VOL. 50 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 29, 2013
P63
A BIT OF BOTH
E, PART TOURING BIKE, THE NINJA 1000 ABS IS DEFINITELY A BLEND OF THE TWO
BY PAUL CARRUTHERS
PHOTOS BY KINNEY JONES AND ADAM CAMPBELL
U
sually when we mix two
things together to make
something
different,
there's bound to be compromise. Reese's got it about right
with the peanut butter cup, but
most fail when it comes to mixing
and matching. Kawasaki, however, seems to have pulled it off
with its Ninja 1000 ABS.
Originally introduced in 2011 in
search of a compromise between
the ZX-10R and the Concours 14,
the Ninja 1000 has been updated with a closet full of improvements. And, yes, it has ABS in
its name for a reason. While last
year's version was available with
or without the braking aide, the
new model will come standard
with it. And for $11,999 – or just
$200 more than last year's withABS model.
And the $200 extra isn't just
to off-set the cost of doing business in bad times… Kawasaki
gives you much, much more than
$200 worth of additives with the
newest of the Ninja 1000s.
For starters, there's traction
control. Yes, traction control.
There's also two power
modes, monobloc front brake
calipers, engine upgrades… and
an improved luggage-mounting
system and subframe that will actually make you want to use the
hard bags.
Kawasaki gave us the opportunity sample the Ninja 1000
recently with a jaunt up the California coast from Los Angeles
to Monterey in time to catch the
World Superbike round at Laguna Seca. And it wasn't your standard, straight-shot, get-it-overand-done-with ride as we ended
up clocking nearly 500 miles