Kawasaki ZX-10RR
We ride Kawasaki’s all-singing, all-dancing Ten-RR.
Bending WSB’s rulebook used to be the domain of Ducati with their various homologation specials that bore only a visual resemblance to their road-going siblings. Extra capacity, high spec engine internals, even a different bore and stroke was all fair game for the Bologna manufacturer in order to secure that top step. And now Kawasaki have got in on the rule-bending act with their new 2019 ZX-10R range – and more specifically the homologation special ZX-10RR. Although considering their recent domination of the championship, you have to wonder why they have decided to improve what already seems to be the best bike on the grid being ridden by the best rider…
Making very little apology for the fact that they have updated the ZX-10R solely with the intention of overcoming WSB’s rules, Kawasaki have essentially taken a look at how to increase the Ninja’s rev limit. Why? The WSB rules currently state that you can only run 3% more revs than the road bike has (the 2018 RR has a 14,250rpm limit so that’s 14,700rpm in race trim) and then restrictions based on race results will see this limit drop. Previous to the rules being implemented, the WSB team were seeing over 15,000rpm on their dash, but now they are actually redlining below the road bike’s limit at 14,100rpm, as they have been docked 600rpm due to their success. So how do you ‘rectify’ this situation (or bend the rules)? Simple – you increase the homologated road bike’s rev limit and then any WSB implemented rule restriction will see you back where you want to be! Sneaky…
Upping the revs
To achieve the extra 600rpm the ZX-10RR boasts, Kawasaki have had to completely redesign their cylinder head and add a finger-follower valve actuation system to all ZX-10R models. Previously, every model of ZX-10R (and ZX-9R and ZX-7R and ZXR750 for that matter), has run a bucket and shim valve train.
Nowadays, due to the big-bore/short-stroke style of motor and the need for revs, this valve train has fallen out of favour and most other litre bikes run finger-followers instead. Finger-followers, in short, mean you can run more aggressive cams and reduce the overall weight of the system.
Interestingly, this isn’t exactly new technology and those of a geeky disposition will know that the last Kawasaki sportsbike to run them was the GPX750R. Those of an even geekier nature will also know this bike, with Frenchman Adrien Morillas at the helm, also gave Kawasaki their first WSB win in 1988. I’ll get my anorak…
Moving on and the good news for racers doesn’t stop there, as the homologated RR model also gets titanium Pankl conrods as standard, helping it achieve the higher rev limit due to a 408g weight reduction over the stock bike’s steel items. The bad news is that as they cost over £1000 each, the price of the RR has gone up by around £5000 when compared to last year’s RR to ‘between £21,000 and £22,000’ according to Kawasaki UK. On the bright side, however, the base and SE versions’ prices should only rise by around £500 when compared to 2018 prices.
Alongside this new valve train and the RR’s titanium conrods, the 2019 ZX-10R gets, well basically bugger all. The look is the same, the ugly 1990s dash remains and there is no TFT unit replacing it, the wheels are the same, the frame is the same, everything is the same aside from optimised electronic assists and fuelling maps to take into account the lighter engine internals, Pirelli tyres and tweaked suspension damping. That’s a bit of a shame in my book, as the Ninja does really need a restyle and a decent dash, however Kawasaki have decided race success will be paramount and are using the Ninja and Jonathan Rea as a marketing tool.
To be brutally honest, they don’t really sell that many ZX-10Rs anyway and its role in life is to provide publicity on the world and
domestic stage to encourage riders to buy into the winning green brand. It’s not a bad ploy, as running a successful WSB team costs about a tenth of fielding a MotoGP squad and even then, as KTM, Suzuki and Aprilia are demonstrating, getting to the front is still one hell of a struggle. But what does it mean to those who aren’t running at the sharp end of WSB? In short, the RR now feels far more like a track refugee than the slightly disappointingly low-spec previous generation of Kawasaki’s homologation special and that’s great news to anyone looking at running one in any form of race series.
Put to the test
Fast Bikes flew out to Kawasaki’s own circuit of Autopolis in Japan to test the ZX-10RR, a track that is packed full of bends and also has a start/finish straight that sees litre bikes revving into top gear. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it is the perfect place to put a litre sportsbike through its paces. Although a typhoon arriving did put a bit of a dampener on our second day on track…
While visually the RR is a bit of a disappointment in its rather plain green paint (I reckon the stock ZX-10R looks far better) as soon as you open the throttle you can tell it is something special. Not revolutionary, but certainly special. If you were presented with a 408g sirloin steak and told to eat it you would struggle, but that’s how much weight Kawasaki has shaved off the conrods and, as a result, the inline four feels far faster to pick up revs than the standard model and also more responsive to throttle inputs. There is a new lightness to the way the motor revs and, surprisingly, also a strong midrange that I don’t remember being as apparent before.
