1995-96年Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja

Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja

Sunshine, that's what. Despite south Australia suffering its worst drought for 10 years, Eastern Creek's 500GP circuit was awash with rain. If I looked miserable then Kawasaki top brass and Bridgestone technicians looked suicidal. They saw the expense and hard work of organising this major event going down one of the overworked trackside drains.

Was I bothered? Not really. It made a change riding conservatively — until the track dried — instead of the usual thrash turning into a race when the world's hacks try to preserve national pride by falling off.

After two days of continuous abuse around the track, not one ZX-6R was lunched. Riding ability ranged from so-so to so good it's not funny, I was somewhere in between. Ex-GP rider Mat Mladin topped the list making the ZX-6R brake, turn, and clear off in a way that made the rest of us look stupid.

His smiling mug and typical Aussie comment, 'She's right mate!' summed the bike up perfectly. It is.

The ZX-6R is all new. It's not the rehashed combination of ZZ-R600 motor and ZXR400 frame that cynics expected. It is something much better.

Bodywork is ZX-9R based and looks bitching, but that's as far as the resemblance goes. From the fairing nose to the tail light, the whole plot is narrow. Kawasaki claim the ZX-6R has the best lean angle in its class and I'm not prepared to argue with that. Mounted high on the frame, the footpegs only ever gouged the circuit tarmac for a brief, but satisfying moment. Off with the piddly hero blobs and it would take a fat bloke with a death wish to scrape the pegs on the road.

Clip ons are low and raked back to give a sit-in feel, not the 900's sit-on set up. It's a distinct bum-up, head down position that puts the front end in your face like the ZXR750 — it also hurts the wrists if you're not trying. At speed it's fine, the low screen forced the wind rush onto my chest to lift bodyweight. The narrow tank and wide seat meant even I could tuck my generous frame in and keep surface water off my legs during top gear blasts down Eastern Creek's half mile straight.

After two 20 minute sessions the rain stopped and the fair-weather nancies came out to play. An hour later, the thin dry line that everyone was hugging extended to the full width of the track. It was party time.

Before, in the wet, you had to find another gear at 7000rpm to avoid disaster and embarrassment. Wheelspin was now serious drive out of bends. On full throttle the tacho needle swung round to the 14,000rpm redline like a bullet. At 9000rpm the bike went ape-shit and didn't stop charging until the rev limiter called time at 14,500. With the right gear and plenty of bottle, corners and trackside walls disappeared in a blur of intake and exhaust noise. Even with hot Bridgestones it was easy to get the back end sliding on the gas. Top speed wasn't possible on the straight, coz if I hadn't shut off for the left hander just after an indicated fifth gear 145mph, you wouldn't be reading this, and I'd still be spitting out concrete dust.

The motor is lighter and smaller than anything Kawasaki have produced before. Compare it with the ZZ-R600 — which was no slouch in the first place. Engine width is reduced dramatically by moving the cam chain to the right hand side of the motor and losing one of the six crankshaft journals. Big end sizes are down to 30mm. Kawasaki have reduced friction and mechanical loss, two big horsepower thieves.

Distance between gearbox shafts and crankshaft is 22mm less. Bore sizes are now 66mm, while a shorter stroke of 43.8mm drops the compression ratio down to 11.8:1. Valve sizes are up to 27mm inlet and 22.6mm exhaust. To compensate for this extra weight, the stems are shorter and narrower (4mm). Canting the motor a further 13° forward helps keep the engine low in the frame.

Ram Air is Kawasaki's ace card for squeezing extra bhp at high speed. The twin induction system is still under the fairing, forcing cold, dense air and fuel into straighter inlet tracts.

The 4-2-1 (looks like a 4-1) exhaust is restrictive enough to peg the dyno figure at 93.2bhp. The tailcan is lightweight ally full of noise asbsorbtion material. A good poke around here should release some ponies without blowing up any noise meters.

The gearbox gave no problems at all. Even the usual Kawasaki first gear 'clunk and lurch' when hot didn't show. Maybe, it was because every time a bike finished a track session, the Japanese mechanics would get to it first and measure then adjust the chain slack. The rest of the gear changes just, well, err... happened — the new, reverse-taper dogs (cor) obviously work.

As a road bike the ZX-6R is going to be the new headbanger's tool. On the track, it has all the makings of a CBR killer. The race kit gets you revised cams, slotted cam sprocket, carb parts (needles, jets, inlet stubs), close ratio gearbox, race igniters and improved oil and water cooling radiators. Exhausts will not be supplied by the factory, only specifications.

Race kit front and rear suspension springs are also available. On the track, in standard form, the ZX-6 gave no real worries. OK, the front forks po-goed on and off the brakes going into turns, so did the rear on the way out but this is the trade off for having road suspension.

Small changes with the adjustable-for-everything suspension, front and rear, all but cured this problem. The standard tele-forks still dived, and the rear still bounced but it felt taughter, more responsive and with loads more feedback.

Then they spoiled us. One of the two UK spec bikes had the standard 8.75kg rear spring swapped for a stiffer 9.5kg item. The front fork oil was upped 20cc to 160cc per leg and then the yokes were dropped 10mm down the forks. We now had a different animal altogether. This was near perfection.

Front and rear gelled. No matter how late I braked into a turn, or cocked up mid-corner by shutting off then opening up again, the ZX-6R saved me.

Back to back with the standard bike on Aussie crater infested roads, everyone plumped for the revised bike — every time. What state of play the suspension will be in when the ZX-6R reaches England has not been decided (the stiffer rear spring may only be available as an option after the ZXR750 fiasco).

The new ally frame weighs only llkgs with the swingarm in place. The whole bike scales 182kg (4011bs). To keep costs down Kawasaki have cut corners, but the bike works, and works well.

Front forks are conventional telescopies (41mm), the subframe is not removable, and the rear caliper is a single piston affair.

Front calipers are the same as the old ZZ-R600. The discs are larger and thicker. One finger braking is on, two fingers can lock the wheel at 60mph.

The rest of the cockpit parts aren't new and don't need to be — the switchgear switches; both mirrors mirror; the clocks are ZX-9R (even the crap welding on the instrument panel bracket is the same) and both levers are span adjustable. It's a long time since Kawasaki produced a 600 that rides, steers and brakes as surely as the engine knocks out power. To make the ZX-6R the lightest and most compact in class took two years development. Two years well spent. ^

Source Performance Bike 1995