Yesterday I finally got a chance for my first ride on a ZX14. A dealership has a completely stock "Arrest Me" Red 2006 with 4900 miles. I only rode it about 15 miles and didn't really get to evaluate it for my intended purpose. Too much traffic and not enough curves. What I did get is that it is scary fast, the engine is very smooth, ride quality is good, it has great brakes, and it seems comfortable.

I'm an aggressive sport rider and do a bit of sport touring as well. I don't care about top speed or 1/4 mile times. I'm all about the curves. And at 6'4" 250lbs and older than I used to be, comfort is getting to be more important. But I don't want a C14 or the likes. They are too heavy and too much on the touring side of things.

An example of how I would use the ZX14 is to visit a riding buddy in Montana 580 miles away. I load up my gear and ride there in one day with as little time as possible on straight roads. I go across Lolo Pass, for those that know. Once in MT, sometimes I drop the luggage and mix riding Lost Trail Pass for the day with fly fishing, riding ATV's etc. or sometimes we pack up and head out to some other destination with lots of curves in MT, ID, WY or Canada for several days. Then I make the ride back in one day.

Because of the short test ride I don't know how comfortable it would be on a 500+ mile day. The short distance and lack of curves near the dealer also didn't allow me to see how well it would handle on Lolo or Lost Trail and tighter passes. I may be able to get a longer test ride to better determine for myself but I would like to hear from those of you that use the bike for similar duties. What you have done or would do to the bike to make it better? How well you hang with buddies on liter bikes? How comfortable it is on long trips, sometimes several days of 400 miles in a row?

Throw a set of clip-on risers on it and change the seat out, and I think that it would be great for your purposes, and comfortable.

The only thing you have to deal with is luggage capacity.

Go for it!

Everything I've heard says the 14 does a great job "sport-touring". That is one of the reasons I just purchased one myself. I have risers on order, and am contemplating a DB shield, but other than that she seems very comfortable right out of the box. We take multiple day trips all the time, as well as an annual 2 week trip on our bikes. (this year we're heading down to Red Lodge Montana for a little "meet&greet", then riding over to the Oregon Coast for 8-9 days)
I'm really looking forward to having oppurtunity to get back onto the Lolo Pass on this bike.
From my limited seat time so far, the one thing I notice (as compared to the old cruisers) is that their is nowhere near the changes in speed required when you ride this bike. It handles so well, and is so smooth and effortless to ride.....any miles of any roads (and yea, we also prefer the mountains) seem to reel off in no time.

I rode a couple of 600 mile days with stock seat and bars.
We def are no the same build or weight, but I managed fine and could have taken more.

Even though I am putting on a full LSL kit, I was quite shocked at how comfy the stock ergos were when I rode the thing home for 1000 miles. My lower back had to really stretch out and it was difficult to keep my ass far enough back on the seat, but other than that I didn't have to specifically take any more breaks than I normally do.

I've done over 300 miles at a pop on my 14 and it's really comfortable. On the handling side, so far I prefer the 14 to my CBR 1000 in all but the tightest curves. On high speed sweepers the 14 is almost unbeatable, very smooth and stable.

Kruz

Ah Yes-Montana.........Lovely place to ride.Great sweepers,curves.Plenty of places to open er up.I envy you guys that can take 8-9 days and just GO!Get the 14-you can mod it in so many ways.But it is still-A SPORT BIKE.If stretching out like on a Harley is your deal-forget the Kawi.For everything else,the zx will outperform all.(except as mentioned,TIGHT twisties).My baby runs so good-I can't imagine any other bike,and I've had Harley's and other zx's(1200 zzr,zx12r).If ya want bags-they've got em-just look at Keendog's black beauty.I doubt if you will find a more solid,reliable bike on the planet.I've had ZERO probs with mine.18,800 miles.I mean-NO PROBS.My other Kawi's were exactly the same.At 17,000 miles-the Harley(heritage classic)needed a COMPLETE wiring harness-the heads were leaking,and the crankcase gaskets were leaking.I couldn't do much more than about 200-300 miles(with stops)on my zx14 with the stock seat.Changed out to a Connie 14 seat.IMO the best seat out there for the money.Have some Buell pegs on the way right now.Have a Zero Gravity ST windscreen,and a Puig Double Bubble which I switch between depending on my mood.Both work great.Flies out-PCIII installed.LSL bar kit with Superbike High Bars.16/42 gearing.I mean-this baby ROCKS!! I just love my bike.Someday when I retire(in about 10 years?)(I'm 55 now),I'll get out and do those 8-9 day cruises,if God allows.Ride safe out there-You won't be sorry you bought the 14.

