07-14-2010, 01:36 PM
If you’ve been known to occasionally exceed the speed limit behind the wheel of a car or behind the bars of your motorcycle, Hell For Leather has some bad news for you: with the introduction of the Kawasaki Concours 14 Police, cop bikes aren’t slow, lumbering beasts anymore.
Traditional police bikes from Harley-Davidson and BMW have always favored comfort and durability over outright speed and handling. Even Honda’s ST1300 Police bike wasn’t cause for concern, since it leaned heavily towards the “touring” side of sport-touring. The new Kawasaki police bike, on the other hand, definitely tips the scale towards the sport side of the category.
Running from the police is never a good idea, but I’ll bet lots of you considered it when you saw that ancient KZ1300 or Harley ElectraGlide in your rear view mirror. Given that the new Concourse 14 Police packs 153 horsepower and features a top speed of 155 miles per hour, anyone with a hint of sanity will quickly abandon that thought and comply with the nice motor officer. Besides, as my brother likes to remind me, you can’t outrun a police radio.
A view of the Concours 14 Police that you don't want to see.
There’s no word on how many departments will be adding the new Kawi to their fleets, especially since it hasn’t yet been proven in the field. Kawasaki claims the Concours 14 Police is priced competitively with its rivals from BMW and Harley Davidson, and will actually feature a lower cost of operation. With officer safety in mind, the new Kawasaki comes with ABS, traction control and some big honkin’ crash bars. Let’s hope I don’t see one in my rear view mirror any time soon.