Every time you make this "correction" I have to wonder if you actually rode a ZX-14. The C14 is a detuned version, whichever way you slice it. Nobody needs the ZX power, but then again, nobody needs the C14 power.
As I have said many times, it is not de-tuned. In no way, shape or fashion. That implies it was simply neutered, incorrectly designed, and/or incorrectly programmed, and there is zero sense in saying such a thing. The C14's engine design, like all designs, is a compromise or balance between various competing factors. Maximum top raw power at all costs = worst fuel economy, unfriendly handling in certain conditions, less reliability, more noise, less comfort when cruising, less lower end power, a less predictable power curve, and more.
Anyone who says the C14 is a "de-tuned" ZX is completely discounting all other factors and is essentially just insulting the designers and engineers and it makes the one saying it the bike sound snobby or just plain uninformed. The word "tune" doesn't simply apply in that context. The ZX doesn't even have variable valve timing. It is a different head, different exhaust, different intake, different throttle bodies, different pistons; none of that is a "tune", it is a totally different implementation of roughly the same engine block. It was designed that way specifically to meet the demands and role of a sport tourer.... just like replacing the chain drive with a shaft drive, moving the pegs, raising the bars, having bigger mirrors, adding luggage, heated grips, adjustable windshield, and many other changes. Kawasaki isn't stupid. If the objective was to just take a ZX and "de-tune" it, they could have left the exact same engine in it as the ZX and destroyed the mapping of the injection system (and THAT would be a "tune"). And in the process they would have saved TONS of time, money, research, parts inventory, documentation changes, and tooling. Oh, and the resulting bike would have been less expensive, too.
The only intentional "munged" tuning done on the C14 is the same thing done on EVERY factory street bike (ZX included) for decades past by every manufacturer. And that is what is done mostly to meet emissions laws and as a safety margin. To reverse that, you can reflash the ECU on FI engines or rejet the carbs on non FI engines. The rejetting kit I put in my ZRX did the same thing for that bike that the Guhl or Steve's reflashing does on the C14 and the same thing the reflashing options do for the ZX.
The Concours is not a ZX, it isn't supposed to be. It is not "inferior" to a ZX nor a detuned ZX, it is a different bike with different objectives, designed to operate and perform
differently. And the word "performance" doesn't just mean highest peak horsepower or fastest off a line just like the best performance of musical piece isn't just the loudest or the fastest rendition.
