Kawasaki Z1000SX (2017-2019) review - an excellent sports tourer replaced by the Kawasaki Ninja 1000SX in 2020

OEM tyre's were shocking. (Bridgestone S20) lacked grip and didn't inspire any confidence. Wouldn't track round a corner and frequently found myself drifting wide. Lack of feedback to the rider. Brakes are really good but could be better with an upgrade to braided lines. Riders seat isn't that great and I found I needed to stop after an hour riding. Upgrading to a gel seat has improved the comfort. Riding position is good but you do suffer from buffeting when cruising at motorway speeds no matter what position the screen is in.

Not the most powerful 1000cc engine out there but more than enough for day to day riding.

My bike has only covered 2500 miles due to the pandemic etc but it is showing no signs of corrosion.

OE suspension a bit soft ,an extra 4-5 clicks on rear preload help loads on the sporty end of handling although you feel the bumps a bit more. Nice to have the ABS with cornering...never knowingly felt it kick in

A very nice thing, a few vibes at some revs and 4-5th gear drops out occasionally if you are a bit less than positive on change up.

A well made thing, thick paint and plastics, a few fixings showing a haze due to the winter weather. Like a faithful old dog it has never let me down.

Ignore the 3.25k miles service but even the 7.5 k miles is too soon. First chain dead at 12k miles. Considering the power and torque the tyres hold up pretty well 7k miles at least.

Just enough stuff but not too much as stock. Aftermarket heated grips are a nice to have. Extended front mudguard is needed to protect the radiator (as it is on most bikes). Aftermarket seat helps a lot over the hardwood plank Kawasaki fits. Many don't like the stock exhaust but from the rear view, which is how 99.99% will see you on the road they look mean.

Std seat can get uncomfortable after a few hrs & most get it modified or fit a gell insert

Pulls like a train in all gears with loads of mid range

No problems to date

Can get expensive with plugs air filter at 16k

OE tyres on early SX up to 2020 are not good, change them & transforms the bike, latest SX ninja tyres are good. Safety is good with good abs & traction control along with cornering imu feature, gearbox is generally good but fourth gear change at low revs is lumpy. Tail tidy a decent hugger & a rad guard are worth while accessories

brilliant brakes - find the seat comfortable on long journey but that might be because I am 10 stone so lightweight - however for serious touring would upgrade

sweet engine, tried and trusted - 140 bhp is plenty enough for road riding. pulls well from low down Can pull from 30mph right through in 6th

£165 for service - inc vat and parts £127.50 to fit supplied tyre and new chain and sprocket kit Overall think servicing cost very reasonable - check out Ducati servicing if you think this is expensive

I fitted heated grips, usb power supply and cruise control - all of which is being fitted as standard on the latest model. Electronic rider package is good Kawasaki just need to listen to riders re the seat and tyres - they have listened on other items - overall the z1000sx represents a really good bike at reasonable cost

2 hours

Would have given 5☆ if it had a better seat that's suitable for distance, also the paint to the wheels could be better quality. Brakes are excellent, no complaints from me. Generally it's an adequate all round bike.

Super smooth engine & box and faultless power delivery.

Well built, but, corrosion to some fasteners and screws. Thankfully it's never let me down and hopefully 🤞 this will continue.

Servicing costs are reasonable and the service at Doncaster Motorcycles is top notch.

Favourite features for me are the styling, engine & power delivery & ease of riding. Worst feature is the tyres.

Hard seat

Excellent

Ride quality is very smooth , great suspension set up. Best I've owned.

Creamy smooth engine , perfect fuelling.

Slight corrosion on some the the engine bolts. Not left out in the rain , so I wouldn't have expected that.

Slightly heavy on fuel compared to previous bike of simular cc.

I've changed a few things on this bike but the seats are going to be the next thing as both rider and pillion seats are pretty uncomfortable after an hr or so. Not great for a sports tourer. Passenger grab rails are a bit low for my pillion to reach too. I think it's a bike that does most things well but nothing outstanding. I also find the dash hard to read sometimes. On the new Ninja they have a much better TFT

It's a really good engine and you can be lazy with it and leave the bike in 6th gear most of the time. It did fell slow coming from a Fireblade to begin with but now used to it I don't think it's at all slow and it pulls well from down low too.

Not had a problem and it lives outside under a sheet. Having said that I've only had it through 2 winters. One of the main reasons I change bikes every few years is they start to corrode being outside all the time but so far so good as is the reliability.

