Back in the good ‘ole days, I used to ride a Kawasaki ZX6R Ninja motorcycle. 599 cc was more than enough to get me in all kinds of trouble, but for some people that’s not enough – they want bikes with huge engines. One of the options for the “bigger is better” crowd is the all-new 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R, which Kawasaki is calling “the world’s fastest accelerating bike”.

I can’t imagine how fast this thing would go, but I’d probably end up dead in a week if I bought one. Kawasaki hasn’t released official power or speed figures but we know this bike will be super-fast. The 2012 ZX-14R will feature throttle-by-wire and traction control (a good idea) for the first time, with three different settings that can be controlled from the handle bar with gauge cluster indicator lights.

The 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14R might be impressive on paper but is one hell of an ugly motorcycle. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I can’t see too many beholders falling in love with its styling. It looks like it time-travelled from the early 1990s. Why can’t Kawasaki make it look more like the smaller displacement bikes (600/1,000 cc)? Last year I called the Ducati 848 EVO the sexiest bike on earth and now the 2012 ZX-14R gets the title of “the ugliest (new) bike on earth”.