I doubt there’s any person in the world (motorcyclist or otherwise) that doesn’t want to ride this and/or own it, right? Just looking at the thing immediately makes one conjure up images of having it sitting proudly in their garage, right, and justifiably so? If beautiful motorcycles were rated on a scale of one-to-ten this would be the proverbial 11, right?
KTM has gone ‘all-in’ as far as racing in America goes, with their latest trophy haul proving to the world that they have the recipe for success. This influence of being heavily involved in America seems to be rubbing off on the Austrian company... You see, in the United States of America excess and size matters. They openly preach from the good book of might is right, and hence there’s no replacement for displacement etc, etc… So when I got to throw a leg over the latest KTM 500 XC-W I was worried that this was going to be an overwhelming platter of supersized double cheese burgers with fries and a large shake. So what I wanted to find out is if the Americans are onto something or is this bike a by-product of brash excess?
Size can be intimidating, just look at Serena Williams in the world of tennis, wins everything but no one wants to have a go on it, if you know what I mean? Thankfully in our motorcycling world things are much different. If it’s big, regarding engine capacity, everyone wants to ride it, if you know what I mean? And this is most certainly the case with this new and fourth generation Kawasaki Z1000, right? As soon as you see one for the first time you want to mount it and clear off, maybe a bit like Serena Williams I suppose.
Right, let’s just get one thing out of the way before I begin. This is the fastest and maddest muther fukkin scooter I’ve ever had the pleasure of propelling down the road. It will destroy the Yamaha T-Max in a straight line and devour BMW’s 650 range as well, which is actually a Kymco wearing Lederhosen clothes. So, for that reason alone, everyone should own a SRV850 during his or her life span.
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