Not sure on servicing costs as so far only had one service as only covered just over 2000miles mainly because of covid restrictions

I like the adjustable screen which works well and keeps much of the wind off me at speed. The big rear suspension adjuster is basic but easy to use. The panniers are also excellent. Although you can't have a top box as well. If you buy the sports version you get some akrapovic cans but you have to pay £1000 more for this version. I fitted some black widow end cans instead for less than £400 and I think they look just as good.

I've lowered the footpegs and changed the seat to make it more comfortable for 500+ mile day's. It's fantastic on sweeping A road's

Perfect, never short of power but will happily potter

No problems

Around 180-200 mile tank range while touring

All round flexibility especially with the pannier system is great, always recommend Michelin tyres have had PR3, 4 and road5

OE tyres are rubbish, PR5's are way better, standard seat, all day comfy, arse gets a bit sore after a tankful, but a 10 minute stop allows for another tankful without stopping never had pillion on this one

loads of power for the road, relatively easy on fuel,

nothing fell off or broke,

running costs are low, great service intervals, not bad on tyres, brakes, chain & sprockets

fitted a top box as it was more practical, cant fit panniers along with top box, i miss the luggage capacity when away on trips or carrying stuff for work no center stand, have to use a paddock stand for essential maintenance, the locating lugs for the paddock stand on the wing mean a lot of leverage is required to lift the bike

7000 mile service expensive

Stock tyres not great...

As mentioned, ride quality and shocks are excellent although to get the best you have to remove the Bridgestones as they do not like slippery scottish roads. Breaks are perfect for the road and I only ever changed them for track use as they would start to fade after a day of lapping donnington... but not a concern on the road and have done 10hours hard riding in a day and had nothing but perfect road feedback and quality stopping power.

This bike is renowned for its engine and they have even managed to reduce the 7k vibration I had on previous versions. Power delivery is fantastic!! You can potter through a town in 6th gear at 30 and then take it all the way up to 150mph without changing gear but if u want to do some real track work it really comes alive at the top of the rev range... and sounds lovely without being stupidly loud...

I can't complain much as the bike is extremely well built , electronics work in harmony and shocks etc are all of good enough quality for most of us road users and track day mental.. over the years ive had very few issues with any of them. Latest version has fantastic lights compared to previous ones, and has thenupgraded in cornering ABS but on the down side the OEM chain is awful as it rusts even when its never seen rain but does give you the excuse to upgrade to a better one and replace the sprocket with a colour coded SuperSprox one.. also, the Bridgestone tyres that come with it give really poor grip and I always end up having to change them immediately to PR5s which bring the bike to life and drastically improves front tyre confidence....

Local garage ive used for years so quality is good as kawasaki garage too far away....

Definitely got lots of positives but could do with electronic suspension for us not techies who want to do a little racing every now and again (remembering it weighs in around 235kg so mucking about with the suspension can be as rewarding as dangerous) also heated grips, comfier seat, better quality chain and always, I mean always, change those Bridgestones before u end up with a costly drop!!!..

Quiet and smooth throughout the rev range

Good build quality.

500 mile service £80 then annual service of around £225

Heated grips a must have! Tyres that bike was supplied with Awful. Changed them after less than 2000 miles.

Brakes are fine; ride quality is also good, the seat however is, for me at least, far too uncomfortable when touring, after 100 miles it's taking my mind off my riding!

Plenty of power and lovely delivery, very enjoyable.

After 2 years and 7k miles it still looks very good and I'm not the best at keeping it clean! I've had no reliability issues at all.

1st service was about £80 and the 1 year service around £170 I think; and that's reminded me thank you, I need to sort out the 2nd year service!

Panniers are very good and have a great fitting system; I had the 12v socket fitted too which I think is a must. There's a great selection of sport touring tyres these days which all get great reviews, so why they fit the dreadful OE tyres I've no idea, I ditched them with less than 2k miles on them, horrid things!

7500 service quite expensive

Some nuts and bolts showing signs of age

Love the color orange it was difficult to find a bike with this color

Ride quality = 5 out of 5.... brakes = 5 out of 5 on the road but if you want to do track days they start to fade really badly so have had to upgrade them to Brembo and this totally solved the problem Nd I can do full day track sessions with confidence... but as I say, brakes are brilliant for roads as-is..

Plenty of low end torque, tonnes of power away from the lights, 100 easily in 3rd, 6th gear poodles at 30 then drives all the way up to 150 (when allowed ;-)), still has excellent punch when cruising at 80 and you turn the throttle for a lot more, and limiter gives enough room for you to play without killing it... electronics are little lacking and the setup remains a little too manual to be brilliant but set it up once and away you go.......

