Engine Design

Good rideability

“Getting big power from the engine was not terribly difficult,” says the project’s leader. “But getting easy-to-use, feel-good power across the rev range required a lot of work. For example, we wanted to make sure that the bike was not intimidating when riding in the rain or at low speeds, even if a rider were not cautious with the throttle. So to tune the engine for good rideability at slower speeds we refrained from giving it too much torque in the lower rpm ranges. However, from mid-range on up, this motor kicks out all the performance that sports riders expect of a bike bearing the ZZR logo.”

For example, quarter-mile performance is traditional strongpoint of all Kawasaki sports bikes and is an important quality in the U.S. market. Rest assured that the new ZZR delivers everything that riders expect in this area, and a whole lot more! In fact, don’t be surprised if the ZZR is quicker in the quarter mile than the awesome Ninja ZX-12R.