ZX-10R Articles
News
Watch a ZX-10R hit a trailer dead on
Jeans? Check. T-Shirt? Check. Sneakers? Check. Incompetent operation of a liter bike? Check. What we've got here is the perfect recipe for a great crash, and this ZX-10R rider does not disappoint, failing to miss a trailer making a right turn as he steams through a pack of riders. Only injuries were apparently a broken arm and leg, but there's no way this guy is ever getting back on a bike. http...
11 September 2012
This steering damper senses acceleration
Unlike previous electronic steering damper designs, this new Ohlins unit fitted to the otherwise-unchanged 2013 Kawasaki ZX-10R uses acceleration and deceleration data, in addition to speed, to inform damping rates. The idea here is simple — propensity for instability increases not just with speed, but with the rate that speed is changing too. Higher damping rates are needed just as much at 55m...
09 July 2012
News
A gyrocam, a ZX-10R and the Nurburgring
MotoGP-style gyrocams — which stay upright as the bike leans — are helping to bring a new dimension to onboard bike videos. Somehow, the counterintuitive perspective better conveys the experience not only of leaning, but the rest of the ride too. Here, Bridgestone tire development rider Tim Röthig throws down an eight minute lap of the Nurburgring aboard a 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R. We gotta get u...
27 July 2011
New York’s Fastest ZX-10R review
Who’s qualified to review a liter bike? Grant and I can ride them pretty hard on both road and track, take nice photos and write some nice words. Others can throw down impressive lap times. But no one, absolutely no one, is using a bike like the 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R to the limits of its performance in the same way as New York’s Fastest can. I think that makes their opinion pretty interes...
21 June 2011
News
What’s faster? 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R vs BMW S1000RR
Make no mistake, the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R has one goal and one goal only: to dethrone the BMW S1000RR from its liter bike throne. As far as evaluations of its ability to do so go, top speed is utterly irrelevant to real world riding, yet makes a compelling number anyways. Especially when it’s tested by New York’s most notorious pack of illegal, immoral street racers. So, in the hands of Skank ...
06 June 2011
News
How to steal a GSX-R
Five seconds is all it takes for this cop to hot-wire a CBR. A GSX-R isn't much harder. Snap the steering lock, plug in a "pigtail," and off you go. This video, which appears to be from 2007 (judging by the bikes), was uploaded two weeks ago and shows just how easy it is to steal a bike. It's just as unnerving now as when it was shot.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwtMQLnT7k&sns=fb On January f...
02 May 2011
News
Eric Bostrom and JD Beach on racing Kawasakis at Daytona, learning to swim and the trouble with healthcare
Flying to New York straight from their first test at Daytona with Team Cycle World Attack Performance last week, Eric Bostrom and JD Beach took the time to take me out for Sushi. We talked about racing on a banked NASCAR track, the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R, Eric’s gnarly leg injury (gross pic below!) and a new era of motorcycle performance. In an age of over-managed athletes, it’s nice to know the...
26 January 2011
News
2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R returns to sale, problem identified
Kawasaki USA has just announced that the mysterious stop-sale on the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R will be lifted, identifying the previously-mysterious fault as residing in the intake valve springs. As stated when the not-a-recall was announced on December 11, the problem isn’t related to safety, performance or the modifications made to reduce power for the North American market. Instead, Kawasaki says ...
29 December 2010
News
The trouble with North American ZX-10Rs
This dyno chart shows the difference between a stock, North American 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R and one that’s had its ECU told to stop restricting throttle openings at high RPM. Both measurements include the same slip-on exhaust canister. Courtesy of Speed Tech Motorsports, this dyno chart is the best illustration we’ve yet seen of the effects caused by Kawasaki’s attempt to meet EPA noise regula...
