BikeTest: Kawasaki GTR 1400The Kawasaki GTR 1400 has the looks, power, speed and comfort that makes it his new favourite sports tourer, writes Geoff Hill
Until yesterday, my favourite sports tourers in the world were the venerable Honda Pan-European and the idiosyncratic BMW 1200ST.
I use the past tense advisedly, though, for I have just spent the day riding the new Kawasaki GTR 1400, and the bad news for both Honda and the chaps in Bavaria are that they'd better go back to the drawing board, for Kawasaki have done that very Japanese thing of taking a good idea, deconstructing it then putting it back together even better than before.
Beside the GTR, the Pan-European suddenly looks dated and dull, no matter how worthy it is, and even the slick Beemer fades into second place, especially if you're one of the many people who never grew to love the angular look of a bike designed by the same lunatics who turned the elegantly retro BMW Z3 roadster into the slab-sided and ugly Z4.
No, the Kwacker is a bike you love at first sight: mean and purposeful, with everything from the tidy instrument panel back to the capacious but unobtrusive panniers just begging you to load it up, climb aboard and hit out for the horizon.
It's a feeling which has already been tried and tested in Australia, where in the six months that the bike has been on the market, it's already become a legend as an effortless mile muncher.
And you can see why - it's so effortless that you don't even need to turn a key to start it. Get within 10 metres of it, and the proximity key in your pocket gets it all ready to go, with only the start button between you and the growl of the in-line four taken from the ZZR1400, the world's most powerful sports bike.
Connect that to an effortless clutch and a flawless shaft drive, and the result is acceleration that will satisfy anyone short of a test pilot. Its top end means you can cruise all day at 140mph on the autobahn if you want to.
Of course, 0-60 isn't what sports tourers are about, and it's on open roads that the GTR gets even better, with a riding position so comfortable that even after hours in gale force winds, freezing rain and hailstones, you will still have a smile on your face. It may be frozen in place, but at least it'll be there.
To help keep you smiling, you will also have a pair of warm hands, thanks to Kawasaki's attention to detail which extends to the fact that the combination of the electric sliding screen and the low-level - but entirely adequate - mirrors diverts the wind neatly past your mitts, leaving your fingers toasty without electric grips even on the worst of days.
There's more attention to detail in a digital display which even includes your tyre pressures.
So if you are heading down that autobahn at 140mph and both suddenly read zero, do stop immediately. Not that you have to ride like a bullet to enjoy the GTR, since it's as stable and tractable pottering through traffic as it is trying to get to Berlin by teatime.
As I say, the Australians love it, which considering they don't like anything Japanese, speaks for itself, and several of the bike magazines there are predicting that it will be the bike of choice for several police forces in the years to come.
So don't be a bit surprised if you start to see these machines popping up with blue lights on them in the not too distant future.
Although hopefully not in your rear-view mirror.
FACTFILE
Engine:liquid-cooled, four-stroke
Displacement:1,352 cm3
Compression ratio:10.7:1
Valve/Induction system:DOHC, 16 valves with variable valve timing
Max power:114 kW/8,800rpm
Max torque:136 Nm/6,200rpm
Fuel system:fuel injection: 40mm x 4 Ignition: digital
Clutch:wet multi-disc, manual
Frame:Monocoque, pressed-aluminium Suspension: front - 43mm inverted fork with adjustable rebound damping and spring preload; rear - bottom-link uni-trak with gas-charged shock, tetra-lever
Tyres:front - 120/70ZR17M/C (58W); rear - 190/50ZR17M/C (73W)
Brakes:dual semi-floating 310mm petal discs (front) and single 270mm petal disc (rear)
Dimensions:2,270 x 1,000 x 1,290mm (1,405mm with screen in high position)
Wheelbase:1,520mm
Ground clearance:125mm
Seat height: 815mm
Fuel capacity:22 litres
Dry weight:279kg
Price:€18,950 (£10,995 in North)
* The bike on test was supplied by Philip McCallen of Lurgan (www.philipmccallen.com)