For reasons that are boring and complex, I have a brand new Kawasaki Z1000 for the next couple of weeks or so. I happen to like both variety and ‘new things’, so this is a rather fun turn of events.

It’s very green. Green is what it is. I’m not sure I like the green. There’s many other things I don’t like about it:

• Too much heat kicked out of the engine (only on the right side though - odd)
• Far too uncomfortable
• Bad build quality
• Nonsensical dashboard

On the other hand, the engine, gearbox and handling are great. This is despite the fact that I don’t really like inline-4s because I don’t think they’re torquey enough - this one actually pulls from a usable RPM. I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon dribbling around Essex and it’s properly fun. For someone who isn’t my shape, I could imagine this being a sensible bike to own.

Sadly, I have tiny legs, short fingers and rampant heat sensitivity means that the sooner I can give it back and get my nice Speed Triple back, the better.