What makes the Kawasaki Z900 a sleeper cult classic?

Cycle World

Kawasaki’s 2025 Z900 and Z900 SE bring smart refinements to an already beloved platform, blending classic inline-four power with modern tech and impressive value. We took the upgraded SE model for a ride through the streets of Miami and onto the track at Homestead-Miami Speedway to test its versatility—and it delivered. With a smooth, torquey 948cc engine, improved emissions and fuel economy, new ride modes, a six-axis IMU, cruise control, and premium Öhlins and Brembo components on the SE, the Z900 proves it’s still one of the best all-around naked sportbikes available. Whether commuting, carving canyons, or chasing lap times, the Z900 SE hits the sweet spot between performance, comfort, and affordability.  Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/kawasaki-z900-se-first-ride/  Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/ Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld

Transcript

00:00What is it about Kawasaki's Z900 that has made this such a popular kind of cult classic bike?

00:09And I think there's a couple of things going on. It's one of the last inline for naked street bikes

00:14that's out there in this sub 1000cc category. It's got a really affordable price point. Today

00:20we rode the SE model which is $11,849 which is very competitive against some of the bikes like

00:28Yamaha's MT-09SP. But the SE that we rode today has some upgrades. It has the upgraded Olin suspension,

00:35it has the upgraded Brembo brakes, a fully adjustable fork, some additional electronics stuff.

00:40Hopefully when we're done with our day on the street and our day at the track we'll be able

00:44to answer those questions and give you a better understanding of what makes this bike so popular.

00:48So the engine in the Z900, both models, the base model and the SE model, is an updated version of

00:59the 948cc inline 4 engine that's been in this for a little while. This year for 2025 received some

01:05changes. Some of those changes were done to meet Euro 5 emissions but then they did some other changes.

01:11They changed the cams, they changed the ECU. Kawasaki says that this has better low to mid-range

01:17power than it had before. It's got new electronic throttle valves on the throttle bodies and it's

01:23got IMU based rider aids now which it didn't have before. So those are a couple of the big key changes

01:29to the engine but Kawasaki claims about 123 horsepower at 9500 rpm and about 73 pound feet of peak torque

01:39at 6500 rpm. There's not too many inline fours right now in this class. There's a lot of parallel twins,

01:45there's some v-twins, there's some other configurations but the inline four naked sport

01:50bike is kind of disappearing. It'll be really nice to ride this today on the track and get a better

01:56feel for what this engine is all about. Now you're probably asking, well this is a street bike, why

02:03are we at the racetrack? But a lot of people are going to take this bike to a racetrack and do some

02:07track days. We had the opportunity to ride it here at Homestead Miami Speedway. The one thing that just

02:12stands out is this engine is just such a fun displacement. The engine is so smooth, has a

02:19really nice rev characteristic, real nice top end. Riding around, started playing with some gears,

02:25started figuring out that I could be in third instead of going down to second in some places

02:30and really getting a good sense of what the flexibility of this engine is.

02:34The chassis on the Z900 has an updated frame. It's a steel trellis frame. This bike has a fully

02:43adjustable fork. It's got preload compression and rebound. It's got the Brembo radial mount four

02:49piston calipers on the front and strangely a Nissan master cylinder and then 300 millimeter discs.

02:56And then at the back it's got an Ohlin shock with a remote preload adjuster and that's got preload and

03:01rebound damping and adjustment. And then it's got the matching wheels, really nice overall look.

03:07As far as the chassis goes, this bike isn't a track oriented sport bike. It's kind of an everyday

03:12do-it-all sport bike. Fully adjustable fork and the Ohlin shock and the Brembo brakes, everything worked

03:17really good on the racetrack. I think for the casual guy going and doing a track day, it is a fully

03:23capable machine that was really fun to ride on the track. Throw some great tires on it were on the stock

03:28Sport Max's Q5S and they were great. They were, you know, super good on the track. But I think overall

03:34the handling is really, really nice. It's stable. The brakes are not super aggressive at the initial

03:40bike, but I think that's okay. I think you don't want that on the street. I think they've got a really

03:45good overall feel and the suspension. I had no real complaints riding around on the track today. So

03:51overall the experience on the track from a riding side was really, really good. I think this bike is

03:56totally capable. It can do a little bit of everything. It can be a commuter, it can be a

04:00great sport bike, and then you can take it to a track day and have a lot of fun. So we also got

