Photoshoot of the Week: August 17th-23rd 2020 – Kawasaki Z300 & Anne

As already said, the Kawasaki 300 is quite a deceiving bike: it looks like a performance bike just by looking at it, but really, it’s one of the best motorcycles to use if you’re starting your journey as a bike rider. The old Z300 might be lacking the outright peak power its A2 category rivals such as KTM’s Duke 390 (43bhp) and Yamaha’s YZF-R3 (44bhp), but it was the first bike in this class to genuinely look and feel like a slightly smaller version of its bigger cc brothers, even up close. It had all the road presence, build quality, style and kudos of a full-fat supernaked – just with enough performance to ensure your A2 licence survives intact long enough to mature into a full one. After all the Z300 was a credible, funky looking roadster for riders who aren’t licensed for, or perhaps don’t want to ride, larger capacity machines, with its convincing supernaked looks and stance contained within a capable and easy-to-use chassis. What the motor lacks in bottom-end it makes up for with that trademark Kawasaki high-revving character.
The Z300’s riding position is excellent; the proper supernaked-style flat bars are at just the right pitch to lever out loads of fun, while the pegs are high enough to not pose any ground clearance problems, yet still comfortable enough to not reduce your knees to two painful packets of broken biscuits after a long ride. The 300’s broad tank, made even broader by its power-dressing, shoulder-pad style side fairings, makes for decent lower-body wind protection when cruising at motorway speeds.
Taking up just 2kg of the 170kg overall wet weight, the Z300’s ABS system is the lightest ever fitted to a motorcycle, and is well worth having for the peace of mind it brings. The power and feel offered from the basic single-pot front caliper is adequate enough for everyday use, and the fork reacts to hard braking surprisingly well, while still offering decent damping over Britain’s potholed back lanes.
The 296cc parallel twin is super smooth and beautifully balanced, and the Z300’s steel frame insulates any engine vibration via its rubberised mounts. In fact, the baby Zed’s chassis and suspension work really well together. The ride quality is decent and the Zed’s stability at speed is really impressive, in spite of its spindly fork.
Kawasaki have managed to give their entry-level Zed the same engine character as the flagship ZX-10R; loads of revs, a top-end rush and excellent over-rev qualities. The Z300 makes its 38bhp peak at 11,000rpm but manages to maintain that power all the way to its 13,000rpm red line, meaning you can hold on to gears longer without clattering into a rev limiter. Likewise, its super-smooth throttle response and softer bottom-end power mean it won’t perturb those riders who are just looking for a mild-mannered, good looking street bike to potter around town on, either.