10 December 2010
News
Sport-Kawasaki Traction Control explained
When the embargo finally ended and we were able to bring you analysis of the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R without pissing off Kawasaki we told you the bike was significant not because of its unprecedentedly powerful engine — 197bhp — but because it brought a MotoGP-derived traction control system to the road. That's a good thing since North American market ZX-10Rs will be 20bhp down. This video explai...
20 October 2010
News
North American 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R loses 20 HP, slower than S1000RR
According to official horsepower numbers published by Canadian Kawasaki, the North American market 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R will have its power dropped from 197 to just 176.65bhp while torque will fall from 84.3 to 82.6lb/ft. Crucially for the numbers-obsessed liter bike market, that gives the ZX-10R an inferior power-to-weight ratio not only to the BMW S1000RR, but also to the GSX-R1000 and MV Agusta...
18 October 2010
News
By The Numbers: 2011 superbike showdown
Now that we’ve got leaked specs on the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R, it’s time to compare it to all its liter bike rivals. Sure, all these bikes are extraordinarily fast and it’s not their own performance that’s the limit here, it’s yours, but if only for Internet bragging rights, everyone wants to know which superbike will tear off your face the fastest. Hint: it’s the one you think it is. ...
01 October 2010
Readers come to Hell For Leather’s rescue
Last night we were accused of surreptitiously obtaining an unreleased copy of Cycle World in order to enact some sort of dastardly plan to break the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R’s embargo and pin it on someone else. The phrase “fell off the back of a truck” was actually used. Irked by this accusation, we posted a quick request for help on Facebook at 1:20 am. Within minutes, we were flooded with i...
29 September 2010
2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R leaks in Cycle World
Looks like Cycle World has gone ahead and published embargoed information and images of the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R ahead of the model's official unveiling on October 5. Even more images below. Update: we've just spoken to Kawasaki who say CW's 200hp claim is only an estimate. The company hasn't arrived at an official horsepower number yet as it's still trying to finalize the arrangement of the exha...
28 September 2010
2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R SBK = R6 + 999 + CBR1000RR
For the last four months, Kawasaki’s been “leaking” images, details and videos of the 2011 ZX-10R, but today it’s “unveiling” the SBK version of its new liter bike. What does it tell us about the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R? Well, there’s no mechanical details, so we’ve only got a bunch of images to work with and they show a bike that looks like an R6 crossed with a 999 and a CBR1000RR. ...
02 September 2010
News
10 observations on the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R
1. There's an ABS pickup on the front wheel. 2. The 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R uses Showa BPF forks. 3. The headlights are going to be seriously squinty.4. Brembo Monoblock calipers, but this is a race-spec bike so who knows if they'll reach production.5. The cylinders are upright, not 90-degree as patents suggested they might be. 6. The frame goes around, not over the engine.7. The underbraced swingarm...
08 July 2010
News
2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R racer photo released
Here it is, the first photo of the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R, unpainted and in race trim, ready for testing at Suzuka. Two numbers from Kawasaki: 190bhp, 198kg. Big numbers indeed, compare them to 188bhp and 179kg (dry) of the 2010 model or to the 193bhp and 204kg (wet) of the current king of the superbike hill, the BMW S1000RR.>Assuming that the 2011 ZX-10R's 198kg quoted weight is wet, that compares ...
06 July 2010
News
2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R: more of the same
This is a concept sketch for the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R, released by Kawasaki in an apparent attempt to assure fans that there is actually a lime green pulse left in the company. After a series of also-ran superbikes since the frighteningly fast 2004 ZX-10R and after a several years without any significant new products at all, Kawasaki knows it needs to do something new, something outrageous, someth...
23 June 2010
News
2010 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R gains ZX-6R fairing, little else
The 2010 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R was scheduled to receive a complete refresh, but since the economy's in the shitter, Kawasaki is playing it safe with minor tweaks only. Most noticeable is the slightly more svelte bodywork, lifted wholesale from the 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R. Kawasaki claims the 6R's bodywork is more aerodynamic, but it's also more spartan, revealing more of the engine and improving the a...
05 October 2009