VOL. 54 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 24, 2017 P101
is one of these top riders and he's
able to change, but it was important
that the package of the bike was
right for him. The character of the
engine, the chassis, everything was
already good, but then he adapted
the riding and the base things, and
straightaway it was fantastic."
The 2016 machine was a differ-
ent animal than the trusty 2011-2015
steed. In chassis terms it was similar
to the old bike, but the new engine
threw the team a curve ball.
"The big difference was the
crankshaft inertia," says Riba. "It
was much lighter. We spent five or
six races trying to understand the
best package for Johnny's riding
style. When we found that, we
started to work with the chassis."
For any production racebike worth
its salt, the base bike that you and
I buy has to be exceptional. Kawa-
saki's 2016 street bike has been one
such machine, but there's not a huge
amount you can do to a factory twin
spar chassis (not including the fabri-
cated swingarm) to get it to the pointy
end of the championship.
"When we work on the chassis, we
can work with swingarm length and the
main frame head pipe," says Riba. "We
can play with the offset and the angle,
but the changes are only very small,
race to race. The entire bike needs to
be a package: the engine works with
the chassis, and they both work with
the electronics.
"For example, if we say the bike has
a lot of spinning, you can control this
with the electronics. But if you have
no mechanical grip, it's very difficult.
The electronics will control the bike but
you need to find the power between
the grip and the electronics and the
character of the engine. It all works
together."
Part of the Kawasaki Racing Team's
arsenal in getting the power to the
ground has come via its use of splitting
the throttle bodies into two separate
banks when the bike is on the side of
"Next year, we have to
focus with the engine.
We have to make a
very good product in
the beginning of the
year, especially about
mileage in each
engine. In the first
year, you don't really
know the engine
because you don't
know the limits. We
can use new upgrade
parts to have a little
bit more durability
and a stronger engine
for racing. And then,
in the same time,
we will be trying to
go forward with the
balance of the bike
and the rider."
– Pere Riba,
Crew Chief to
Jonathan Rea
Mission control. Magneti Marelli MLE dash tells the rider
all he needs to know. Right switches include kill (red)
traction control (white) and start (yellow). Left switches
are: map (white, top), scroll up menu (red) and down
(blue). Bottom white is pitlane speed switch.
Those forks may
look similar to a
standard ZX-10R's
but they don't feel
like it! No carbon
brakes like in
MotoGP. And no,
you can't have
those Brembos.
(Above) Enormous weld on the left side
is to stop the frame twisting from the
chain pull. Huge radiator and oil cooler
keeps things at the right temp.
cont. on page 00
