It was a bike that demanded road racer skills from its rider, to keep pace on track with other big sportbikes.
Kawasaki have listened to the critics and smoothed out the edges on this year's ZX-10R, which is also EURO 3 emissions compliant too. They say they have boosted mid-range power by tweaking the fuel injection set-up, which gets new ultra fine atomisers to mix fuel with air that bit quicker.
In the chassis department, the bike has a re-positioned engine, which affects the overall balance of the motorcycle, due to the bike's centre-of-gravity being shifted slightly backwards, plus new swingarm and a race spec Ohlins monoshock as standard.
Waggle
In a nutshell, the bike should be easier to corner at high speeds, turn quicker and have more user-friendly power, which doesn't waggle the handlebars so readily on bumpy roads.
With styling details altered on the Kawasaki ZX-10R's bodywork, plus an underseat exhaust system, the model also looks a bit different from last year's ZX-10R, although for me, too many big sportbikes look similar these days. It's probably heresy to say this, but I reckon the all black ZX-10R looks much nicer than the traditional ninja green option.
The 2006 ZX-10R is expected in the shops in March and should retail for about £8,500.
My advice is shop around for the best deal possible - depreciation on big sportbikes is particularly bad.
