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2004 ZX-10R Track Test




By Sean Alexander
Photos by Dale Alexander
Additional photos by Tom Riles

Homestead, FL 12/12/2003~ Squirming and hazing, the tire paints a swath of rubber out of Homestead's turn four lefthander. My head is shifted left and foreward almost over the clutch lever, while my knees tightly grip the tank and my knuckles ache, as I try to impart a light touch while hanging on tight enough to keep from being left behind by the rapidly accelerating ZX-10R. Fun? Hell yes this is fun! Thank you very much Kawasaki, it looks like you've jumped into the liter class war with both feet.

This isn't the first time weve heard the old "Open class power with 600 size and handling" cliche' from a sportbike manufacturer. However, to my knowledge this is the first time its actually been delivered. The 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R has less frontal area and is both narrower and shorter than the current ZX-6R. Kawasaki claims the 10R weighs 375Lbs dry and there is normally a bit of fudge in a manufacturers claimed dry weight. However, after sitting on a ready to ride 10R, tipping it back and forth between my knees, then taking it out on the track, it's hard to tell the difference between it and the feathery 416Lb wet weight we measured for the 2003 ZX-6R. My hunch is that Kawasakis weight claim is fairly accurate.









ZX-10R Walkaround: 2.4 MB Mpeg-1 Kawasaki Promo Video: 6 MB SWF



I didn't get a chance to ride the bike on the new OEM Dunlop D218ZR tires that were especially designed for it, because the press fleet at Homestead was fitted with the slightly shorter profile and more triangulated Dunlop D208GP Star "DOT" race front and a one-off hand-cut Dunlop superbike slick rear. On these race spec tires and with the forks raised 5mm in the triple clamps, the biggest Ninja actually turned-in and changed direction quicker and easier than the ZX-6R I raced in the Fontana AMA Superstock event this year. It was also quite stable under power and as my trust in the tires and chassis grew, I started giving it ever larger handfuls of throttle while still on the side of the tire. I repeatedly verified that -should you choose to do so- the uber Ninja is quite happy to smoothly spin the tire through corner exit and most of the way down the following straight. Yes, these were really good tires, but this is a great chassis and it isn't hard to make the tire or ride height changes that these press bikes had, although I suspect that street riders would be better served by keeping the stock tires and standard fork position, due to the increased stability they provide. As configured, I actually had more problems with the bike wanting to run off the inside of the corner, than I did with the bike pushing or running wide. Sure, if I gave it a big handful of gas while traction was good, the bike would lift and skim the front tire causing some understeer, but this only happened when I was being lazy and not keeping my weight foreward and to the inside. It seems true then, this actually is a 155+ Hp full-steam-ahead liter bike that handles as well or better than most modern 600s.




<b>If you think it takes a lot of power to spin a superbike spec slick in a straight line, or start effortless wheelies at over 120mph without using the clutch, you're right. Kawasaki claims 175Hp at the crank without ram-air and 184Hp at the crank when air is being pushed in at speed. The last GSX-R 1000 that MO tested made 157Hp at the rear tire and this new Kawasaki feels at least as fast at lower speeds and noticeably faster at higher speeds where the ram-air is most effective. </b>Overall power delivery is excellent, though the fuel injection is quite sensitive. This can make for jerky mid-corner speed changes, if you're as ham-fisted as I am. A few of the turns at Homestead are technically first gear corners, but most of us took them in second. We did this because there was still enough low-end grunt to overwhelm the tires when leaned-over, while the taller gear smoothed out the bikes reaction to an unsteady throttle hand. At the other end of the straights, the top-end rush is quite impressive and the engine revs quite freely through its 13,000rpm redline and hits a very soft rev limiter shortly thereafter. Several of us spent time on the limiter, using the overrun like a 600, to avoid up-shifting mid-corner.

Kawasaki switched to new "petal" type semi-wave rotors for the 10R and though a simple rotor swap isn't usually a big deal, this bike stops almost as well as the new Aprilia Mille Factory R -you know the one; WSB spec Brembos, $17,000 etc.- I was able to fade the stock ZX-6R brakes, when I track tested it at the beginning of the year. However, I had no such problems with the faster ZX-10R. I've yet to sample finer brakes on a Japanese sportbike. In addition to the excellent brakes the new "slipper" clutch that Kawasaki is using worked flawlessly through out the track sessions. The slipper enables the rider to take maximum advantage of the brakes, without being preoccupied about locking the rear wheel when downshifting.


Like the 2003 ZX-6RR and ZX-6R, the new ZX-10R shows good attention to detail throughout. Unlike the 600s, the 1000 has slightly more comfortable ergonomics and a seat that doesn't slope nearly as steeply. The more comfortable -though still racetrack aggressive- ergos are nice, but the flatter seat isn't ideal for a bike that accellerates as hard as the new ZX-10R does. Our test bikes didn't have the optional seat cowl/butt-stops on them so my hands and forearms quickly grew tired from trying to hang-on as this beast accellerated down the front and back straights. I suppose this isn't such a bad problem to have.

Lest you think you're reading a Kawasaki infomercial, I must sadly mention that several of the bikes on hand at Homestead had a sporadic problem with refusing to change-up from 3rd to 4th gear during rapid clutchless upshifts. This would cause a second and third failed attempt and eventually the rider would grab the clutch in frustration, at which point the bike would shift fine. This happened about 5% of the time on about 30% of the bikes at the intro. At first the mechanics on hand thought it was the positioning of the shift-lever, so they adjusted them for us, but this didn't do much to help the situation. After that, they installed heavier linkage rods on the rearsets, thinking that perhaps there was some flex in the mechanism. This didn't cure the problem either. As of press time the latest word is that it was a pre-production setup issue and that it will be rectified before the production units hit the showroom floor. I hope this is true, because the occasional missed shift was the only non-rider-induced problem on an otherwise amazing new motorcycle.


It is with much regret that I must inform you that there isnt any on-bike video from this test. Click here for a good explination why. Stay-tuned for a street impression of the ZX-10R in a month or two and a full-blown Open Class Shootout in three to four months. Honda and Yamaha also have all-new or heavily revised open class sportbikes for 2004. I hope for their sake, that they've been doing their homework, because the 2004 ZX-10R isn't pulling any punches.


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i like the zx-10r it looks sweet

 

hey man, where you gettin these articles??

 

nevermind i got it http://www.motorcycle.com/mo/mckaw/0...ro/index.motml

 

that bike dont look to bad

 

as soon as i read the specs on the 10r ive said its gonna be between the 10r and the 1000rr for best bike this year.

 

iagree with u and dont forget the R1 looks good also

 

Yeah, I really like the way the zx-10 looks

 

need someone to stunt the zx-10 and give some feedback

 

I'm sticking with suzuki

 

:YEAH

 

for my street bike at least... stunt bike is only a honda

 

the zx10 looks sweet. im glad to see they shortened it up cause the old zx10's had a wheel base like a gold wing or something-way too long!


ill stick with suzuki still too though