world launch, it was my first ex-
perience with the 43mm Showa
Balance Free Front Fork, which I
feel is one of the best production
forks on the road today. Kawasa-
ki hasn't fiddled with it too much
for 2021, just given it a slightly
softer spring rate and upped
the compression and rebound
damping for the base settings
and given a wider fork clamp on
the lower triple clamp for better
turning performance.
The shock has gone the other
way and used a heavier spring
with slightly softer rebound and
compression settings.
Kawasaki hasn't gone for the
class standard Brembo Stylema
front brake calipers on the 10R,
instead staying with the M50
setup that debuted back in 2016,
albeit with a new front brake-pad
material.
One of the obvious changes to
the 10R comes in the aesthetics
and ergonomics. The ride posi-
tion has been completely revised
with the bars moved 0.4 inches
further forward, and the bend is
flatter, almost more of a dirt bike
stance, to give better leverage
and help the rider tuck in tighter.
It's a racier stance with the
foot pegs raised 0.2 inches,
the rear of the seat padding has
been raised to help with the tuck
and the screen is an impressive
1.6 inches taller than before—
great news for taller riders.
The face of the bike has
caused much chatter among
Ninja enthusiasts, with Kawa-
saki engineers going away from
the sleek design of 2016 to a
sharper look for 2021. The new
front fairing houses LED lights
and a new ram-air intake, and
the new winglets sitting either
side of the cowling contribute to
a claimed 17 percent increase in
downforce, while giving a seven
percent reduction in drag resis-
tance.
RIDE REVIEW I 2021 KAWASAKI NINJA ZX-10R
P92
On the side of the
tire, slowly winding
in the power, the
chassis talks to the
rider. It's a wholly
unintimidating
superbike—if there
could ever be such
a thing.
