The same way I “always knew” that “cerveza” meant “beer”, I always assumed that every motorcyclist remembered seeing their first Kawasaki Z model in the wild. I never questioned it.
Mine was a Pearl Blazing Orange 2006 Z1000 on Dame Street, in Dublin, Ireland. Its stance, sound, four-into-four exhaust system, and je ne sais quoi scared the Jesus out of me in a way that made me want to ride it instantly.
It’d take nearly 20 years for me to throw a leg over a Z, and although the stance, sound, and exhaust are all different on the 2025 Z900 SE, the je ne sais quoi was still there, and engineers have worked to keep it that way. In fact, the je ne sais quoi has a name: Sugomi.
