2024 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R Overview | First Journey

Staff Inexperienced unleashed its up to date ZX-6R for a thrashing at Ridge Motorsports Park. (Photographs by Kevin Wing)

The 600cc sportbike class was essentially the most hotly contested class in motorcycling in the course of the Nineteen Nineties and into the mid-2000s, with fully redesigned fashions each 4 years and vital updates each two.  

However markets have veered towards journey bikes and road roadsters, inflicting the middleweight sportbike class to languish in recent times. Honda and Suzuki haven’t carried out any mechanical upgrades to their CBR600RR and GSX-R600 in a number of years, and Yamaha sells its YZF-R6 solely as a racebike. Excessive-revving 4-cylinder engines have been largely supplanted by humble twin‐cylinder powerplants which might be compact and cheaper to construct – however quite a bit much less thrilling.  

The 2024 Kawasaki ZX-6R revives the attraction provided by middleweight sportbikes with slick new styling and different fascinating updates. It breathes new life into the category and reminds us that middleweights are maybe essentially the most balanced sportbikes in the marketplace.

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The 6R will get a recent face for the 2024 mannequin yr, with a beguiling new nostril graced with LED lighting parts. Instrumentation is supplied by a brand new 4.3‐inch TFT panel which supplies entry to built-in experience modes and smartphone connectivity.  

The ZX-6R will get recent garments for 2024, together with a brand new nostril with sharp LED lighting and new interwoven fairings with built-in entrance turnsignals. Most each steel element has been handled to a black end, with the silver muffler cap, footrests, and heel plate among the many few shiny spots. 

The 636cc engine receives updates to fulfill the newest emissions laws, together with revised camshaft profiles with mildly decreased elevate and period, a brand new consumption funnel design meant to extend decrease‐rpm energy, and a recent exhaust system. Most different mechanical elements on the 6R are unchanged. 

The midsize Ninja retains the previous mannequin’s Kawasaki TRaction Management, a quickshifter, and experience modes, however the programs don’t obtain the enhancement of an IMU that might inform traction management and braking – there’s no lean‐delicate TC or cornering ABS.  

New to the ZX-6R is a 4.3-inch TFT show that’s adjustable for brightness and background colours (black or white), and it supplies a shift mild, gasoline gauge, gasoline vary, coolant temperature, clock, and present and common gasoline economic system. It may also be linked by way of Bluetooth to Kawasaki’s Rideology app that logs velocity, rpm, and equipment positions alongside your experience.

Ergonomics stay unchanged, described by Kawi as “naturally aggressive.” The clutch lever is adjustable over a five-position vary, whereas the entrance brake lever has six. 

One of many many entertaining twists and turns of the undulating Ridge Motorsports Park close to Olympia, Washington.

Ridge Romp on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 

Sportbikes are typically used for canyon strafing and different mundane road duties, however testing their final capabilities deserves time on a racetrack. Kawasaki invited us to pattern the 6R on the splendidly hilly Ridge Motorsports Park close to Olympia, Washington. The two.47-mile circuit is kind of technical with a number of blind hillcrests, providing a terrific playground for a middleweight sportbike.  

Scouting for apexes is straightforward when aboard the succesful and cooperative ZX-6R.

Heading out onto a completely unfamiliar observe creates nervousness, however the ZX-6R jogged my memory why middleweights are the Goldilocks of sportbikes. The aluminum‐framed chassis conjures up confidence to precisely set after which reset lean angles as your tempo will increase. Steering response is full of life however with none hints of instability, and the absolutely adjustable suspension was as much as the duty of controlling the chassis even at deep lean angles.  

The 6R thrills with out being overwhelming. Notice the brand new layered entrance cowl with mini winglets.

GEAR UP 

Engines in new bikes virtually at all times have extra energy than earlier variations, however that’s not the case right here. The 6R’s prime‐finish lunge has been considerably muted by the emissions‐associated mods, which is a bit disappointing. Regardless, loads of energy stays on faucet to scream its manner round a racetrack, and the improved midrange grunt ought to translate into a greater powerband for road use.  

The ZX-6R readily complies with rider inputs, making for a keen confederate at trackdays or on twisty roads.

A slip/help clutch mated to a cooperative gearbox eases gearshifts, however the quickshifter doesn’t swap gears with the expediency of another programs and lacks an auto-blipping downshift perform. Braking is equally passable, with a radial-pump grasp cylinder actuating monoblock 4-piston calipers on 310mm rotors up entrance which have misplaced their petal-shaped edges. The ABS system is up to date to the newest Bosch 9.3MP unit, however it exacts a $1,000 premium over the bottom mannequin and wasn’t examined on the observe. 

This view supplies a glimpse of the 6R’s new exhaust system, with the catalyzer under the Kawasaki badge, adopted by a pre-chamber forward of the rear wheel that helps decrease the dimensions of the muffler.

The digital programs embody traction management and a alternative of two energy modes. Three-level traction management depends on wheel-speed sensors to adapt to accessible grip at various speeds and throttle positions, and it may be switched off if you happen to want to experience unfettered.  

We rode on super-sticky Pirelli SC1 slicks on the observe, however the 6R is provided with Pirelli Diablo Rosso lV tires. Its 120/70-17 entrance tire is barely much less triangulated to supply a broader contact patch at its edges.

Checkered Flag 

Whereas the ZX-6R doesn’t provide an incredible leap ahead in efficiency, it’s an extremely well-balanced machine for unwinding twisty roads and racetracks. It has sufficient energy to excite however not overwhelm, and it’s extra enticing than ever.  

Priced at $11,299 (or $12,299 with ABS), the ZX‐6R makes a renewed case for the viability of the middleweight sportbike class. A recent set of enticing garments makes the deal even sweeter. 

Driving the most recent Ninja is so enjoyable that you just’ll need to hold driving even after sunset.

Take a look at extra new bikes in Rider‘s 2024 Motorbike Patrons Information

2024 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R Specs 

• Base Value: $11,299 
• Value as Examined: $11,299 
• Web site: Kawasaki.com 
• Guarantee: 1 yr., unltd. miles 
• Engine Kind: Liquid-cooled, transverse inline-4, DOHC w/ 4 valves per cyl. 
• Displacement: 636cc 
• Bore x Stroke: 67.0 x 45.1mm 
• Horsepower: N/A 
• Torque: N/A 
• Transmission: 6-speed, cable-actuated slip/help moist clutch, quickshifter (up solely) 
• Ultimate Drive: Chain 
• Wheelbase: 55.1 in. 
• Rake/Path: 23.5 deg./4.0 in. 
• Seat Top: 32.7 in. 
• Moist Weight: 432 lb (439 lb w/ABS) 
• Gasoline Capability: 4.5 gal. 
• Gasoline Consumption: N/A

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