WITH middleweight sportsbikes seemingly the flavour of the month (or year) at the moment, rumours of Kawasaki updating their Ninja 650 to a Ninja 700 could be fuelled by this rendering of a Ninja 650-cross-ZX-10R.
Designed by Kardesign for Motorrad.de, this is a fantastic look at what Kawasaki may be designing if they decide to revamp their middleweight sportsbike to keep up with the Joneses - with Aprilia releasing the RS660, and Yamaha with their YZF-R7 based on the popular MT-07 on the way.
Watch: Kawasaki ZX-10R
This Ninja 700R would be heavily based on the 2021 ZX-10R in this concept, but Aprilia has set the bar high for expectations in the middleweight market with their RS660 - particularly when it comes to the electronics, with the RS660 fitted with six-axis IMU, quickshifter & blipper, and overall massively comprehensive electronics package for this side of a 20k sports bike, it’s big shoes to fill.
Could this be the Kawasaki Ninja 700?
Style-wise, the rendering shows a lot of key features from the ZX-10R, with the tail section, exhaust, tank and fairing style all featuring here. The subframe, front integrated indicators and Nissin callipers (as opposed to pricey Brembo brakes from the ZX-10R) come from the Ninja 650.
The 700cc engine in this Ninja would have to compete with the 100 bhp RS660 parallel-twin, which we found to be one of the best on the market, and the 73.4 bhp MT-07 CP2 motor, which will be placed in the YZF-R7. Some murmurings would expect the Kawasaki motor to produce around 95 bhp - entirely adequate - and the rendering specifically states it would be 100 bhp.
Pricing would be considered, also - with the RS660 on the market at £10,150, Kawasaki would look to increase the price from the current Ninja 650 (£6,899) and creep it closer to the £10k mark.
Do you think Kawasaki should be looking to update their Ninja range to compete with the new middleweight sportsbikes, or is it good enough as it is? And if they did, would you buy it?
Original rendering can be seen here on Instagram.
