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2006 Kawasaki ZX10R

Monday, 21 August 2006

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Slow speeds by Mike Emery ~ Fast shutter speeds by Brian Nelson

2006 Kawasaki ZX10R

I was totally hoodwinked here, after getting an invite to ride the 2006 Kawasaki ZX10R at the USA press intro, my first reaction was to check my review of the first 2004 rendition. I really liked that bike then and I didn't mind writing about it. The bike consequently scored high in the open-class shoot out that I did and that model also garnered some impressive class wins in other publications so I wasn't completely wrong.

So the plan was - Turn up, thrash the panties off the thing, make sure they'd fixed the somewhat temperamental gearbox, complain about the rear exhaust design, come home, write 500 words and be happy... basically not too much hard work at all.

Boy was I wrong. Kawasaki, in their infinite wisdom, decided that they'd totally redesign the bike from the axles up, reworking the frame, motor and most things around it. My plan of a lazy track day, disappeared faster than a Nigerian scam artist (and my Netherlands lottery win, come to think of it). This was now turning into a real job, I was actually going to have to pay attention at the press briefing, take notes and do a thorough analysis of the mark II version - Oh well, let's go play moto journalist...

Kawasaki's sportbike product manager, Karl Edmondson was really proud to point out that this bike represented the "new" Kawasaki way of thinking. Their new philosophy was certainly not based around the easy option that might have included some BNG's (bold new graphics), slapping on an underseat exhaust for fashion status and calling it quits. To their credit they put their engineering and design expertise where there mouth and commitment was and looked to provide one of the best bikes in the world. It's funny, the previous ZX was so good that we could have forgiven them for a mild make over, the fact that they did what they did, shows that this might indeed be, a new Kawasaki Motors Corp.

The venue chosen for this test, was the highly entertaining California Speedway in Fontucky or was that Fontana? We ran the full AMA course that features an 11-degree curvy straightaway, ala Daytona, with a trip into the infield that brings you quite nicely into the banking again. The track is pretty smooth with a slightly bumpy motocross jump in one turn, so these 21 turns and 2.36 miles are a perfect workout for open class leg stretching.

On the 2004, my main concern was an uncooperative gear box. Kawasaki immediately addressed that issue with barrel ground shaft spines, which although sounding like a Sushi technique, actually improves shift action. A modified shift linkage helps improve things too (the gear shifting, not the sushi preparation.) To be honest, the gearbox only became problematic to me whilst banging hard against the rev limiter, the new Kawi seems to rev out so much quicker than before. The new crank has increased mass which has smoothed out the power delivery somewhat. Combined with smaller valves that increase intake velocity, there's a seamless power surge from idle to red line. Gone is that step in powerband that had me wheelying around Homestead at the original ZX10R intro. That previous wheelie hit was fine if you're a goof like me but some people want to go faster. This thing is both fast and deceptively faster yet. You might want to think about that last apparently illogical sentence a little bit.

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