Kawasaki ZX-10R Review (2021) | First Track Ride!

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Bike Social. I'm Michael Mann, behind you out there is Bedford Autodrome and this is the 2021 Kawasaki ZX-10R, aka the Kawasaki Ninja. Now, this particular bike is brand new for 2021, but the model is the most successful in world superbike history. We all know about Jonathan Ray's six consecutive titles recently. You add Tom Sykes' from 2013 into the mix, seven world titles. So, no wonder Kawasaki have invested a lot of money on their R&D into making this one the best yet. Now, there's a lot that's been spoken about the aesthetics, that front fairing, it acts like one wing and it's caused quite a lot of reason for comment on social media. But that's not the only thing that has changed. It might look like a typical ZX-10, but yeah, we've got that, we've got the rear end as well. There's a whole host of changes stay with me, I'll walk you through them all. Okay, so let's have a little look around this new 2021 Kawasaki ZX-10R. Here it is. It's the most successful bike in world superbike history and this is the biggest upgrade to the bike since 2016 and then previously to that 2011. So, it seems to work in five-year cycles. This is 15,799, the R. Then you get the performance edition which is an extra £1,000 to get your seat cowled and your Akrapovic slip-on silencer rather. Then the double R itself is £24,800 and again an extra £800 for the performance edition. Well, that's limited to £500. You can tell with a lot of the upgrades for this year that its focus is as a race machine or a track machine. So, still of course the 998 inline four cylinder fits nicely in that litre class, but it's been upgraded of course emission wise. So, they've had to meet all the Euro 5 regulations which means they've had a lot of work to do to do that, to meet the regulations, but also to retain its power and precision and character and all the rest of the stuff that makes a ZX-10 what it is. It comes in two colours. This is, now let me get this right, lime green, ebony and pearl blizzard which is the white bits and then the RR comes in one colour, that's lime green and that's really because it's designed for racing and everybody will have their fairings off anyway. 200.2 brake horsepower, that's at 13,200 rpm. So, it's actually lower than the Ducati V4 S, BMW S1000RR, Fireblade, RSV4, but the torque is higher than the blade in the BM. So, it's 114.9 newton metres which is 84.7 foot pounds and that's 11.4. So, what is new for 2021? Well, obviously, the aesthetics. Integrated wings, let me see if we can see through there. So, rather than having sticky out appendages, this one's kind of got it all incorporated and they talk about that entire front section being its wing. So, it's said to create 17% more downforce than the previous model, reducing drag by 7% and they've done all sorts to kind of help that, including this as well, like the rear, I guess you could call those wings, wouldn't you? So, the seat's a bit more slanted forwards, the pegs are higher, the bars are flatter, oh and the screen's higher, of course. So, the idea is you can get yourself into a better tuck position. Well, the full exhaust system has been revised, so they've revised the head of the pipes and they've repositioned the cat so it gets warmer faster apparently. They've got the oil cooler which is air cooled, that's new. Got that ram air effect with the big hole in the fairing there. Gearing's changed, it's got a larger rear sprocket, up from 39 to 41 teeth. They've changed the gear ratios, first, second, third, to shorter so they improve acceleration. There's always been yeah, there's an extensive downfall really on the roads. Got a new screen, riding modes, let me see if I can turn it on, 6-axis IMU, but you've got four different rider modes where you can affect the power and also the traction control. So, traction control is, I think it's off and then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and then you can have power, you can have full, medium or low, something like that which gives you 60 or 80% worth of full. So, this is in rider one mode, look, so you've got sport mode, road mode or rain mode and then you've got rider 1, 2, 3, 4 and then you can preset your own rider mode. So, if you want traction on, I don't know, 2 and power on medium, you can do that as rider 1 and so on and so on, if that makes sense. Cruise control, standard issue on this one. What else has changed? Swing arm pivot points down by a bit, they've changed the wheel base so that's slightly longer, the fork offset is greater by 2mm, I think overall the wheel base is 10mm longer so that increases stability and traction allegedly. Some of the settings in the forks have changed, at the front it's a little bit softer, at the rear it's a little bit harder, apparently that's all, a lot of that's down to Jonathan Wray. Of course, he's pretty handy on track. Brembo's on the front now, the M50s and then the RR, yeah, limited to 500, higher rev limit, got