04:05to ride this bike on the street today. So we did a lot of urban congestion, a lot of stuff that you

04:11would do on your typical commute. If you were going to just buy a bike that could kind of do it all and

04:16be a good commuter, be sporting so you could take it on the canyon roads on the weekend, then this is a

04:21great choice. Like this bike is just so comfortable to ride on the street. You've got that upright

04:26riding position. You've got a really smooth engine, really good low to mid-range power. So you know,

04:33riding around on the street, you kind of got a good indication of what it's like to live with on a

04:37daily basis. And I think this is a bike anybody could live with. It's just a super fun sport bike,

04:42but also really practical. A couple of things that stand out, the quick shifter is really good. One of the

04:48things that Kawasaki tried to work on, on this quick shifter is to make it shift at really low

04:53RPM. So this thing will work down to like 1500 RPM and shift really, really smooth with the quick

04:59shifter, just really seamless. The brakes aren't too touchy. Everything just kind of works really good.

05:04You know, as a street bike, it's just really practical, comfortable and fun. So let's talk about

05:08the ergonomics a little bit. This bike, the bar placement, super neutral, super comfortable,

05:13pulls you forward a little bit. So that's good when you're riding sporty canyons or riding

05:18on the track, but kind of has that everyday comfort that you're expecting. The cockpit itself,

05:22I think the foot position is really nice. It's not too bent on your knees. I think it's a pretty

05:27overall sporty, but comfortable riding position. Kawasaki really worked on trying to make the seat

05:33narrower, adding more padding, which the new frame rails allowed them to do is to have a thicker seat

05:38without changing the seat height so much to keeping it at a reasonable level for most riders. But overall,

05:44I think the ergonomics are sporty and comfortable. You can live with it on a day-to-day basis.

05:49Really nice bike for what this bike is. So let's talk a little bit more about the electronics package.

05:54First thing you'll notice is there's a brand new TFT display, really nice, bright display,

06:00very easy to read in all sorts of conditions. We rode it on the racetrack today. You can see it

06:04right there around town. Everything's easy. They've also got a new left bar control pod,

06:09which has easy to select mode switches. You can scroll through your modes on the fly. You can change

06:14those on the fly. For this type of bike, it doesn't have a super elaborate electronics package, but it

06:19does have for the first time a new IMU, which they didn't have before, which gives the ABS and the

06:26traction control some different information to make it more sophisticated than this bike has ever had.

06:32So it's got four ride modes. You've got your typical sport, road, rain, and then a user mode. The user mode,

06:38you can go in and you can turn your traction control completely off or you can set your power

06:42to two different levels and set your TC to three other levels other than off. With the stock street

06:47tires, it was actually nice having some TC on today. There's some places where the bike would start to

06:53spin a little bit and it was nice to have the TC on. It's got new LED lighting. It's got a new LED

06:59tail light. It's got some really nice features. It's got cruise control for the first time and all of

07:04this was enabled by the IMU and the ride by wire throttle. And so those are new features that were

07:11due on this bike and give it a lot more value. But overall, I think for this price point where this

07:16bike sits, this bike has pretty darn good electronics package. It doesn't have separate wheelie control.

07:23It doesn't have engine brake control and some of those things that some of the other bikes have, but it has a

07:27pretty good suite that is, you know, pretty much everything you need for this type of bike. Both

07:33on the street and on the track, we're pretty impressed with the electronics package. What I think is so

07:38cool about this motorcycle is this motorcycle can be a great commuter, can be a really fun street bike.

07:44But then we ripped around Homestead Speedway today for like three or four sessions and it was an absolute

07:50ball. Good suspension, good brakes, a really fun engine. This bike for its price point has really good

07:57performance, has styling that if you like, it's really aggressive and cool and it performs really

08:04well. That inline four engine is so smooth that it kind of does everything everywhere. It's really

08:09good on the street. It's really good on the track. I think it'll be really good in the canyons doing that.

08:13So I think we came to a pretty good conclusion of what this bike is and it's just a great all-around

08:19street bike that can kind of do it all. And I think that's why this bike has developed a cult following and

08:26why people are gravitating towards it. If you're interested in the 2025 model, it's actually been

08:31upgraded quite a bit and we thought it's really fantastic. So thanks again for watching and if

08:37you like what you see, please like, comment and subscribe and we'll talk to you next time.

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