The R Identification Equals More Race Winning Might and More Refinement for the Ultimate Open-Class Sportbike.

Its gotta be tough contending against the ZX-14 year after year. When it got on the big-bore sportbike stage in 2006, the big bad Ninja blew everyones heads, owners, journalists and rivals with its incredible thrust, sport-tourer comfortableness, nimble handling and sleek full-coverage bodywork. Uninterrupted refinement has kept the 14 a step ahead of the competition, all while filling partizans face shields with fantastic, ear-to-ear grins.

As luck would have it for Kawasaki fans (and unfortunately for the competition), theres no let up for 2012. Not only is the new R-designated Ninja ZX-14R massively more muscular, its also almost entirely new, with more of the fibre, design excellency, and finesse youve come to anticipate from Team Green the company thats been constructing legendary open-class motorcycles for more 40 years.

Big power delivered smoothly has for ages been a big Ninja hallmark, so the modifications for 2012 begin in the new ZX-14Rs engine bay. First, theres more displacement via a 4mm stroke addition ; to 65mm (up from 61mm), with displacement now registering 1441cc (up from 1352cc). Combustion chamber shapes are newly optimised for 2012, and theyre surface-milled now, not cast. Intake ports are remolded and polished for maximum flow while acting in concert with longer and more long wearing intake valves. Yep, the new Ninja ZX-14R really does come ported right from the manufactory.

The camshafts working those valves are more revolutionary, with increased rise and retooled profiles, while a stronger cam chain and retooled tensioning system maximise reliableness at the stratospheric rpm levels this engine is capable of. Newly planed forged pistons with thinner crowns offer increased sustainability and less weight, and are chilled by a new oil-jet cooling system that pumps a uninterrupted stream of lube at the bottom of each piston. (Examination shows the engine runs considerably cooler with this scheme.) Theres more : Compression is up from last year ; connecting rods have beefier small ends, and are made of a more durable material ; crankshaft main journals are thicker, from 38 to 40mm ; a new air-cleaner element is greater and thicker, with 10 % more expanse and 40 percent more airflow capability ; and transmission gears have been heat – and surface-treated to be even more lasting and shift more swimmingly.

Feeding this class dominating new engine is a retooled fuel injection that offers automatic idle allowance and reduced emissions. Burned hydrocarbons exit through a heavily retooled exhaust with remolded, larger-diameter tapered header pipes and larger-volume, remolded mufflers, each with an sophisticated catalyzer to abate emissions.

The benefits of all this hot-rodding are significant, as theres more power virtually all over across the rev range. The increases are most profound in the mid-high rpm range, with notably potent acceleration from 4,000 rpm onward. This transforms into the kinda thrust riders can prize in a wide variety of situations, whether its powering up a motorway on-ramp to merge with fast-moving traffic or cruising along a desolated backroad on a sunny, Sunday-morning ride. On the ZX-14R, complete supremacy is just a twist of the throttle away.

But the ZX-14Rs new engine is more supremely potent ; theres plenty of polish and panache to go along with it. The engines dual gear-driven counterbalancer setup, for example, has been optimised to work with the new mills longer-stroke dimensions and crankshaft changes. The result is fluid power across the rev range.

That powerfulness is more manageable than ever, too, thanks to the addition of a back-torque limiting slipper clutch assembly and a KTRC traction control and ignition management system that boasts three different riding modes full power, medium power and a third mode for low-traction (wet slippery) conditions. The KTRC system is controlled by a bar-mounted toggle push switch, and the systems effects can be supervised on a seven-segment bar chart in the cockpits LCD info-screen. The back-torque limiting clutch technology comes straight from the racetrack, and helps get rid of the wheel-hop and stability-eroding torque effects of energetic downshifting and braking while cornering, or during spirited or emergency stops. It also helps protect the bikes drive train, for optimal durability.

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