loads of pankle pieces in the engine, pistons, piston rings, DLC coated pins, I think it comes on the RS11s, yeah, Bristol RS11s on the R and then the RR comes on supercars to Pirelli. Quick shift up and down, as you know, Ohlins steering damper, you can get accessory heated grips, you can get accessory screen, you get accessory knee pads and frame sliders, a bit disappointed they've gone to all this effort with their upgrade that they haven't done much more with the switchgear. Right, do you want to join me on track? Yeah? Come on then, let's go. So, having had the benefit of spending a fair bit of time on track here at Bedford, we've had three or four sessions on the ZX10R and then a session as well on the RR, which is the homologation special limited edition, trick one with all the lightweight pankle bits in the engine. Kawasaki has done a terrific job at upgrading what was already a great bike, we know it's already a great bike because in Will's Superbike format, it won a lot consistently and they're of course completely different because, you know, you take a standard bike and strip everything off and you make a new one for Superbike racing. By the by, with this bike, the engine is its classy heartbeat, you can feel that Euro 5 restriction but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not slow by any means, the changes to the ratios really benefit it because, you know, in ZX10s of old, that first gear was so tall, it made it trickier to use on the street. So yeah, three, first, second and third being so close and the amends to the engine, I mean for engineers to make it Euro 5 compliant and still have over 200 brake horsepower is fantastic, they've done a really great job. And you can feel on track, it spins a lot faster, you get through the gears a bit quicker, the gear shift is fantastic by the way, that up and down, the auto blip on the downshift is super slick, super smooth, you barely need to touch it before it's changed down but you're always in control, there's no, you know, slipping. I never miss a gear going up or down, it's super smooth, super slick. This taller screen and the revised riding position is great for track, I'd like to try it on the road, I think you're obviously going to get a bit more weather protection with the taller screen but I don't think these higher pegs are going to be favourable for those of six foot like myself. Control wise, I like the new TFT display, I think it's very, very easy to read, it's a good font, it's not particularly new age, I don't think, it still feels a little old hat and the switch gear again, it's a little dowdy and it's not particularly intuitive but that, you know, I've only been on it for half a day so I think if you were owning the bike, of course you're going to get used to it, familiar with it, you know what buttons do what. I think that the suspension is absolutely top class, which was really rigorously tested here at Bredford, it's a bumpy track in places, there's some bumps in the wrong places as well, I mean the apexes are fast, there are good corners and not only do the suspensions swallow it all up but that six axis IMU as well, that helps. So electronically, the bike has moved on really, really well and it's very compliant and it's easy to ride and it's the type of bike that I was a little bit apprehensive with first up but you need to boss it in order to get the most from it, you need to be really riding on top of it and it's great because you've got a lot of space to move around, even though those pegs are high, you've still got a lot of space to move back to the force whether you harden the brakes and kind of push against the bars and use the tank and then get tucked in when you're coming out and sit up and use that power so it all builds up to a really great track bike. I'd like to take it on the street, on the roads to give a proper full opinion on that. Brakes are tremendous, they've got the Brembo M50s now and I felt really, really good on them. I must say though on the track I think the lever is a little bit higher, the clutch lever and the brake lever, not that you need the clutch very much but the front brake lever is a little bit too high, I'd have that tipped down if I was using it. The RR with its lighter weight wheels, I mean they're on super stock tyres on the treaded Pirellis as opposed to the R which was on slicks so you've got a slightly different profile of tyre there but nonetheless the RR gave a really good impression but it's a base model for racing, it's for those guys. I think I mentioned it earlier on, the engine, it feels blooming powerful but it still feels like there's more there and I think that with an official flash or a bit of an upgrade to the ECU, the loom, it's going to add at least 20 horsepower, I suggest. You can read my full review at bikesocial.co.uk, don't be afraid to leave any comments or questions, we'll do our best to answer them, either myself or I'll get one of the Kawasaki guys to do that. Thanks for joining me, hope you enjoyed it, see you next time.