out there, puts everytning else on the trailer, like no other, does everything but make you a cup of coffee in the morning, on and on and on, ad nauseum and infinitum. It's marketing hype, all of these bikes are good....no wait a second.... all of these bikes are great! I haven't ridden a bad one yet and trying to make it sound like one is vastly superior to another is an exercise in hair splitting! You like your new bike, we get that. You like talking about your new bike, we get that too. The more you try to hammer folks on these forums though Green, the more resistance you're going to get, you know that. Sometimes better to walk softly and carry a big stick...... but you're going to hammer on anyway, I know you....so hammer on.

BTW, don't get your panties tied in a knot green, we're just having a friendly discussion, none of this is personal...

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/28/2011 @ 8:34 AM *