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2007 Kawasaki ZX-6R

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Friday, 15 December 2006

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Number crunching by Mike Emery ~ Photos by the accounting firm of Nelson, Riles and Wing

I shouldn’t be writing this review about the new Kawasaki ZX6R. Instead I should be telling you how we couldn’t ride it because it was so cold we couldn’t feel our finger tips and the fact that our hotel fountain was completely iced up (at night) because of those low temperatures. However, Bridgestone always has a little surprise for us at Kawasaki intro’s. An instance springs to mind back in 2004 when they introduced the daft as a brush ZX-10R. I never had a single slip due to the sticky-ness of those unobtainiumable (add that new word to your vocabulary) All Japan Superbike tires thrown at us (and I was younger and faster in those days too.) The tire for this event? The astounding BT-002, yes peeps, a tire you can go buy today. I was dragging my knee in 18 degree morning weather in less than five laps - that’s confidence inspiring rubber.

I must admit I never really got on very well with the older ZX-6/636R due to its size. It was a little bulky around the tank and seat area and moving around on it was difficult. I have a distinct dislike for leaning motorcycles over, and with legs like Bambi it was difficult to get off the six’r to get comfortable. I always had issue with the windscreen too - making it difficult to see the clocks whilst cruising. This new version however is much slimmer, the tank shape is far superior, the tach is smack bang in front of my face, and the whole thing just looks and feels better too.

Satoshi, "So let me get this straight - You want two of these bikes
charged to Steve Atlas's room ?"

Weather issue’s aside we were treated to a dedicated mechanic who cuddled me after each session and adjusted my bike to match my portly dimensions. My guy, Satoshi Ebisu, was the best of the lot - he seemed to have a great sense of humor and although we both had very basic English-speaking skills, he said “no problem” a lot, so we got on famously. Due to the frigid conditions I edged closer to my ideal set-up, rather than through it and down into the gravel traps. Blowing through the fork stroke had me raising front preload a millimeter at a time until it felt a little more compliant (just 2-turns total - 2.5mm, I think), and a tad more compression damping (1/4 turn) to keep the front from collapsing. The rear was upped in preload as well to keep the balance (one turn), and with some low speed compression damping, all was good.

The bike responded very well on the second day to minimal adjustments too (one more turn on the rear shock). I was a little warmer but I could especially see my times drop when I increased that rear preload again - essentially raising the rear ride height.

Thanks to Honda I was up to speed on track knowledge and I was dropping times faster than Harald Eckl leaving the factory for his ADD support group. The one thing that was love at first sighting lap, was that slipper clutch, the fact is, these things work around a race track (and into your subdivision entrance) but where were the photo guys when I needed them? With three of the best shooters in the world at the same race track intro, Wingers, Nelson and Riles Inc, I was guaranteed a sideways shot - as it happens they were all in the SAME corner toasting marshmallows? The only other person who was remotely interested in the way this thing backed itself in was Cycle News’, Steve Atlas, and he was leaving fun little darkies everywhere too. How’s this for the proverbial icing on a clichéd cake? - It’s fully adjustable too.

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