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Factory superbike talent in a street savvy performer.

For the 2008 NINJA® ZX™-10R, Kawasaki engineers aimed for an ideal superbike with engine and chassis performance capable of satisfying professional racers, combined with top-notch streetbike qualities for mainstream riders. It’s a delicate balance, but these aren’t your average engineers. They’ve been directly involved in the development of every 600- and 1,000-cubic-centimeter supersport machine since the 2003 Ninja ZX-6R, plus Kawasaki’s factory Superbike racing efforts, so they have the know-how to deliver the goods.

The result is an exceptionally communicative machine that provides the clean two-way rider / machine dialog demanded by professional racers. Placing the ZX-10R in the racing crucible and applying lessons from that unforgiving environment resulted in an ideal balance to satisfy the most demanding of riders. Japanese Superbike racer Akira Yanagawa was the man pushing the engine and frame components to the limits of their performance in actual competition. Parts that met with Yanagawa’s approval were then tried on the production test bike, tweaked, retested on the racer and adjusted again. This process was repeated throughout the development cycle for the all-new 2008 Ninja ZX-10R.

MANUFACTURER    Kawasaki
MODEL YEAR    2008
MODEL    Ninja® ZX™-10R
M.S.R.P. *    $11,549.00

ENGINE
ENGINE    4-stroke, DOHC, 4-valves per cylinder, inline-4
DISPLACEMENT    998 cc
BORE X STROKE    76 x 55 mm
COMPRESSION RATIO    12.7:1
FUEL SYSTEM    DFI with 43 mm Keihin throttle bodies with oval sub-throttles, 2 injectors per cylinder

COOLING    Liquid
IGNITION    TCBI with digital advance and torque management
DIMENSIONS
FUEL CAPACITY    4.5 gal.

DRIVETRAIN
TRANSMISSION    6-speed
SUSPENSION    Front: 43 mm inverted fork with DLC coating, adjustable rebound and compression damping, spring preload adjustability and top-out springs
Rear: Bottom-link Uni-Trak® with top-out spring, stepless, dual-range (high/low speed) compression damping, stepless rebound damping, fully adjustable spring preload

BRAKES/WHEELS/TIRES
BRAKES    Front: Dual semi-floating 310 mm petal discs with dual 4-piston radial-mount calipers
Rear: Single 220 mm petal disc with 1-piston aluminum caliper
TIRES    Front: 120/70 ZR17
Rear: 190/55 ZR17