Cycle News

ciIbId, lrom the Ie*: tID the • tide aldie ....... all tID mIIintlIIn the 11m width .-Ied for the bike's 52-degree bank angle. The stMring head has been II'lOYed further forward while the rake has been changed from 24 to 24.S degrees, which was done to move the weight bias rearward slightly, improving steering. The frame uses new castings in the steering head and rigid engine mounts for improved stiffness. The chassis also sports a new swingarm, which is actually shorter, measured from the pivot point to the rear axle. The swingarm uses castings around the pivot area, while the beams and new reinforcement spars underneath are pressings. The pivot point on the frame has been moved 20mm lower to improve traction and feedback from the rear tire (which is now a taller 190/55ZR 17 as opposed to a 190/50ZRI7), and to reduce the effects of chain tension on the rear suspension. Another of our demands that was met is the addition of a race quality steering damper for 2006. Last year Kawasaki sold an Ohlins damper as an accessory through its parts catalog, but the new lOR comes stock with a top-shelf adjustable Ohlins unit mounted between the top clamp and the tank. The '06 ZX- lOR definitely feels more stable than the previous bike on the track, albeit with the penalty of not being able to make midturn corrections as easily. Midcorner, the bike is far less lively than before, while at the same time providing more confidence in the level of grip when flicking it in. Where the compromise was the most apparent was when trying to pull the bike back onto your intended line if you entered a corner a bit wide. The bike turns in very sharp, like in Autopolis' first-gear hairpins (one left, one right), but once on its side, it just wanted to be left alone until you picked it back up for the exit. QuIIIW ihi \\Hi -.d ~ (It on the track), becauslI die bike _ _ tID IJIIC1erstee1 In a couple places. almost causIng me tID loose the front In a fairly fast righthander. On the new Dunlop Sportmax GP race tires later in the day, I had no such problems, but the bike's suspension settings were never quite right for me anyway, as I was sharing the bike with two other journalists. I think the fork was too soft for my 180 pounds - and that was the likely culprit. The most notable improvement to the chassis is the bike's stability under hard braking. The combination of the longer wheelbase (increased from 54.5 to 55.6 inches) and more mellow rake (24.5 as mentioned above) all make the bike feel far more stable under braking at the end of Autopolis' front straight away and in a couple of other hard braking zones. The brakes themselves have been improved for '06 by adding a radial-pump master cylinder to the system's radialmount four-piston calipers and 300mm petal rotors. At the end of our second day, I got a little hot into turn one and hit a bump at the same instant that I grabbed a touch too much brake, and had the bike on the front tire at 170-plus mph. At least Sportrider's Kent Kunitsugu and Doug Chandler (yeah, that Chandler) got a big kick out of watching me regain control before I flicked it in. Really embarrassing, but nice brakes. The suspension on the lOR is similar to the 2005's, with a fully adjustable 43mm inverted fork with a DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) coating on the inner stanchions to reduce friction. Out back is a fully adjustable remote reservoir shock. The spring rates have been altered toward the softer side to improve feel and both ends feature top-out springs for improved stability. Next up on the engineer's improvement list was the redesign of the bodywork for improved aerodynamiCS. First was the front cowl, which was completely redeSigned. This was possible because of the extremely compact new projectorbeam head- The redesigned front fairing is more aerodynamic than the '05 lOR. Finallyl Kawasaki ditched the LCD tach in favor of this hybrid analog/digital display, The race quality adjustable Ohlins steering damper comes standard on the '06 bike.

• Cover