Honda Hornet Vs Kawasaki Sugomi

[Mick_J]

Honda Hornet 1000 Vs Kawasaki Z900 Sugomi

Comparing the Honda directly to the Kawasaki difficult for me, they both have good and bad stuff going on but this is just a brief round up of how I found them.
Both bike represent fantastic value at just over £9k but they go about it in different ways.  The Kawasaki is more comfortable, with a higher more padded seat but it is more firmly sprung.  The Honda does have a bigger and more powerful engine but a truly dreadful seat.  The Kawasaki is better specced with adjustable forks, an imu, quick shifter and cruse control.  The Honda does have a more flexible motor that is very linear (typical Honda) but not as much character.  Fuel tanks are the same size but the Honda has a bigger thirst so will need feeding more often.  Both have nice displays but I preferred the Kawasaki one as it's basic functions were easier to get to and read but both fail with the more advanced function as I could not find them on either bike.  The Honda has plusher, softer suspension but no adjustment which might be better if you spend a lot of time on pot holed or poorly surfaced roads.  Neither have any storage space and the Honda rear seat is a joke.  So it might just be down to looks and loyalty to a particular brand.  I don't care who makes my bikes I just need to have a connection with them and to have fun riding them.  25Bhp is a lot to give away but Kawasaki gear their bike higher so it's not really noticeable in the real world but the Honda is the faster bike.  So if I do go ahead and buy a 4 cylinder bike my vote goes to the Kawasaki but I do have another dem on a twin later in the week.

[GSXKING]

They both look very lean 😮

[Hooli]

As soon as you say TRFT screen I say no, I want a bike not a video game.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

As soon as you say TRFT screen I say no, I want a bike not a video game.

apparently, analogue dials and instruments are faster to read and interpret.  It's why some digital displays mimic a needle that sweeps a dial.

I'm with you, don't need no TFT on my bikes

[grog]

Old Skool much better for old eyes. When i had Diavel i got on ok with its tft display but prefer analogue. Good write up as per usual Mick👍

[GSXKING]

 

[Mick_J]

I can't argue with the fact that analogue dials are better but why limit your buying choices to Royal Enfield, Triumph and BMW.

[Kiwifruit]

Informative write up Mick 

[Tony Nitrous]

Having had a few vehicles with a digital / TFT speed display it's one of the few things I wish my Busa's had.

I normally prefer Old Skool style displays but my H2 SX SE had a large speed display, and although my Toyota has an old style dial it has the option to bring up a large digital display on the TFT, the best of both worlds.

This suits me.

Jumping between various vehicles and wearing glasses set for distance, there's often a hesitation of double take to see which little numbers the needle is aiming at. Trying to focus on the distance and my riding / driving and read a speedo that's different on every vehicle.

I've grown to like digital dash's and large speed displays.
I also like that most modern dash's have multiple option to change what you get to see, not really necessary, but a little bit of making the vehicle how you'd have it.



Comparisons like this Honda and Kawasaki are interesting ones. To me this one boils down to personal taste more than anything. Neither is going to be raced by performance junkies, neither is going to be bought as a dirt cheap low budget daily hack, both seem to have pro's and cons that are more down to an individual owner.   

I find folks reviews very interesting. They don't always tell the whole story, I'm my case a review I did of two bikes was biased by one having several recalls and the dealer being 2 & 1/2 hours away, the other being an old design and the dealer 30 minutes away, my height, injuries, how I use the bikes etc etc and what I wanted from them, not just how they rode back to back.

I agree with Mick about the "both fail with the more advanced functions".  I've had this on my own cars and bikes. I'm not great with the amount of options and setting them on any vehicle I'm not familiar with. My 4x4 was annoying me telling me RAIL CROSSING AHEAD or HIGH CRASH ZONE approaching untill I sat down with the manual for some time. I rode my Busa for a month untill I spent time sitting on it in the shed with the manual in hand.  I love both of them but the tech and settings (that work well) just took time to get my head around.


I look forward to another review Mick J, keep 'em coming.