Review: 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R

I realize that up to this point all of my blog entries have been about photography. And way not it truly is a passion of mine. But so are motorcycles and since this blog is about bikes as well it’s an opportune time to post some comments about one that I took for a test ride recently.

First off, I’d like to thank Dave at Westsound Powersports for loaning me the bike to check out (Here is the current ad).. When I received his call the weekend prior I could hear the excitement in his voice. “Dave, you have GOT to try out this bike. It’s mind bending. Can you meet me for lunch Wednesday, we’ll take her out for a ride.” Hm, now how could pass up the chance to experience one of the fastest most brutal motorcycles in production today? I couldn’t.

Here is a little rundown of the beasts specs

YEAR	2004
MANUFACTURER	Kawasaki
MODEL	ZX-10R
ENGINE	Inline four
BORE & STROKE	76.0 x 55mm
COMPRESSION RATIO	12.7:1
FRONT SUSPENSION	43mm inverted cartridge fork
REAR SUSPENSION	Gull-type aluminum swingarm
FRONT BRAKE	Dual 300mm hydraulic petal disc with four-piston caliper
REAR BRAKE	Single 220mm hydraulic petal disc with radial-mounted caliper
FRONT TIRE	120/70ZR17
REAR TIRE	190/50ZR17
CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT	375 lbs.
MEASURED WET WEIGHT	403 lbs.
CLAIMED HORSPOWER	184 hp
MEASURED HORSEPOWER	155.6 Hp @ 11,800 rpm
MEASURED TORQUE	77.14 ft/lbs @ 9,700 rpm
MSRP	$10,999

Wednesday came and so did the first rain we’ve seen in what seems like months. Figures. So the ride did not go down Wednesday but I did drop by the shop to chat and check out the new inventory (both they have some nice stuff in right now).
We decided that if the weather held the next day we’d go, and as it turns out the sun did return yesterday and we met up for lunch and a ride.

First Impressions

First off, the thing is feels very light. A lot like my wife’s ZX-6R. Svelt for a machine of such performance for certain. My Ducati almost felt wider and defiantly a lot heavier than this thing. Seating position is very agreeable (then I find the Ducati agreeable too, take that for what it’s worth to you) with the clip-ons low and wide and very long grips.
Instrument panel is jus like the ZX-6R. Nearly worthless. Then who’s looking at that stuff anyway, it’s the road and your corner speed you need to be judging and let you other sense tell you what the bike/motor are doing.
The tachometer is an LCD sweep that is difficult to read during the daytime and likely only marginally better at night with the back lighting (that’s the case with the similar ’03 ZX-6R). Speedo numbers are easy to read from the large digital display. Neutral light is easy to see as is the highbeams light.

Getting Started

Firing up the stock bike nets a slight vibration from the motor but overall a very quiet bike. Mirrors are pretty effective for a sport bike. They are far enough out that you can see past your elbows and actually detect vehicle behind you.
Controls are in conventional locations but one thing that was a bit weird was how difficult it was to cancel the turn indicator. Ah well, perfection is in the hand of the beholder I suppose.

The Ride

The roads here are narrow and tight so a full-speed blast would have to wait for a track day but she hits 120 with ease and not much notice. This is where the big digital speedo readout is pretty cool. It’s easy to tell you are at jail-time speeds when you see triple digits on the readout. Living in a rural area with long sight lines has it’s advantages.

Holy demon from Hades, Batman!
With that out of the way I’ll delve into the details.

Transmission
Shifting was precise with neutral easy to find and hardly any lurch when dropping the bike into 1^st gear from neutral with the clutch all the way in. I did not have any missed shifts or false neutrals. Clutchless up-shifting was also smooth. The biggest thing I noticed was the lack of rear wheel hop during hard downshifting into a corner. In fact I was trying to get it to wiggle and it just wouldn’t! Then I dawned on me that this thing has a factory slipper clutch and it works! Clutch takeup was also smooth and lockup was not grabby as some Hondas get when slipping on a steep uphill launch.

Throttle
Very easy to manage. At no point did I feel that the injection system gave the throttle response a jerky on/off/on feeling as quite a few FI bikes do. It seemed well mapped without any glaring torque pits in the curve up to 9,000 RPM (which is all the road that was available to safely stop in). Even though this bike is NOT for newbies the throttle is very manageable.

Brakes
Fairly impressive but not earth shattering by any means. Intial bit was pretty soft and it just does not haul the bike down from ludicrous speed with the amount of force I expected from the new fangled radial brakes. Sure.. I might be jaded having tested the Brembo’s on my bike at 160+ but for a bike with this amount of power to have brakes that would bite right off the bat. Stainless brake lines and more aggressive pads would likely improve the feel enourmously. I guess I was just not impressed with the brakes but there is also nothing wrong with them. The pedal rotors and radial calipers sure look the business though.

Engine / Acceleration
Again… Holy demon from Hades, Batman!. This thing freaking RIPS! Low to midrange torque is defiantly there and lots of it. More than I expected. On the first lauch I found the bike did not require as much clutch management as I had expected. Again the FI was smooth and at low speeds the engine is very tractable. You do have to be cafeful not to whap the throttle open after about 6,000 RPM unless you are looking for aircraft because it will loft the front end.

Again though, this is no bike for a newbie. It will not suffer fools kindly! If you are new to the sport this IS NOT the bike to get. Pain, suffering and death could be the punishment for writing a check you brain/body can’t cash.

Cornering
In a word. Twitchy. The steering angle seems pretty steep and with even the slightest of input crudeness the front end can get a little upset. This thing NEEDS a steering damper from the factory I have no doubt about that. The only other bike I’ve ridden that felt this twitchy on the front end was the wife’s ZX6R and that is not quite so bad and it’s not nearly as deadly a machine.
Corner stability is good IF you don’t get ham-fisted on the throttle. Get a little chop-happy mid corner and this thing will reward you with a nice wiggle from the bars reminding you quite clearly that you need to be smooth or it’s likely to toss you off. High-sides are the least fun of all crashes.
With a damper fitted and the suspension dialed to one’s weight I think the machine would be a solid corner weapon as well as a top-speed demon. I did feel a tiny bit of mid-corner ‘wiggle’ but my bike did that too before I set the rear ride height properly, so I would not hold that against the bike.

Overall Impression

I like it!! I really think it’s a fun machine. It belongs on a track and given the opportunity that’s where I’d take it. She’s fine on the street too but the smaller ZX6R is PLENTY of punch for the street. 180+ MPH has no place on open public roads. On a track though.. I think it would be a real eye popper. For the right, responsible person this bike would still make a great street bike no doubt but, I think it’s real calling is the track.

If I had the budget for a $10,000 track bike today I’d be posting a photo of my latest bike.