* Last updated by: blue07 on 4/17/2009 @ 1:45 PM *

Sounds like the zx14 is exactly what you want.
There are quite a few of us heavyweights tearing through the twisties on our zx14's with the biggest sh*t eatin' grins you've ever seen hiding under our lids!!!
I'm on stock seat and bars. I bought my '06 in June of '08 with 0 miles on the clock. I'm currently just under 13k and don't have agripe. This is the best bike I've owned. Most of my rides fall in the 300-500 mile range and I have no desire to change the bike's ergos.
I've got my stock suspension pretty much cranked to the max and I still think it needes to be stiffer. I rub though the super tight stuff a little more than I think I should. But hey, I don't think stock for stock there is a better sport touring (with a serious emphasis on the SPORT) machine out there.

* Last updated by: DogoZX on 4/17/2009 @ 2:41 PM *

I've done 600+ days on mine and no problems!!!But I've also got riser's,a C14 seat,Puig DB windscreen and throttle lock.But when I want to eat some corners up(and R1's n 954's)it does the job AWSOME!!!!And if anybody is interested I have an extra set of Heli-bar risers for sale $45 shipped!!!
This LoLo pass......
Left Missoula at 8:30 in the morning and rode down to about 50 north of Boise and then back up to Bozeman,Mt thru Salmon,Id that one day.I think it was around 850 miles!

* Last updated by: ninjamaster on 4/17/2009 @ 3:26 PM *

Too bad I didn't know about your heli-bar risers yesterday. I just ordered a set.

So you think this is one of the most photographed road signs in America, or what?

* Last updated by: bgordon on 4/17/2009 @ 4:38 PM *

Ninjamaster, I'm interested - pics to lemosley01@hotmail.com please!

2nd on the risers if lemosley01 does not take them.

That has to be one of most photographed sign with a motorcycle for sure. Thank you all for the feedback. It looks like the 14 could well be my next bike. I hope I can work out a trade for my Sprint ST for a 14. Unfortunately, my Sprint has not held it's value very well as I found out today when I discussed a trade. I am going to have to shop around a bit and see what I can come up with. Thanks for all the feedback and the 14 does seem to be the right bike.

i love my 14.. i go canyon riding almost every weekend and it handles and preforms great! i ride with a duc 848, cbr 1000, R1, suz 1000 and a few 600's most have ridden a while and some a few track days, but no one can keep up.. its a great feeling! and on straights forget it.. no ones catching you!!

Fishhuntride, we're about the same size so here's my two cents. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the ergos of the 14 and for us bigger folk it's a great fit. I had a ZRX prior to the 14 which was always popular with big guys and was a little worried about long range comfort on the new bike but just dove in. The first and only ergo change was putting on gen mar risers which netted about 3/4" rise which was perfect. A while back I posted in accessories about having a hard time with the shifter position and figured that lost of people would weigh in, but apparently it doesn't seem to be a problem for most. I still find the pedal too low and and up missing the occasional shift due to inadvertently preloading the pedal before the upshift with my foot wedged in there. There are a number of options I'm looking at, with dropping the pegs just a little being the best solution, probably with this system from schnitz http://www.schnitzracingstore.com/catalogs/catalog.asp?prodid=5122631&showprevnext=1. And thanks to Hotrodnut for finding that. The lower peg will be just that, a lower peg and also effectively raise the shifter. I'll post photos if and when I do it. I've gone two and a half tanks with the only break being refueling and pissing and felt fine. And I'm getting awfully close to 50. It's comfortable while maintaining a pretty nice aero profile.

As far as the handling goes, it's a big bike and rides like a smaller bike, but it's still a big bike. Not that it's a full on track bike, but it'll definitely hold it's own in the twisties and then some. I swapped for a few miles with a friend of mine and rode his '08 GSXR 1000 and thought I'd nail him everywhere but he greased me a couple of times pretty good. The 14's motor is just such a lovable piece of engineering. Getting into wide open sweepers and big space allows the bike to eat just about anything alive. Getting out of New York City where I live sucks though; the big bike starts to feel big in traffic and in slow speed sudden lane changes, splitting, veering taxis, etc.. 600's and 750's are great city bikes, but once you get out of town the 14 rules and I can't imagine a better bike. I am loving this machine. Score one for sure.

Pic sent!!!!

Ninjamaster - I didn't get any pics.

lemosley01@hotmail.com

(That's a numeric zero in the 'lemosley01' portion of my address, not a capital letter 'O'.)

Pic sent again