2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R | ME & MY BIKE

Cliff Randall’s badass and bagged hyper-tourer with a 50-shot

2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R

Name: Cliff Randall Age: 60 Home: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Occupation: Corporate Headhunter

A buddy and I decided to do some cross-country touring, which we hadn't done for 40 years. I just couldn't get behind any touring bikes. They were tuned-down, ugly, and didn't have the sex appeal or performance I wanted. I wanted something different—a performance-centric hypertourer.

Thirteen years ago I built a big-bore, 1,270cc ZX-12R with Rob Muzzy. I wanted to revisit something like that. I picked this ZX-14R up at my dealer, Edge Performance, and took it right to my buddy Robbie at Tricked-Toys. The first thing we did was mount the Kappa hard bags, but any real touring plans went straight out the window when we filled the right bag with a Muzzys 50-hp nitrous kit. Donnie Gould did the ECU, bypassing the speed limiter and giving me another 500 rpm, and Dynojet supplied a state-of-the-art Wide Band Power Commander for real-time, on-the-fly mapping. The one-off, titanium-to-carbon Muzzys exhaust caps it off.

Now the thing makes 250 hp—the same horsepower as a MotoGP bike—and it sounds like an F1 car. With factory traction control and wheelie control, all I have to do is hold it pinned and hit the horn button, which controls the air shifter. This bike goes 0–60 in two seconds and shifts out of fifth gear at 200 mph! Without the air shift you just can't stay with it—the tach looks out of control.

Of course, we never went on that tour. My buddy fell off a ladder cleaning leaves out of his eaves; he broke his shoulder and got a big coco-bonk on his head, too, so we didn’t go anywhere! Besides, with the satin black/metalflake gold House of Kolor paint, it’s too pretty to travel with. I still managed to put 5,500 kilometers on it this summer, and it never missed a beat. I could ride this bike to California and back tomorrow it’s so comfortable. It’s the best motorcycle I’ve ever owned and the most fun I have ever had on two wheels.

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