Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1383227
sics, "it's better late than never." The 2021 ZX-10R has already proved a massive hit, with Michael Gilbert taking the first Stock 1000 win of the season on his Graves-tuned ZX-10R and Corey Alexander taking his ZX-10RR to the second race win ahead of Suzuki-mounted Jake Lewis at VIR a couple of weeks ago. Kawasaki isn't quoting horse- power or torque numbers for the new 10R; however, we did have Chuck Graves at the press launch at Auto Club Speedway at Fontana who informed us he'd been getting "around 175 horsepower" at the rear tire before his Stock 1000 builds commenced, at which point things like stock exhausts get thrown out and he tunes the bike to his specs. Michael Gilbert mentioned his race ZX-10R makes "over 200 hp" to the rear tire and the motor has never been touched, which are seriously impressive numbers. Although the motor is essentially the same as before, the ZX-10R's titanium exhaust headers have been rearranged to have cylinders one and two linked, and three and four linked, compared to one and four, and two and three. This helps the spent gasses flow through the pipe quicker and as one of the catalyzers was moved further forward with a smaller prechamber used, it allowed engineers to increase the size of the muffler to reduce overall noise. CHASSIS It's much easier for Kawasaki to make changes to the chassis rather than the engine, and that's where we see many of the changes for 2021. The main frame is the same as 2016-2020, but the swingarm change adjuster has increased eight millimeters in length. This, combined with a 2mm greater fork offset, sees the wheelbase increase 0.4 inches to 57.09, and gives a 0.2 percent tilt towards the front end for better turning performance, especially under brakes. The swingarm hasn't been redesigned, but it does sit 1mm lower in the frame to give better trac- tion under hard acceleration. Ohlins provides the speed-sen- sitive electronic steering damper, a carryover from the 2016 edition. When I rode the 2016 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R in Malaysia for the The redesigned exhaust headers and smaller catalyzer have enabled engineers to increase the size of the muffler and take a few decibels out. for race teams as a base model they can improve upon. For the rest of us, the 10R will do just fine. You've been able to buy the ZX-10R for a while now. Like, six months in some cases. Getting press units was a bit of a pain and Kawasaki had to delay the launch of the ZX-10R again and again, but it didn't stop half the MotoAmerica Stock 1000 field from getting their hands on one long before the season started. But as they say in the clas- VOLUME 58 ISSUE 24 JUNE 15, 2021 P91