Super Bike Review - Part 1: Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja
There are certain things one expects from a Ninja. Power. Quickness. Agility. Attitude. Heavy on the attitude. And unless you drive 6500-horsepower Top Fuel dragsters for a living, this Ninja is a revelation. This is surely the strongest litre-bike in the world.
One hundred mph arrives before the 13,000-rpm redline—in first gear. Shift into second at triple digits and a practiced throttle hand can lift the front Dunlop for obscene distances. The 10R covers a quarter-mile in less time than it takes to read this sentence, and it punishes incompetence, impudence and stupidity even more quickly. Too much throttle, almost anywhere, and it'll stick you in the ground like a golf tee.
Any sport bike commands respect and first-rate skills. Kawasaki's all-new ZX-10R demands more of both than any motorcycle currently for sale, along with simply heroic willpower. Nothing in any showroom punts you forward with such pure, concentrated, brute force. Its predatory silhouette alone makes small children, domestic pets and impressionable girls hyperventilate.
Twenty years after the first 900, Kawasaki's latest literbike is entirely stunning—and unmistakably a Ninja. It's slim and short enough to make most 600s look like sport-tourers. A ZX-6R is larger in every dimension except overall height. Parked alongside it, Suzuki's GSX-R1000 seems positively massive. The eyes, in this case, have it right. At 433 pounds, complete with all requisite fluids, the 10R carries 11 fewer pounds than a GSX-R1000 and weighs 33 pounds less than Honda's CBR1000RR. Its 54.5-inch wheelbase is the shortest in literbike land.
Thumb the starter and throttle response is immediate. There's something wicked going on down there. The 998cc four's titanium exhaust system delivers a rowdy, loping, raucous idle: the consummate overture to horsepower.
That fat rear Dunlop delivers the goods, too. Putting 161.9 horsepower on the pavement at 11,750 rpm, it dethrones the previous dyno king, Kawasaki's ZX-12R (161.4 at 10,000 rpm). Anyone else want a piece of this? The ZX-10R overpowers Suzuki's Hayabusa (156.1 at 9500 rpm), Honda's new CBR1000RR (153.3 at 11,250 rpm) and Yamaha's latest R1 (158.3 at 12,500 rpm). And here's the kicker. Add that 433-pound wet weight to the 170-pound rider we use for spec-chart calculations, divide by 161.9 horsepower, and you have a weight/power ratio of 3.72 pounds per. It just doesn't get any better than that, sports fans.
But enough with the numbers already. Lets talk a bit about what its like to be hit by Ninja lightning.
Tall, slender frame spars and strategically compressed engine dimensions make the Ninja feel more like a twin between your knees than a four. Beyond that, rider accommodations are all business, though somewhat less compact than the rest of the package. Comfortable is a strong word—think an F-18 cockpit, not a 747 first-class lounge. Legroom is adequate for a 35-inch inseam, though shorter-legged types are more at home here. Back out of the inexplicably stiff standard settings and the ZX-10R's suspension is taut though agreeably compliant, with none of the nasty harshness that troubled the '03 ZX-6R. Thanks to the tough, linear clutch—and the strongest engine in motorcycling history—that 100-mph low gear isn't a problem in traffic, especially with the extra-tall first gear.
There's more drive-line slack than you'll find in a GSX-R1000. Add the Kawasaki's curt on/off throttle response and commuting in traffic is a notch more trying than usual. Heat rising from the exhaust system's cast-titanium collector slow-roasts your right foot—one more reason to take this thing out where it can breathe. Otherwise, the package is magnificently agile and surprisingly well-mannered.
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