ALWAYS known for its potent engine, the ZX-10R has equally been known as lacking in the finer graces of handling compared to its competition. We think the all-new ZX-10R deserves to grab that ‘ill-handling’ tag and throw it in the bin.

Not only does is handle sweetly, it still has all that grunt, and also traction control to control it.

Triple treats

There are plenty of new things to talk about on the ZX-10R but perhaps the most important is the three-stage power curves and traction control. The three modes of power are Full, Middle and Low. Essentially Full gives you everything, Middle lessens throttle response, although full power can be accessed temporarily says Kawasaki’s handbook, and Low gives around 60 per cent of full power.

On the road you can notice the difference between Full and Middle, but we only noticed it during hard acceleration out of tight corners. Low power mode is of course noticeable straight away but this will be fantastic for riding in poor conditions, or on the racetrack in the wet. What we liked about the power modes is how easy you can select them.

A switch on the left handlebar allows you to select them simply by holding it down for less than a second.
The handbook says you must close the throttle and stop the motorcycle to do so but before we read this we had already changed modes while still in motion.
Naughty us.

You have to love traction control, and this second generation of Kawasaki traction control is one of the better ones we’ve sampled.
Some bikes in this market sector have what you might call ‘overt’ traction control, but others like BMW’s S 1000 RR, and the 2011 ZX-10R sit much more in the background, almost as if they aren’t there at all. But they are there, protecting the rider from coming unstuck from hamfisted throttle control.

Kawasaki says it designed the three stage traction control, called Sport-Kawasaki TRaction (yes, we meant to make that a capital R) Control (S-KTRC for short) to make things simpler for the rider, and it’s hard to argue with that. Mode One allows you to wheelstand and slide the rear tyre out of corners, if you’re good enough, while Mode Two lets you have a little slide or two out of corners.
Mode Three intervenes early enough to prevent the rear wheel from spinning whenever possible.

Once again the manual says you must stop the motorcycle and close the throttle to change modes but we seemed to be able to do it on the fly but only when doing under 80km/h or thereabouts. The Power mode button is also used to change S-KTRC modes, pushing down instead of up. Simply put it’s one of the simplest sytems available. What else is new? For the techno junkies you also get anti-lock brakes for the first time on a ZX-10R. It’s called Kawasaki Intelligent anti-lock Brake System (KIBS).

It’s pretty flash, with the bike’s ECU talking to the ABS ECU to monitor wheels speed and front caliper hydraulic pressure to provide precise braking control. Kawasaki says it’s a first on a motorcycle. We can tell you the brakes are awesome, with loads of initial bite (maybe a little too much), and the slipper clutch suppresses ABS function on the rear brake during down shifts. We did engage ABS a few times while encountering some bumps while braking hard for a corner.

This was mainly the front only. The only issue with the big radially-mounted brakes is maybe they are too good. A couple of times we found the bike not wanting to turn into a corner because we were still pulling on the front brake.
You will find this on a number of top line sportsbikes so it’s a matter of changing your riding style – if you need to that is – and getting off the brakes as you tip in but still carrying some rear brake if needed, like we tended to do.

Chassis

An all-new alloy twin spar frame holds the ZX-10R together.
According to the press blurb the chassis has a more direct line from the steering stem to the swingarm pivot, and the engine is mounted higher than before. While that sounds nice what’s more interesting is the positioning of the rear shock which is called Horizontal Back Link rear suspension. By all accounts this allows the use of a softer rear spring to give better feedback, and after having ridden the big Ninja we can only agree. Combined with the 43mm Showa Big Piston forks (introduced on the ZX-6R in 2009), this is one of the supplest sports bikes Cycle Torque has ever ridden on the road.

Not once did we get launched out of the seat, and we rode the bike on real roads, not psuedo race tracks. An Öhlins steering damper helps keep everything in control, and it’s adjustable too. During our test we never needed to touch either the suspenion or the steering damper. We can only assume Kawasaki Australia has a direct line to Cycle Torque’s scales, the set-up was that spot on. It has a very comprehensive dash, which is easy to read. We really liked the digital tacho which lights up in bright yellow/orange/red depending on how hard you’re dishing it to the engine, and the Gear Position Indicator (GPI).
The neat thing with the gear position indicator is you can make it central in the dash if you are in Race Mode Display.

Basically it takes the digital speed readout and swaps it with the GPI, so it’s nice and big and easy to read when you’re doing a fast la of ‘The Island’. Road rage To coin a well used cliché, the ZX-10R is like a clenched fist inside a velvet glove.
Comfort wise it’s not too bad for a racetrack refugee and there’s enough room to easily put a set of inch-higher ’bars if you want.
The footpegs have two positions too. As for the power, Oh My God describes it succinctly.

If you reckon you need any more than this for the road you are simply delusional.
Reports are saying the power is close or slightly more than BMW’s S 1000 RR. We’ve now ridden both and we can’t say either way. Both are extremely fast. At first we thought it was a little doughy because it wasn’t lofting the front out of corners all that easily. Then we realised it was in Mode Two of the traction control. Putting it to Mode One had that little issue sorted, didn’t it now, but we did still notice a slight dip in the power off the bottom.

At times we brought the throttle on a bit too quick out of tight corners and this caused us to run slightly wide.
Maybe the power was coming out of this dip or possibly the dude at the controls was not as smooth as he should have been. At any rate, we preferred to run a gear higher, which seemed to eliminate this snatchiness, and the bike has more than enough torque to do it.

Engine 
Kawasaki says there’s not one part interchangeable between the outgoing and incoming ZX-10R.
Rumours of this bike a year or so ago said it would have a crossplane crank design similar to Yamaha’s R1, but it isn’t so. It’s got new everything, from crank cases to valves but after reading the engine press release we saw it has a single-shaft secondary balancer which is supposed to reduce vibration.
It was then we realised the vibration was gone, not like the older model ZX-10Rs which vibrated quite a bit. Hallelujah.

What else to talk about? 
Well, it’s fuel injected, as you would expect, and the ram Air Intake boosts power at high speed. Titanium is used for the entire exhaust system, and the stubby muffler looks modern and fits the style of the bike, even if it doesn’t sound all that tough.
Now this will give racers a smile. The bike has a six-speed cassette gearbox, no doubt similar to the ZX-6R. Serious racers will be able to buy different ratios to suit certain tracks, although road riders would really find no need. In fact the bike is fairly low geared and at 100km/h is doing a shade over four-grand in top gear. Combined with the prodigious torque, top gear cruising – even at quite low speeds – is easy.

Verdict

We could go on forever, but we really liked this bike.
Let’s face it, all the bikes in this class are pearlers.Some are better than others but there’s little in it.At $19,999 + ORC the ZX-10R is good value. The amount of technology on these modern road racers with lights is astounding, and you have to wonder where it will all end. It’s about time Kawasaki got off its backside and produced a bike capable of taking it to the others, and this will.