While on the road the RR will certainly still feel a bit on the breathless side low in its rev range, on track there is now a strong midrange drive followed by a whack of top end thrust once the rev counter turns from orange to red as it passes 8000rpm. I wouldn’t say it devours gears with the same gusto as the Panigale V4, which you simply can’t throw gears at fast enough when you pin the throttle to the stop, but it is certainly noticeably faster revving than the old RR and sprightlier, although top end performance remains similar. Will these updates be of benefit to superstock racers? You have to imagine so because anything that makes a bike accelerate faster and punch out of bends is always welcome when it comes to beating the competition. Will trackday riders also feel its benefits? Yes, if you are a dedicated rider, but in all honesty, considering the price of the RR compared to the stock ZX-10R, you are probably better off investing in a stocker and then throwing the £6000 you have saved at trackday entrance fees!
Sweet chassis
Interestingly, when I asked him, Jonathan Rea singled out the ZX-10R’s chassis as the major advantage he has over his rivals. And when you ride the ZX-10RR on track you do understand where he is coming from.
Although physically unchanged from the outgoing model, Kawasaki claim the weight saving within the RR’s motor and the altered crank inertia (5% less) gives the RR better corner entry speed and better feel mid-corner due to the changes in the gyroscopic forces. It’s hard to accurately gauge this claim, as we didn’t ride the stock ZX-10R back-to-back with the RR version, however what I can say is that the Ninja was absolutely sublime when it came to track handling. Changes in direction feel effortless and when you are fully lent over the Ninja feels absolutely glued to the track. Even on the Autopolis start/finish straight, where you are high in the rev range in top, there was no hint of a weave (the RR has an Öhlins electronic steering damper like all ZX-10R models) and in the braking zone it was also very planted. It feels every bit the honed racetrack machine Kawasaki have always aimed it at being, however I was surprised to discover that it also has a softer side.
Riding the ZX-10RR around Autopolis reminded me that while it is a bit annoying on the road, when it comes to track use the Ninja excels and is far from the intimidating beast its brash green colour suggests. The throttle response is excellent and very smooth – something that was apparent on a wet track – and the brakes are remarkably refined. Unchanged from last year, the Brembo M50 monoblock calipers are almost a sportsbike industry standard at the moment and they don’t disappoint on the RR, however what I wasn’t expecting was how much feel Kawasaki have introduced into the Ninja’s braking. Usually bikes with braided lines feel dead at the lever, but on the RR you get a bit of squish on the initial part of lever travel that makes the
brakes bite hard but not too fiercely. Then, when you need to really bury the front into the ground, the final part of the lever’s travel noticeably ups the ferocity of their bite. I can’t see any racers using the cornering ABS system, but it is the same set-up on the stock ZX-10R, so trackday riders will feel its benefits. And also the joy of Kawasaki’s excellent up and down quickshifter, which is now standard fitment on all ZX-10R models for 2019 (the RR’s has a quicker cut-time, again due to the faster revving motor) and works seamlessly on track. Great stuff, but it begs the question who is it actually aimed at?
The ZX-10RR is a tricky machine to review as a road bike because it is very unlikely to end up in the hands of your average Ninja fan. Out of the roughly 400 ZX-10Rs that Kawasaki UK sell every year, 60% are the stock model, while 20% are the SE and the final 20% the RR. Of these bikes, the vast majority are bought by race teams. But at the end of the day that’s exactly the reason why Kawasaki created it.
The RR is there to ensure Rea keeps on winning and to allow domestic race teams all over the world to replicate this success and push the Ninja further than before. With this in mind it is hard to see Kawasaki failing. But for road riders it is an expensive homologation special and it’s just a ZX-10R with flash conrods. When you look at it in this light, and you see the spec and price of the stock ZX-10R compared to its rivals, non-racers would be better off buying the base models to deliver their Ninja trackday fix. Or at least that’s how we see it. But hey, how you spend your money is up to you. If you’ve got the cash there are worse ways you could spend it, that's for sure.