VOL. 53 ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 2, 2016 P83
turns as good as it does.
I won't go as far as saying
this is the best front end on
any current superbike, but
it's night and day better than
the old bike. Suddenly the 10R
turns with the same fervor as it
accelerates, with a tangible feel
to match from the front tire that
was previously lacking. This is
down to a number of factors.
The first and most obvious is the
prowess of the new Showa Bal-
NICE LEGS, BABY!
This is the first production bike to
use Showa's 43mm Balance Free
Fork, which was developed by
the Motorcard Kawasaki team in
WorldSBK.
With the BFF, the compression
and rebound damping valves are
located in one place – outside the
fork legs in the small red damping
force chamber. This allows the entire
surface of the piston to push the
hydraulic fluid toward the valves in
the damping force chamber, with
nitrogen gas in the compression
chamber pushing back against the
oil, helping to maintain the balanced
pressure inside the fork tube. Preload
is adjusted on top of the fork.
KEEP YOUR HEAD ABOUT YOU
Öhlins has provided the electronic
steering damper, which uses inputs
from the ECU to determine if the
bike is accelerating or braking and
changes the stiffness accordingly.
This is the little black piece of plastic
that's causing all the rage – the
Bosch Inertial Measurement Unit.
Cont on page 88
