Words by Robert Portman.
Kawasaki has been up-front about the path it planned to take with its new superbike. With the World Superbike Championship’s governing body continuously tightening the noose around the modifications racing teams are allowed to make on their motorcycles, Kawasaki countered by loading their new production model with the equipment they needed in order to win. Hense the fact the centrepiece of its promotional campaign with the #getcloser, underlining how much the new model is similar to the actual world superbike racer.
The new ZX-10R starts by violating the first rule of marketing – it looks almost identical to its predecessor. Yet under those familiar fairings lies a brand new motorcycle that shares little more than the name and cylinder dimensions with the previous model.
The now “older” version of the Kawasaki was a great bike. Despite having a rudimentary electronics package in comparison to the European options, it was the only Japanese litre-bike included in comparisons until Yamaha released the 2015 R1 last year, simply because it made great power, had amazing power delivery, and had a well balanced chassis and great brakes.
That was until I climbed on the new bike, now the “old” model seems sluggish, in both the handling and acceleration department. This is where the new bike really has improved, and not just a little, but a lot!
The all new 2016 ZX-10R looks a lot like the previous version, but Kawi claim they’ve left barely a bolt untouched. Changes were made to the engine, chassis, suspension, fairings, electronics, brakes, and exhaust – and all were done at the requests of Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea, who’d been the two to beat in World Superbikes (not bad test riders to have hey?).
Track Time:
Literally as we off-loaded the bike the heavens opened and the track was now wet. I always say that things happen for a reason and maybe the rain came to slow me down a bit as I was more than excited to swing my leg over this bike.
I headed out on a wet track with brand new Bridgestone tyres, so to say I took it easy is a complete understatement.
The track was drying up quickly and I was starting to get some good heat in the tyres, this allowed me to start pushing the bike a bit more down the straights and in and out of the turns.
The first thing that really caught my attention was how much better the bike accelerated through the revs.
During the middle of 2015, I was lucky enough to have tested the only H2R in the country at the time. I was blown away by the pure acceleration that the supercharged 1000cc motor pushed out.
I can honestly now say that I was stunned the first time I thrashed the new ZX10R down the long RSR back straight, the acceleration was mind blowing and not far off that of the supercharged H2R. Scary to think that this is a production bike with a normally aspirated 4-cylinder motor.
The acceleration was instant through every rpm and I found myself hooking gears at every split second. Between 10,000 and 14,000 rpm is where this bike has really improved. It just doesn’t give up. No flat spot, no slug, just un-relentless power! It must be said that acceleration and power was also boosted by the Racetec slip-on pipe and slightly shorter gearing fitted.
The ZX-10R has always made great power but its 998cc inline four has never made its power as low as the Aprilia’s V4 or Ducati’s v-twin – so Kawasaki have now improved low end power while also increasing peak power.
The cylinder head and crank are all new and 20% lighter. This reduces engine inertia and allows the motor to spin up or slow down faster which obviously improves acceleration and deceleration, but has the added benefit of also helping the bike change directions quicker as crank inertia can blunt steering speed.
Tom Sykes really did suffer when the rules changed in 2015. He was no longer allowed to use the lighter crank he had been using in previous seasons to good effect (taking the title in 2013 and many a race win in 2014) which meant the bikes handling changed somewhat. Rea managed to make it work for him but Sykes couldn’t adjust his style.
So, Kawasaki decided to put the 20% lighter crank in the 2016 production bike, this would allow Sykes to run the crank for the 2016 season as it is now a standard component (interesting to see how he will go on the new bike).
Once the track had dried out completely, I could now test the handling capabilities of the bike. Through the tight and twisty back section that is Redstar, the new ZX10R really did get the juices flowing. The combination of the lighter crank and almost full World SBK spec Balanced Free Fork (BFF) Showa forks, make for a bike that was built to dominate any turn, wether it be fast or slow. The new Yamaha R1 and Aprilia RSV4RF have set the standards in the litre bikes handling department but the new ZX-10R is right on point with those machines.
It’s ridiculous to think how manufacturers are getting these big 1000cc machines to handle these days, on par or even better than the lighter more nimble supersport 600cc.
Trail braking and steering the bike into the turns is a breeze, no hesitation from the front or rear.
This is where I am going to have to cut a long story short. I could literally go on for the next 100 pages on the electronics featured on the new bike, but I don’t have the time as I now have nappies to change and bottles to make. I’m sure you’ve read all about the electronics in the features we have done over the previous two issues.
Another reason why I won’t go on about them is because they were de-activated on this particular bike.
Ahmed, the owner, had fitted an after-market Racetec slip-on pipe to the bike and this interfered with the electronics, which meant we could not test any of the rider aids. But, will do so when we get the official demo bike from KMSA, which will hopefully be featured in our next issue.
I can honestly say that the electronics were not needed. The bike felt perfect to me, I was in full control at all times. Hence why I have labelled this test “Freak off a leash” as there was no Mary Poppins (electronic aids) telling me what I could or couldn’t do.
More comfortable, more responsive, faster, lighter, greener, the new ZX-10R is better in every way.
This really was a last minute.com test, and the track conditions did hamper the feature somewhat but we will be doing something very special soon so don’t miss out!