Only two things to report 1. The oem chain is awful and woukd rust after 2days in the desert, had to change ut and the rear sproket on all my Zs within a few months from new.. 2. The Bridegstone oem tyres are f'ing dangerous as they are lethal on slightly dam roads and, living in scotland, thats all we have!!! Front tyre is terrifying and regularly scares you on roundabouts at slow speeds.. Drop a pair of Pilot Road 4s on it before you even consider picking it up from the dealer and the bike becomes a planted missile with great feedback and front end confidence (I've head Methley and Dunlop give similar improvements) but the original tyres are a disgrace.. (ps. On the pre -2017 the lights were appalling and everyone has to change them to after market leds.. this has been resolved and now the lights are better if not amazing!)

Owned different Zs over the last 5years and not had anything but normal services, new boots, chain & sproket and lots of mods that I chose to add... brilliant value although the first service can be nearer £400...

As discussed, the original bridgestones are far too hard and do not heat up easily in wet condition, leaving a scary front end and continuous flickers of the traction control light even at low speeds. But change them and the bike transforms... no heated grips or cruise control as standard which is poor and decidedly behind the competition in electronic goodies (no modes and manual setup!!!!) but does have incornering ABS and excellent traction control but I guess this is how they keep the price point good... and the after market buoyant..

The ride is good but a sfter seat is called for. I've bought an air seat to ease the bum pain. As I've said earlier the brakes are good and gives you alot of confidence.

I still haven't used my bike in the sports mode but am very happy for the performence as it is. Probably get 120 miles to the tank (15 - 17) from empty. I'm sure you could get more out of it if your ride was more conservative shall we say.

I bought this second hand. I've only been a couple of thousand miles on it but have had no issues with it so far. The only thing that seem like it needs tightening is the rear light cluster but I'm told that's how it was designed.

My next service is a major service at 7500miles. The service cost is from Kawasaki. This isn't cheap and should I need a tyre or pads it could be even more expensive. I will probably do around 4000 miles a year so it will be one service a year.

Sometimes hard to see the display when it's sunny but other than that it's great. Had fitted Sat Nav and heated grips.

Awesome engine epic airbox howl

Sometimes gears don't engage you have to be firm with gear changes

Brakes are good but poor initial bite

Paint stone chips easily.

Loves the bends, devours the straights. Even with panniers filtering is easy. I've needed a pee before I've needed to stretch my legs. Commuting on busy roads into Oxford a pleasure, taking the long way home a treat. I ride year-round in all weathers and am enjoying the extra weather protection of the substantial fairings and screen. I am degrees warmer than on the GSR750.

140bhp. Smooth at all revs in every gear. Very forgiving in busy traffic. There's no-one going ahead of you at the lights. Overtaking from 60-90 even in 6th before you know it, drop a gear and she's there before you've even thought about it.

Very early days of course but the finish is superb. Paintwork (burnt orange is the fastest colour) is gorgeous, plastics solid and sturdy, all exposed metal seems well protected.

Purchase seemed excellent value to me, such a lot of bike for the money. MPG varies depending on how good a time I'm giving myself from 30ish to 50ish. Not yet at first service which is just a 'nut-check' at 4500.

Electronic rider supports can be as helpful as you want or not at all. Still on the supplied tyres which are OK, I will change to PR4 when ready I think as I've always enjoyed those. Kawasaki panniers solid. Easy to remove, capacious. No top box option with them so looking for something post-Christmas for when I'm not carting much stuff to and from work. Standard exhausts are a bit of an odd look maybe but I don't really mind and they sound good to me.

Love it

6000 miles so far from new and hasn't skipped a beat

Michelin pilot 4's and heated grips, what more is there

The longest l have rode it was approx two hours, back was a bit stiff when l got off. Very lightweight easy to take bends, seems wide, but still easy to filter. City and country roads are not a problem.

Starts first time every time, usual Kawasaki quality, build and finish.

Had to get checked at 600 miles.

How it looks and rides.

Great ride supple and well balanced, handles all roads, this best improvement over the old model. Brakes are top notch for road use. The riders seat is more comfortable now but its still not a two up long haul bike, pillion seat is just to small compared to a proper tourer.

Lovely smooth power delivery,not as vibey as my old model much easier to ride at higher revs. Still got a good top end rush. 140 hp is good enough for most situations.

Lovely paint, finish on other parts not as good as some European brands but that is reflected in the price. No issues with reliability so far.

not much difference to any other 4 cylinder 1000.

New clocks are good, no helmet lock, the std Bridgestone tyres seem to work much better than on the old bike, but i will still try some other brands when worn out

Great engine but gearbox needs better refinement when going down in the gears.

Cruise control on longer trips.