Check Your Six: Kawasaki Concours 14 Police

[Really tired with politics; time for a change. - BZ]

Remember the lads from CHiPs, ol' Ponch and Jon? Those boys never pulled their guns, if you recall, and they glorified the quintessential Kwakker authority motor, the KZ1000P. I learned how to ride cop bikes on one, and sparked many floorboards on them:

However, in the CHiPs show, Ponch and Jon actually rode the predecessor 1000C, which had no fairing and only a clear windshield:


Kawasaki stopped production of their KZ1000P in 2005. The CHP stopped purchasing the Kwakker in the early 80s and bought, for a time, the Harley-Davidson FXRP with the then-new Evolution engine. This bike was lighter and handled better than the previous cop hogs --trust me on this one. Except for the standard HD mirror/butt vibe (shaken, not stirred), cops liked the FXRP overall.


From that point, however, BMW owned the CHP authority motor market, first with the R1100RTP back in 1997 (see a great article here), the 1150 and now the R1200RTP.


BMWs, for me, were pretty tall. The 2009+ R1200RTP only got taller for my, ahem, limited inseam.

I've ridden the Honda ST 1300P and PA authority motors, and they were sweet indeed; easy wheelie material in first and second and so on. Mucho fastero than BMW-o. Kinda scary for the fat guy. Makes Hardley-Ablesons look like the dead chunks of iron they are.

To this point, the Honda STP has not overwhelmed the authority motor market; certainly, some Fornicalia agencies have them. But they are not endemic.


That said, will BMW continue to "own" the authority motor market in the US and Fornicalia? Perhaps not so much. On the horizon: Kawasaki's new Concours 14 ABS Police:



Kawasakis were the innovative favorites for years. They appear to be gunning again, big time, for their once-owned market.


Recent testing by the Michigan State Police revealed that the Kawasaki 14P bested BMW (despite the fact that Kawasaki riders were told by the reps not to rev past 8K), and completely embarrassed Hardley-Ableson's so-called "Road King" and the Electra Glide, beating them up and taking their lunch money.

News now indicates that CHP did in fact award the bid for its two-year, 336-bike contract to Kawasaki for the 14P with ABS.


You'd best familiarize yourself with what the face of a Kawasaki 14P looks like from the front because, now that CHP ordered these bad boys, many other agencies will too.

BZ