KAWASAKI ZX-10R

WORDS STUART

I’VE RIDDEN EVERY KAWASAKI ZX-10R since the early 2000s and I’ve liked the progression, especially since 2012 or so, that the bike has made. The early models were a bit of a handful, but Kawasaki has worked hard to make the ZX-10R easier to ride and damn fast. However, the word, “fast” is simply no longer adequate with the 2021 model. I took it to Sydney Motorsport Park, courtesy of Sydney Motorsport Park Ride Days, to give it a whirl. On road tyres, no warmers and no suspension setup, I was carving people up left, right and centre and with the lack of drive off corners from the slippery road tyres I was still passing other modern litre bikes down the straight – what fun!

The six World Superbike titles the bike has earned courtesy of Jonathon Rea can only help the production version of the new ZX-10R to become better and better – the WSBK team would want certain things built into the production version to help make their race bike faster.

A host of changes have been made to engine and chassis – including a higher rev limit