Oh, yes, this aggressively styled 2009 Green Meanie has presence.
It's just that it didn't become my present and make its presence under our Christmas tree.
So why a Kawasaki ZX14? Well, how about a 1352cc, 203hp four-cylinder engine capable of an arm-stretching 0-120kmh in 2.5sec and a top speed of 300kmh, the motorcycle industry's self-imposed limit?Kawasaki has never been shy about dishing out horsepower.
While Honda stole the original oohs and aahs with its ground-breaking CB750 back in the late 1960s, Big K assaulted the senses (and filled hospital wards) with its lethal and brutally beautiful Mach 3.
It was basic and fast; its three-cylinder 500cc two-stroke engine rattled and smoked from fuel station to fuel station, all the while trying to escape from a fairly flexible arrangement of a frame.
Not content, Kawasaki then upped the ante - and the noise, fuel consumption, and styling - with the Mach 4, a 750cc version.
Having come into racing late - Honda already had red, Suzuki blue and Yamaha white - Kawasaki painted its racers lime green.
So the Green Meanie legend was born. Oh, yes.
When the two-stroke death knell pealed in the early 1970s, Kawasaki had the (almost socially acceptable) answer.
The four-stroke, four-cylinder Z1, in its orignal "jaffa" colours, was a stunner. It was everything the Machs weren't - smoother, quieter, and, ah, faster.
Arguably, though, handling was on par.
Except for a dark period in the '80s when a colour-blind Kawasaki employee thought red was the new lime, green bikes from Kobe have come to symbolise horsepower.
The ZX14 continues that fine, outrageous, tradition.
-Peter Donalson
