Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Ie0 MPARISO NI:J WORL SUPERSPORT 2003 COMP D ARATIVE By ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS BY KEL EDGE adjusted slipper clutch - both first-time features on any bike in the Supersport class and a big factor in making the Kawasaki so effective in outbraki ng o ppo nents, as Fabien repeatedly proved en route to his Misano victo ry. The engine braking is a huge added ben efit, allowing you to go deeper into turns without chattering the back wheel than on other Supers ports, none of which have this feature . Foret uses a high ]OOO-rpm idle speed, and this was a big help in driving cleanly around the slow first-gear hairpins at Magny-Cours without fee ling the front wheel might tuck in. It also gave just enough drive from a closed throttle to maintain momentum in a bottom-gear hairpin and delivered a clean pickup when I got back on the gas. Nice . Certainly the Kawasaki's fuel injection, another Supersport first fo r the marque , is well mapped - it felt controlled and predictable, same as the bike's braking. I was impressed by the total response of Tokico's Our European editor checks out last year's "stocKe s t h the present controversy surround ing World Superbike , it's the companion World Supersport class that looks set to take pole position in the coming 2004 season. The category with the most direct link between supremacy on the racetrack and W the case of the TT-winning Triumph, w hich w ill come to World Supersport in 2004 as a wild card entry, provided a privileg hands-on assessment of where they ssa relative to one another. Here's a ro un of the bott o m line for eac h motor success in the showroom provides real- It's tough for any team to develop a brandnew bike while actually racing it, advancing the cause of R&D while still trying to reach the checkered flag first. But that's what the factory Kawasaki World Supersport team had to do last season with just a pair of factory -backed examples of the new ZX-6RR against the phalanx of equally new Hondas and Yamahas, both of which got on the pace much quicker than the Kawasakis of reigning World Champion Fabien Foret and Supersport returnee Pere Riba. But at Misano in June, the flying Frenchman scored an unexpected victory against the odd s on a track ill-suited to the Kawasaki, wh ose all-new shorter-stroke engine acco rding to t he riders - lacks both midrange gru nt and top-end power. The chance to find out for myself just how valid their complaints were came when I rode it at Magny-Cours. I was unprepared for how high I had to tiptoe to throw a leg over Fabien's Kawasaki. I wasn't expecting to sit so far fo rward or so high up aboard the green screamie, whose wheelbase fee ls very wo rld racing par excellence - making t he struggle for supre macy all the more intense , and im porta nt, to the various manufacturers. That was even more so in 200] , where four out of the five co mpanies contesting the class (including Triumph) fro nted up with new models increasingly closely re lated to Grand Prix hardware, flaunting technology and features not out of place on a MotoGP contender. Compare the chassis format of the new CBR600RR Honda with Valentino Rossi's RC211 V. for example, especially the rear suspension, or consider the slippe r clutch, radial brakes and adjustable swingarm pivot found on t he even more innovative Kawasaki ZX-6RR. You must pinch yourself to remem ber these are volume production middleweight sportbikes available for purchase by Joe Average at less than the cost of a set of Ohlins race forks. The chance to ride each of the five factory-backed four-cylinder 600 Supersports that took to the track on 200] at world level, or at least in inte rnationa l racing, in 46 FEBRUARY 25. 2004 • CYCLE NEWS snort feels tall. maneuverable bike , w itho ut sacrificin stability under the balls-out braking fo r which he's become so famous. So com pared to the stock ZX-6RR, Fabien sits 2Smm highe r and 2.8 inches furthe r forward, with footrests half an inch higher than standard and the handlebars just less than half an inch lower. "It's to put the maximum of my body weight on the front wheel under hard braking," he says, "and I spread the handlebars wider to help achieve this, which also gives radialcalipersgrippingrelatively small280mm front brakes - most of its rivals have at least 20mm bigger rotors . But the discs on the works Kawasaki are Braking's pretty and effective petal brakes, which were useful at Magny-Cours in speeding up changes of direction through the two fast third-gear chicanes, where the Kawasaki just flicked from side to side so easily - again, it felt well balanced. Sensitive as it is to even small adjust- me more leverage so as to turn faster once ments, this is now a I hit the apex. C'est une position tres personelle!" Yes, very. How ever, t he Kawasaki felt pretty stable under heavy braking, not so eager to lift the back wheel and back into a turn however hard I squeezed on the front lever and backshifted through the gears . And what fantastic braking, too: The ZX-6RR stops better than any other 600 Supersport I've yet ridden, tha nks to t he so -e ffective Tokico radial front brakes and t he we ll- very good-handling bike with exce llent feedback from the The tires . Kawasaki rides bumps well, steers brilliantly both under power and in tight co rners, and holds a line well under 40th Anniversa ry