When I went on the launch of the new Kawasaki ZX-10R, I was blown away. Launched at Losail, the circuit that hosts the opening round of the MotoGP season, the 10R was in its element. The track is fast, smooth but not all that flowing. It revealed two aspects of the bike that really impressed me: it's handling and the traction control.
Coming out of the circuit's left-hand hairpins after some fast right handers, the temptation was to get on the gas too soon. Three years ago I'd have probably landed in a hospital in Doha 30 miles away but thanks to Kawasaki's S-KTRC, I didn't. It's the most sophisticated traction control to date. I could rave on about the intricacies of the technology behind it like they did in the press launch. The problem is, like me, you'll just sit there and think: 'yeah yeah, better than anyone else, faster, lighter, blah blah'. Until you try it, you'll never believe it. Essentially, you can barely feel the traction control working and can get on the power so much earlier than you thought you could.
The first half of the day was a lesson in undoing everything I'd learned about corner exit throttle control. I know now that - on any bike - I can get on the power earlier and harder than I thought I could, before I'm anywhere near a highside.
Sure, you could argue that traction control takes some of the skill out of riding, but I don't think that's true. You can still crash it, no problem. You don't just ride it into the traction control out of every corner. However, S-KTRC gave me less to think about, meaning I could focus on other things, like getting on the right line and what I was going to have for lunch.
The second aspect of the 10R that stood out to me was its handling; I could roll out countless meaningless clichés about pin-point this and handling on rails that, but what was so impressive was the amount of confidence I got fom the front end's feedback. Like I said in my initial review: thanks to Big Piston Forks, it's like everything's in High Definition. Sure, we ran on Bridgestone BT-003 tyres which offer far more confidence on track than the BT-016 the UK bike is supplied with but sticky tyres wouldn't hide a shabby front end and dodgy chassis.
So after the initial furore at the Qatar launch, I had to have a 10R for the UK - where our roads aren't bank-rolled by the Qatari Royal Family. Where our summer's often better for sailing than it is for riding and where I'll be swapping a floodlit circuit for a bumpy city road with errant pedestrians running loose.
If you've got a 2011 ZX-10R, I'd love to hear from you. More updates coming soon, watch this space.
