2010 Kawasaki Z1000 Euro Video Preview

News of the 2010 Kawasaki Z1000 is, in the ‘Net age, kind of old news already. Yet we’ve not even seen it close up and I’m now more eager than ever to ride this nutter!

During the U.S. intro of the new Concours 14 I had a little chitchat about the ’10 Z with some of my buddies at Kawi. Although I don’t think they’ve seen the attached Euro market video, from what little they told me about the bike’s performance, the opening minutes of this video seem to corroborate what the Kawi staff here said after they rode the bike.

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In case you’re not readily familiar with the history of the Z in the U.S., we have it here largely at the behest of management at Kawasaki Motors Corp., USA, as the bike is primarily for the European market. And we only have ourselves to blame. The Z, despite being a sales dominator in Europe, is a sales eliminator in the States.

Nevertheless, Kawasaki U.S. A. has once again gone out on a sales limb and asked that the Z1000 be delivered to America after having seen what the new Z is and what it’s about.

I know there’s a lot of pissing and moaning on the Net about the new style of the Zed (for ma’self, I like it!), but remember that it really isn’t made for us, but for Europe, ‘cause apparently, for some silly reason, we don’t buy naked standards in the same volumes as cruisers and repli-racers.

Stepping down of my soapbox now…

I rather enjoyed the most recent iteration of the Z, so I’m even more geeked to ride the new one. I’ll be slipping ol’ Duke man some sleepy time pills in his Diet Coke just to ensure I get the invite to the U.S. launch of the new Z, and not him.

For youz bitchin’ about the Z’s new colors, turn your head away near the end of the video when a quick glimpse of a secondary Euro color of what looks like a very sultry and subtle deep maroon with a crazy faux snakeskin seat cover. That seat can go in a minute, but the alternate color is sharp!

By Pete Brissette