Kawasaki ZX-14

The World's Fastest Ninja

Boasting an inline four-cylinder engine that displaces 1352cc, the new ZX-14 is currently the biggest and most powerful sport bike in production. With the assistance of its ram-air system, the bike is said to produce 187 crankshaft horsepower at 9500 rpm. Even without the aid of forced air, stock engines have been pumping out over 170 bhp at the rear wheel on various dyno charts. But either way you measure it, the new Kawasaki has some monstrous levels of power available.

Pumping out enough raw horsepower to top 180mph without breaking a sweat, the new Kawasaki ZX-14 seems like an unlikely machine to be featured in RoadRUNNER. Our focus is usually directed toward touring and sport-touring rigs, with the occasional sport bike review or track day article thrown in, so this 10-second quarter-mile, drag-strip demon seems better suited splashed across the pages of a sport-bike magazine. But after spending a day in the saddle around Sonoma, California, with a passenger perched on the ZX-14's rear, I have to say this is one book you can't judge by its lurid cover.

The new liquid-cooled powerhouse has a pedigree that goes back to Kawasaki's original 1198cc ZX-12R. As the bike that came tantalizingly close to unseating the 1299cc Suzuki Hayabusa for the honor of being the world's fastest production motorcycle (a title recently usurped by MV Agusta's F4-1000R), it unfortunately came up a couple of miles per hour short in the top speed wars. Nor has it gained any on the cult status of the Hayabusa, as witnessed by the amount of support that bike garners in the aftermarket....

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