New Kwacker in Town

THE KAWASAKI NINJA 1000 HAS ARRIVED ON INDIAN SHORES AND carries a sticker of Rs 9.98 lakh (ex-showroom). So what does that price tag get you? First off, you get a bike that looks stunning. There’s no denying that the 2017 Ninja 1000 is quite a looker, especially with the fresh design including those swank LED headlamps and a split fairing, among other things. On top of that you get that sweet 1,043-cc in-line four which was present in the previous model and which produces 142 PS at 10,000 rpm and 111 Nm of torque peaking at 7,300 rpm. That explosive engine is mated to a six-speed gearbox.

Suspension-wise, the 2017 Ninja 1000 sports 41-mm inverted cartridge forks with step-less compression and rebound damping and adjustable preload up front, and a horizontal monoshock also with stepless compression and rebound damping, and remotely adjustable spring preload doing duty at the rear. Braking responsibility is borne by dual 300-mm petal-type discs with four-piston monobloc calipers at the front wheel, and a single-piston 250-mm petal disc at the back. Of course, ABS comes as standard and, in this new model, so does traction control, wheelie control and cornering ABS, thanks to an intelligent IMU unit.

The new Ninja 1000 is available in two colour options, black and green, and only 20 units will be sold here in India initially. Along with the Ninja’s launch, Kawasaki also announced the price of the street naked Z900, which carries a sticker of Rs 7.68 lakh (ex-showroom). Both bikes are assembled as semi knocked down (SKD) units at Kawasaki’s new Chakan facility, which is the reason for their competitive pricing.