The others
Practicality and performance? Don’t mind if we do...
Ninja, Tracer and CRF
THE NINJA HAS spent the month piling on — and lapping up — the miles but what has impressed me is how much it has got under my skin — few bikes that are as practical as this have as much usable performance and more importantly, deliver it in such an accessible way.
If you’re a regular reader and wonder why I’ve got the keys rather than normal custodian Martin Fitz-gibbons, I’ve nicked it for a month while he fills his scientific mind full of voltages, amps and battery capacity while running RIDE’S long-term Zero SR/F electric bike.
In the last month the SX has clocked up nearly 1000 miles in my presence and has been very enlightening indeed.
I’ve been fascinated by the new Ninja ever since Martin came back from the launch of the bike earlier this year saying they’d improved the low-speed steering — my biggest complaint about the old machine. I ran an original model as a test bike back in 2011 but never really gelled with it, thanks to that heavy, less-than-neutral steering and what felt to me like intrusive vibrations at motorway speeds. The new bike addresses, but not entirely fixes, these.
Going the distance
The first big job involved endurance. Lending a hand with RIDE’S touring-boot test meant putting some decent miles on the top-rated boots for a second opinion. Having a day simply riding a motorcycle is always a joy and the Kawasaki proved the perfect tool for the job; lengthy saddle time, never averaging less than 50mpg and threatening 200 miles a tank.
All the right ingredients are there for distanceeating. The cruise control is typically wellengineered and made possible by the new ride-by-wire throttle. It is simple to operate, unwavering and seamless to disconnect when you need it and the new 20mm-thicker seat is comfortable after six hours in the saddle.
The touring screen fitted to this bike is a reasonable improvement over the standard screen on the previous bike and is adjustable over four angles rather than three, but windnoise still dominates the experience, especially as the single silencer is Euro5-compliant and muted when the bike isn’t under load.
The advantage of all this turbulence is that the Ninja is ‘cooler’ than some other bikes, meaning enough air gets to your jacket vents to keep you chilled in summer. In my experience, I haven’t found the same on a BMW R1250RS, for example. There’s still a high-frequency buzz at 6000rpm but the vibration isn’t too intrusive and it wouldn’t stop me buying the bike. It’s certainly less annoying than it used to be.
Loading it up
We also loaned the SX to snapper Joe Dick, who used the bike to tag along with myself and Si Hargreaves for the naked-bike feature in the middle of this mag. A long day, during the midst of our summer heatwave, this is what he thought: “Chasing Matt and Simon was pretty easy on the SX, thanks to the mid-range power that comes on really strongly from 6000rpm. The handling could be sharper though — especially once the panniers were laden with my kit. I’m 5’6” and didn’t struggle with the Kawasaki at all and the screen kept me in a sea of tranquillity. It comes with panniers which should be enough for a weekend away. Impressed.”