ZX10R Review
Posted: 18 Mar 2015, 21:31
Had a few prompts to write a review on my thoughts on the ten so thought better later than never.
In brief there's no surprises its exactly what I was expecting.
The traction control is very very good and super smooth. The only way you know its been activated is by a flashing light on the dash. There is no abrupt cut or loss of power its very smooth and user friendly, in fact its almost invisible which is perfect IMO. Its not intrusive when your riding but more like a guardian angel is riding with you who mops up your clumsy throttle control inputs with out you even noticing she is there, leaving you feeling confident and in control. Staying with electronics there are 3 power modes and the bike is pretty dam quicker in lower power mode which is 60% so circa 120 ish so god knows what it will be like wide open in full power mode, I've only ridden 100 miles in non ideal conditions so the full hit is yet to come.
Brakes were better than I expected and very strong. I would say they were better than the upgraded system of Brembo radial master cylinder, braided lines and race pads which I had on the Blade. Loads of stopping power on tap and plenty of feel to inspire confidence and although they are abs I was braking pretty deep in damp conditions with no intervention so the cut in threshold must be set quite high which is exactly what you want on a sports bike IMO.
The bike seemed a little slower to turn than my Blade but that's no surprise as I had played with the geometry and suspension on the Blade plus it was wearing more sporty tyres so I'm confident with some tinkering the ten will be scapel sharp like my old Blade.
One thing that did impress was the fuelling on the big kawasaki which is the best I have used bar none and that includes bikes with power commanders and custom maps. Very smooth and progressive power delivery and not a whiff of snatchiness even when coming off a closed throttle.
One area well documented on the big ten is it lacks mid range and whilst this may seem true it actually isn't. It isn't as looking at a dyno graph the bike is similar to the competition however on the road it is lacking in instant drive which the Blade had in any gear at any engine speed. The reason for this is first gear is very tall with the next five ratios being very closely stacked together to make it great on the track for superstock racers. To allow for this gearing Kawasaki have decided to fit very high final drive ratios using the sprockets to give an impressive top speed in the sale blurb. The easy fix is a quick change of sprockets and -1 on the front +1 on the rear is what's recommended. I m undecided whether to go for this mod as not spent enough time in the saddle becoming familiar and confident with the bike yet to make a judgement on whether I want or even need this.
Overall I have just scratched the surface of the bike but can see already there is a great bike waiting in the ten and with a bit more saddle time and a few choice mods its going to be a weapon.
In brief there's no surprises its exactly what I was expecting.
The traction control is very very good and super smooth. The only way you know its been activated is by a flashing light on the dash. There is no abrupt cut or loss of power its very smooth and user friendly, in fact its almost invisible which is perfect IMO. Its not intrusive when your riding but more like a guardian angel is riding with you who mops up your clumsy throttle control inputs with out you even noticing she is there, leaving you feeling confident and in control. Staying with electronics there are 3 power modes and the bike is pretty dam quicker in lower power mode which is 60% so circa 120 ish so god knows what it will be like wide open in full power mode, I've only ridden 100 miles in non ideal conditions so the full hit is yet to come.
Brakes were better than I expected and very strong. I would say they were better than the upgraded system of Brembo radial master cylinder, braided lines and race pads which I had on the Blade. Loads of stopping power on tap and plenty of feel to inspire confidence and although they are abs I was braking pretty deep in damp conditions with no intervention so the cut in threshold must be set quite high which is exactly what you want on a sports bike IMO.
The bike seemed a little slower to turn than my Blade but that's no surprise as I had played with the geometry and suspension on the Blade plus it was wearing more sporty tyres so I'm confident with some tinkering the ten will be scapel sharp like my old Blade.
One thing that did impress was the fuelling on the big kawasaki which is the best I have used bar none and that includes bikes with power commanders and custom maps. Very smooth and progressive power delivery and not a whiff of snatchiness even when coming off a closed throttle.
One area well documented on the big ten is it lacks mid range and whilst this may seem true it actually isn't. It isn't as looking at a dyno graph the bike is similar to the competition however on the road it is lacking in instant drive which the Blade had in any gear at any engine speed. The reason for this is first gear is very tall with the next five ratios being very closely stacked together to make it great on the track for superstock racers. To allow for this gearing Kawasaki have decided to fit very high final drive ratios using the sprockets to give an impressive top speed in the sale blurb. The easy fix is a quick change of sprockets and -1 on the front +1 on the rear is what's recommended. I m undecided whether to go for this mod as not spent enough time in the saddle becoming familiar and confident with the bike yet to make a judgement on whether I want or even need this.
Overall I have just scratched the surface of the bike but can see already there is a great bike waiting in the ten and with a bit more saddle time and a few choice mods its going to be a weapon.
