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Kawasaki ZX-10R - uncork the genie
By Dave Abrahams Even its dry weight at 170kg is just 9kg more than the company's middleweight hooligan tool – although the roll centre is appreciably higher, making the Ten just a little slower on initial turn-in than the Six – which is not a bad thing on a bike with this much power.
The 76x5mm bore/stroke motor has some rough edges at low revs; it growls and vibrates strongly through the frame below 4800rpm (about 115km/h in top gear). Despite the sophisticated automotive-style fuel-injection system with 43mm throttle bodies, dual throttle valves and fine-atomising injectors, there's a lot of "slamming door" effect at small throttle openings, making the bike uncomfortable in heavy traffic. The power delivery smoothes out beyond 5000rpm, giving a sweet and impressively muscular mid-range; the bike pulls like a locomotive without any jumps or steps in the torque curve up to about 8000rpm, going up to an indicated 190km/h very quickly with absolutely no sense of speed or loud noises from the motor.
After that the power curve steepens sharply and the power comes on really strong, right past the claimed power peak of 128.4kW at 11 700rpm, accompanied by a howl from the air box that'll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, while the steering gets very jittery indeed – any contact between the front wheel and the road at this stage is purely a courtesy. Although the graphs say the power falls off after eleven-seven, I had the test bike bouncing off the rev-limiter somewhere past 13000rpm a couple of times and it still felt as if there was more to come. Terminal velocity The test bike topped out at 284km/h, less than I was expecting, at 11900rpm after a surprisingly short run; I suspect that it is capable of pulling slightly longer gearing for better numbers if that's what you want. As it is, the motor runs flat out without stress. It's a superb prime mover, capable of a wide range of work; the effortless midrange delivery is just right for swooping around your favourite twisties on a Sunday morning – I went through the Hex River pass in one long flowing move without shifting out of fourth or using the brakes (except on the last hairpin). Other than on the race track the manic top end is only usable in straight lines – and you'd better make sure there's plenty of open road in front of you before you uncork the genie. The clutch gets a little grabby when the bike runs hot in heavy traffic but recovers its equanimity as soon as the speed picks up and the oil gets a chance to cool. Nevertheless, I would top-grade synthetic oil if you intend to drag your ZX-10R. The ZX-10R features a vertically stacked gearbox but, unlike similar offerings from Yamaha and Honda, the shift shaft on this one is in the traditional opposition at the bottom. This enables proper lubrication of the selector drum as well as a shorter and more positive lever throw. Thus the Ten's shift action is tight and slick, if a little heavy; as always Kawasaki has engineered in a little too much play between the shift dogs, so that missed shifts are a rarity, although at low revs the transmission is impressively noisy. Together with the long chain, the transmission lash leads to noticeable play in the final drive, but the motor is so smooth that I was unable to induce any appreciable snatch in the chain. Twin-spar frame This surprisingly civilised drive train hangs below a twin-spar frame fabricated from a mix of alloy castings, pressings and extrusions. The spars curve over the top of the motor rather than around the cylinder head, detracting a little from the ultimate rigidity of the structure (compare it with the straight-shot geometry of the Bimota SB6 if you want to see what I mean) but making the bike the bike a lot narrower in some important places – notably between the rider's legs! The asymmetric swing-arm (pressings on the right and braced rectangular tube on the left) meets the vertically mounted shock absorber via underslung linkages – the shock is attached directly to the sub-frame immediately below the saddle so as to carry the unsprung weight as low as possible. The 43mm inverted forks are fully adjustable; the factory median settings however, are just about perfect for fast road work. Stiff enough to prevent excessive dive under hard braking, they soak up most of life's inequalities without upsetting the chassis – although you'll know about every matchstick you run over – initial travel is a little sticky. The rear set-up, by contrast, is distinctly on the harsh side of firm as issued, enough to induce some rear-wheel misbehaviour under hard acceleration on poor surfaces. We backed off a little on all three settings, which was a definite improvement; we could even have gone a little softer had time permitted. Thanks to the up-and-over frame and mushroom-shaped fuel tank (I'm not kidding, Cyril) the ZX-10R's roll centre is higher than that of the Six, making it a little slower on initial turn-in. Even so, with a wheelbase of just 1385mm, the bike is incredibly agile and it'll cut through tight S-bends like a GP two-stroke – but without the centre-point instability the old racers were famous for. Just don't dial in too much right hand as you pick it up – you can pull a power wheelie as the bike straightens out and you'll have to shut if off completely to get some weight on the front wheel for the second turn – very low Cool Quotient, Cyril. GP brakes Kawasaki's big gun comes with big petal-shaped discs and Tokico's latest four-pot radially mounted callipers, looking just like the stuff on the GP machinery. I was expecting real light-switch braking, like running into wet cement, but what I got was nothing special; the braking is strong, linear and very accurately modulated, but without extraordinary bite or power. What I found when I started punishing them on fast swervery, however, is that Tokico's best are totally immune to fade no matter how hard you work them and that the modulation is the same hot or cold – the same amount of squeeze will always net you the same amount of stop. That's the advantage of radially-mounted calipers, power is a function of hydraulic cylinder ratios. I rode the test ZX-10R from Kyalami to Cape Town after the motorcycle lifestyle expo – a total of just over 1500km in 13 hours 31 minutes riding time, including fuel and meal stops. It returned an overall fuel consumption of 7.102 litres/100km and never missed a beat – although the same can't be said of the rider. Low Screen The seating position is well forward, throwing a lot of weight on the hands; on the open road that's no problem, but my wrists soon began complaining in traffic. At high speeds, however, the screen is too low. Even with my helmet touching the tank my head was buffeted at anything over 160km/h and sustained high speeds became tiring, especially for my neck muscles. This is a common failing on modern sport bikes – it's ironic to note that when converting to track trim, they're invariably fitted with higher aftermarket screens. Round the corners and through the passes the seating position is perfectly balanced, the bike always poised, its mass centred and ready to blitz the next turn. A fellow ZX-10R rider reckons it'll make a better rider out of anyone. That's not quite true - this is an expert's weapon, as is any of the bikes in this class; let an inexperienced rider or, worse still, someone with a little experience and a lot of attitude loose on it and it'll bite him. Treat it with respect, however, and the ZX-10R will give you all the power you can handle in an amazingly agile package. Whether it will win races only time will tell; as it stands it's a very competent sports bike. Specifications: Motor: Liquid-cooled four-stroke transverse four. Capacity: 998cc . Bore x stroke: 76 x 55mm . Valvegear: DOHC with four overhead valves per cylinder. Compression ratio: 12.7:1. Power: 128.4kW at 11 700rpm. Torque: 115Nm at 9500rpm. Induction: Electronic fuel injection with four 43mm throttle bodies. Ignition: Digital. Starting: Electric. Clutch: Cable-operated multi-plate wet clutch. Transmission: Six-speed gearbox with chain final drive. Suspension: 43mm inverted cartridge forks adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping at front, monoshock adjustable for preload, compression and rebound damping and ride height at rear. Brakes: Twin 300mm semi-floating petal discs with radially-mounted Tokico four-pot opposed piston callipers at front, 220mm petal disc with single-piston floating calliper at rear. Tyres: Front: 120/65 -ZR17 tubeless. Rear: 180/55 - ZR17 tubeless Wheelbase: 1385mm. Seat height: 825mm. Dry weight: 170kg. Fuel capacity: 17 litres. |
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