Comments on: Kawasaki Provides Photo Of 2011 ZX-10R Test Unit (Bike Reports) (News)

By: PBSPEED

PBSPEED — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:43:42 +0000

Kawi 1000cc ALWAYS made the most power right out of the box. Playing catch up? More like waiting for someone to outpower them, which BMW did. Now there will be a quick retaliation which will keep the S1000RR from standing by itself any longer. Don’t know what you’ve read, I’ve read otherwise….

Report this comment

By: Ziggy

Ziggy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:12:57 +0000

Now I read that Akira Yanagawa is also partly responsible for the bike’s development. This is worrysome to me. How much will Kawasaki listen to him, since he was responsible for developing the previous two Kawasakis too? We all know what those bikes achieved (no disrespect to Mr. Yanagawa). Admitedly though with the current ZX10R Sheridan Morais won the local South African superbike honors on the ZX6 and the ZX10. He only ended 11 and 13 in the 2009 WSBK race in South Africa. This is his local playground. This tells me the bike isn’t bad, just not nearly good enough on the WSBK platform.
With Chris Vermeulen out for the rest of the season, I see Yanagawa is mentioned as a possible replacement.
Maybe he surprises all of us, and puts any doubts about bike development to rest.
Somehow, I doubt it though.
The racers need to be closely involved with development. Such was the case with Mladin at Suzuki if I’m not mistaken.
I have huge respect for Chris Vermeulen. I think he has what it takes to win it for Kawasaki. Sadly this knee injury will have him at a disadvantage for next year. Maybe they should cut their losses with Chris, and bring Haga to the team. LOL.

Report this comment

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:46:24 +0000

What happened to the big bang engine, variable rockers and variable camshafts? BMW created something entirely new with the S1000 – I don’t recall ever seeing a BMW anything like this one – do you? And they made a huge leap forward with power output compared with the Japanese. However they did very little with the handling, opting for the gimmicky traction control instead (really – why bother with a sports bike if you want TC and ABS? God gave us throttle hands for a reason). This ZXR is merely playing catchup in the power game. That will probably make it a better bike than the S1000, but BMW has already stolen that thunder. Disclaimer: I own an ’05 ZXR, so I’ll admit that it’s difficult to improve on perfection.

Report this comment

By: Vitamin D

Vitamin D — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:45:39 +0000

That’s the same formula bmw used for the s1000 and nobody seems to be complaining about that. Just what new technologies were you expecting?

Report this comment

By: RENDELL

RENDELL — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:39:19 +0000

Looks fast. Nice wheels.

Report this comment

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:53:50 +0000

Having just read the lastest update in another publication, the 2011 model sounds disappointingly boring. None of the really new technology is going to make it into the bike. Just upgrades to current stuff plus traction control (big deal), maybe ABS (big deal) and more power (yawn).

Report this comment

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:33:55 +0000

how much steering radius does that have? Looks like it’s locked to go straight ahead only…

Report this comment

By: joe

joe — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:33:42 +0000

Disappointed that they chose not to develop the 90 degree horizontal cylinder head that they have a patent pending for http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/07/kawasaki-patents-90-cylinder-e.html.
It appears to be a conventional upright cylinder head albeit with some cool tech wizardry.

Report this comment

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:07:17 +0000

Oddly enough, kawasaki are doing really well at the moment on the Irish and TT scene. I’m not sure if that can be related to road performance rather than pure track performance but you can certainly see that they are quick in some circumstances. (Several 130+mph laps of the Isle of Man and Ulster Grand Prix circuits). Their WSS effort is pretty solid this year and last, and I thought their (half) MotoGP effort last year went well, certainly better than the Suzukis.

They never break the bank when it comes to riders, although they seem to have a plan with Vermeulen over 2 or more years. I hope this bike fianlly gives them a WSB contender, their first for more than 10 years.

Report this comment

By: jimbo

jimbo — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:34:13 +0000

Any news is better than no news. You’re talking about it, right? That’s all they care about.

Yes, it bothers the crap outa me.

Report this comment