The shriek from the intake, engine and exhaust is pure Superbike as I run through the gears. 14k… 15k… snick… 14k… 15k… repeat.
On a 1000cc machine, doing this quickly gets the bike up over 250km/h, and there are few places this can be done safely, but on a 400? Not anywhere, but in a lot more places, places where your speed might be 150 rather than 250…
We haven't had sporty small-bore fours for decades. Even when they were popular in Japan a couple of decades ago, the numbers sold in Australia were quite small, but the popularity of racetrack ride days and the availability of a new, affordable and fast 400 has inspired Kawasaki to give the class a new crack. But unlike the other Kawasaki 400s, the ZX-4s aren't learner legal — the power-toweight ratio is way too high for that.
This bike is potentially a game-changer if the buying public believe the new machine offers the right balance of fun, speed and value. Kawasaki Australia invited the media to Morgan Park Raceway in Queensland so we could ride it on a superbike track — it proved to be an ideal venue to stretch the ZX-4 to its limit.
PACKAGE DESCRIPTION
Fortunately, the ZX-4 isn't just a screaming engine stuffed into a commuter chassis. It's
