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2012 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R Preview
 

Original Article:
2012 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R Preview

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Ricky Gadson, your new ride is ready!

I will admit this to the world here, in electronic form. I do not possess enough self control to own this motorcycle. Usually call it quits on remote public roads at 125 mph or so. This thing would just be catching 3rd gear and getting up on the cam at that speed.

Where's the supercharger? According to the print mags, Kawi has patented a supercharged I-4 motorcycle engine design that is going to put out almost 300 hp. According to the pundits, the performance gap between the lighter liter bikes, and the 14/Busa, has shrunk or gone negative, and the supercharger is the way out of it.

Hopefully some of the new tech in the Ninja will make its way into my Concours 14 that I haven't bought yet.

That was some wild speculation by print pubs. Modern sportbikes are tightly packaged, so fitting a supercharger would involve a complete redesign to accommodate one and the extra heat it would produce. If the economy was still like 2007, we might've seen Kawi spend the extra resources to develop and build such an animal, but now isn't that time.

A monster on steroids -- totally overbuilt for our streets. I like it!

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This bike is a bargain at less than 15 large. It's hard for me to fathom this level of world class performance at such a cost.

Well, I for one and glad that they did something about the old ZX-14's lack of power.

I'm certain Ol' Dirty is absolutely thrilled with it, too....

Um.....doing some 'rithmetic here...seems that the '06 model should be faster than this new & improved '12. 2.52 lb/hp vs. 2.9 lb/hp for the '12. I base that on an estimated 202 hp at the crank for the new bike; the 202 hp number is simply an extrapolation from the increased displacement. Even if they've squeezed another 10% power increase, that only yields 206 and to get to the '06 power-to-weight ratio would require 233 hp at a dry weight of 587 lbs.

Frankly, I suspect the weight given in MC.com's '06 review [467 lbs] was wrong, or Kawi lied to them [mfr's don't ever lie....do they???]. The bike has assuredly gained weight over the years, but 100+ lbs.....? Unlikely.

Back in '06, OEMs were still using their bogus "dry weights," which was basically invented numbers that had no basis in reality. The last few years have seen the emergence of curb weights, which are pretty much factual. Re the 14R, it'll accelerate quicker, I'm sure.