Kawasaki ZX 10R SE
The Big K and Showa team up for their first go at semi-active suspension. Turns out you really can teach an old dog new tricks…
LET’S START WITH a whimper. Numbers don’t lie, right? The ZX-10R SE is among the heaviest, the longest and the laziest steering in its class. Its torque trace mostly bumps along the bottom compared with peers. And, at £18,949, it looks barely any different to the base model (£4650 cheaper). So, what can redeem this aging beast from the east? Kawasaki’s answer is its – and Showa’s – first semi-active suspension. In an exclusive arrangement with Kawasaki, Showa have deployed their excellent Balance Free forks and shock solenoids controlled by in-house-developed algorithms running in a dedicated suspension control unit. These react in one millisecond and are informed by sensors measuring the stroke rate of the suspension, the inertial measurement unit gauging deceleration and acceleration and the engine control unit informing speed. All this alters damping only – preload remains manual. Out here in the sunlit uplands around the Almeria circuit, Spain all this new tech seems splendid. Pre-ride, Showa’s Senior Staff Engineer Norihisa Sugata said they wanted to get the system working well under the more punishing conditions that a ZX-10R SE would experience, making it far easier to rewrite the algorithms for more roadbiased models… Dry, sweeping, sun-drenched roads highlight the differences between the SE’S Road mode and Track and Manual. Road is sportsbike firm and is spot-on for getting a wriggle on along the streets. Three-figure speeds on dusty and chilled tarmac elicit not a single question from the suspension (or street-biased Bridgestone R10s). Marchesini wheels, with the mass centralised around the hub, help this big unit turn fast too and are a welcome migration from the RR version. The Brembo M50 monobloc brakes on the front are awesome. As per its less pricey variants, the SE explodes out of your hands once you’re north of 7000rpm. To this spannertwiddler, the Showa kit removes one more thing to fret about, just as quickshifters make you forget the clutch and ABS quells heavy braking jitters. We replay a stretch of rollercoaster road on Track mode
‘The SE explodes out of your hands north of 7000rpm’
and, yes, it gets firm enough to be unpleasant at anything but stoopid speeds and you soon want to switch back to Road. It’s easy to flip modes but the dated dash means anyone not blessed with 20:20 vision will have their chinguard pressed to the top yoke to see what’s selected. Back at the Almeria circuit on the base Road setting and the ZX-10R SE does a decent impression of having had a bucket of oil poured over its rear. On the back straight – terminal speed around 160 mph – the algorithms manfully manage the ‘wrong’ setting but frankly it feels like a few too many zeros and ones are being spat out. Road means road. Funny that. Tyres are swopped to trackbiased Bridgestone R11s on warmers. It’s here that the full gamut of Showa’s effort starts to be felt. Switch to Track and life gets much sweeter, with a firm ride providing heaps of feedback. Track mode would suit eight out of ten regular trackday riders. If, however, you’re in the two out of ten who like to adjust stuff Manual mode (its base setting is Track and you adjust from there) allows epic amounts of compression and rebound tuning. Kawasaki technicians, who tanked the bike around the circuit the day before our arrival, had toughened up the front and rear compression and it made a world of difference. With a £30 race kit dongle fitted to switch off the ABS, Manual takes you a step closer to being Jonathan Rea, the irony being that rules and rider preferences mean most road and race series don’t see semiactive suspension being used. For now, however, it’s been deployed to extend the life of the ZX-10R. The SE isn’t going win any group tests, I’ll bet, no matter how brilliant its suspenders are. It’s old school top end rush and Star Trek design are anachronisms nowadays. But riders who like their meat rare and their wine red have one more reason to stick with the ZX-10. We’ll end with a bang. No amount of today’s technology beats the laws of physics. With Traction Control likely set on its least invasive, Yours Truly highsides the SE on Almeria’s dusty chicane, breaking his collarbone. Technology’s great. Until it isn’t.
‘With Traction Control likely set on its least invasive, Yours Truly highsides the SE breaking his collarbone. Technology is great. Until it isn’t’