Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R

[gareth_r]

.
Kawasaki seem to believe that they will be able to sell it in Europe.

The model is expected in Europe in the Autumn of 2023.

https://www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/news/Kawasaki_to_int...

[Donbot]

gareth_r said:

.
Kawasaki seem to believe that they will be able to sell it in Europe.

The model is expected in Europe in the Autumn of 2023.

https://www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/news/Kawasaki_to_int...

Interesting. I'm looking to buy a ZX6r this year but the power puts me off a bit. My Ninja 650 has around the same amount of power which I find usable on the road but the engine is dull as ditchwater and the suspension and brakes aren't up to fast road riding.

[Drabbesttunic]

Pebbles167 said:

I want one, even though I've given up trackdays and hate sports bikes on most roads.

It'll probably be a hit, but only if they get the pricing right.

It'll have to be under £8k , otherwise people will likely be tempted by the Yamaha R7 or something else.

The rumours are it'll be about 10k.
No way it'll be under 8k

[Tango13]

gareth_r said:

.
Kawasaki seem to believe that they will be able to sell it in Europe.

The model is expected in Europe in the Autumn of 2023.

https://www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/news/Kawasaki_to_int...

Interesting that they're quoting the power in PS not HP and the full 80PS is only with the full ram air effect.

Some quick calculations suggests about 26lbs/ft of torque which is about the same as 10 food blenders

[Caddyshack]

Tango13 said:

gareth_r said:

.
Kawasaki seem to believe that they will be able to sell it in Europe.

The model is expected in Europe in the Autumn of 2023.

https://www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/news/Kawasaki_to_int...

Interesting that they're quoting the power in PS not HP and the full 80PS is only with the full ram air effect.

Some quick calculations suggests about 26lbs/ft of torque which is about the same as 10 food blenders

Torque figure does sound quite low.

[Donbot]

Caddyshack said:

Tango13 said:

gareth_r said:

.
Kawasaki seem to believe that they will be able to sell it in Europe.

The model is expected in Europe in the Autumn of 2023.

https://www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/news/Kawasaki_to_int...

Interesting that they're quoting the power in PS not HP and the full 80PS is only with the full ram air effect.

Some quick calculations suggests about 26lbs/ft of torque which is about the same as 10 food blenders

Torque figure does sound quite low.

It's a small high revving engine so that's to be expected.

[Zarco]

trickywoo said:

Love it but I suspect the top spec one will be pretty close to £10k OTR in the UK.

Hard to see who will buy it at that. On the road it would likely be hard work most of the time and when its not people will assume you are multiples of the speed limit even if you aren't due to the engine note at high revs.

On a track day it would likely get pretty old getting passed by everything on the straights.

Hats off to Kawasaki for doing it and I hope its a success.

I'm a fan.

I used to see an old 400 sports bike on my commute. Think it was a Kawasaki but it could have been a Honda. What I do know is it sounds absolutely marvelous being revved out through the gears coming off the lights.

[Tango13]

Caddyshack said:

Torque figure does sound quite low.

I thought so too but if the Wiki pages are to be believed most of the 400 supersport bikes back in the day were about the same.

[ar-em-en]

graeme4130 said:

ar-em-en said:

It'll be an excellent bike for a one make series. I definitely wouldn't mind one as a track bike if they start doing packages or the price is competitive.

I was thinking the same. Yeah, it's quite heavy, but then again a full race spec current Ninja 400 is 142kg, so no lightweight. This has loads more power too. Would make for some good racing

Agreed, they'll be room to shed plenty of weight when converting it over. It's nice to see the basic package there, decent power, chassis, brakes etc.

[Caddyshack]

I assume the engine will be strangled by the exhaust stuff…there might be some more power with a naughty pipe and an ecu re flash but for me 80hp is a lot compared to the low 30’s I am used to and I think the future is small power and enjoy ringing its neck at more acceptable speeds.

I am thinking of swapping my Porsche for something small, light and low powered.

[EVOTECH3BELL]

Weighs too much on paper.
And youl have people calling it a "qwaka" all the time

[Caddyshack]

EVOTECH3BELL said:

Weighs too much on paper.
And youl have people calling it a "qwaka" all the time

What’s up with people calling it qwaka?, that’s what people have called Kwikasfkis for ages.


My mito is half the power and about 130kg kerb weight, it handles pretty well, I imagine with double the power and 60kg more it would be pretty good. I weight about 80kgs but I guess 100-110kg riders might want more power to weight.

[mersontheperson]

I would be tempted by this, the Japanese have had a love affair with inline 4’s for such a long time, and they seem to fit well in that Jekyll and hide of docile city bike and screaming banshee out-of-town character mix.

The Honda CB400 was pretty fun at 56bhp, but it was at over 60/70 that it felt a bit short on the motorway, I think this extra 25bhp will make enough of a difference without changing the basic nature of a Japanese 400 inline 4.

I just hope the riding position isn’t too sporty, if it’s like the Superfour or Ninja650 it will be great

[rodericb]

graeme4130 said:

I was thinking the same. Yeah, it's quite heavy, but then again a full race spec current Ninja 400 is 142kg, so no lightweight. This has loads more power too. Would make for some good racing

Is the Ninja 400 a twin or four cylinder?

[Pebbles167]

rodericb said:

Is the Ninja 400 a twin or four cylinder?

Ninja 400 is a twin, 180 degree firing order, so sounds like most other small Japanese twins, pretty weedy.

The ZX4R looks to be higher spec in frame, suspension and braking too. It's a bit heavy for what it is, but it'll be a decent machine I think.

[smifffymoto]

In the 90s we had fun ripping about on 400s with less power and similar weight.

It was all about corner speed and the red line,thrash it to an inch of its life.

I can see this bike being a lot of fun.

[black-k1]

mersontheperson said:

I would be tempted by this, the Japanese have had a love affair with inline 4’s for such a long time, and they seem to fit well in that Jekyll and hide of docile city bike and screaming banshee out-of-town character mix.

The Honda CB400 was pretty fun at 56bhp, but it was at over 60/70 that it felt a bit short on the motorway, I think this extra 25bhp will make enough of a difference without changing the basic nature of a Japanese 400 inline 4.

I just hope the riding position isn’t too sporty, if it’s like the Superfour or Ninja650 it will be great

The love affair with 400s in Japan was because their licensing laws had a 400cc category, and it was extremely difficult to get to the license for capacities above that. I don't know if that is still the situation.

[hiccy18]

Tango13 said:

Interesting that they're quoting the power in PS not HP and the full 80PS is only with the full ram air effect.

Some quick calculations suggests about 26lbs/ft of torque which is about the same as 10 food blenders

Peak torque is hopefully not too close to the HP peak, but 26-30lbft is probably about as much as we could expect anyway.

[trickywoo]

hiccy18 said:

Peak torque is hopefully not too close to the HP peak, but 26-30lbft is probably about as much as we could expect anyway.

Torque peaks at 11k rpm so pretty high.

[Caddyshack]

trickywoo said:

hiccy18 said:

Peak torque is hopefully not too close to the HP peak, but 26-30lbft is probably about as much as we could expect anyway.

Torque peaks at 11k rpm so pretty high.

Have you seen the torque curve? I suspect that there is a decent torque spread?