The Cars Guys Ride a ZX14
And they like it… a lot. Well, who wouldn’t. I mean sick horsepower and the resultant speed are really, really addicting. Motive rides and lives to write about it.The flamed out bike they chose is a little gaudy, but hey, they usually have better taste- at least with cars. BTW, they have one of the slickest, well done websites around. The car articles are worth reading too!
We were headed for the hills, but had a few freeway exits to roll past first. Riding in a legal/normal fashion, the ZX-14 is plush, comfortable, and quiet. The ergonomics are just right and I could easily see rolling up a 500-mile day on this bike without needing ibuprofen with my dinner. We turned left to head up the mountain toward Lake Arrowhead and the road soon turned curvy. Funny thing about this road: I didn’t remember hearing that someone had removed all the straightaways. Even at partial throttle at anything above 5 grand I found myself giggling and thinking, “Damn! This thing is crazy fast.” Twisting the throttle at corner exits is like bringing a howitzer to a barfight. Sure you’ll win, but who’s gonna clean up the mess? So I pictured my children, decided I wanted to see them again, and short-shifted. This is how I learned to love the revised midrange and the long, completely linear and predictable ramp of torque. The bike is just as thrilling as last year’s model, but is now easier to ride and therefore safer. Speaking of which, slowing down is sometimes necessary and it’s nice that the petal-style brake rotors shed heat so you won’t boil your Dot-5 when doing repeated downhill stoppies.