To celebrate the imminent return of Suzuki’s beloved SV650, as well as to prepare for similar upcoming shootouts betwixt the SV and its modern counterparts, we bring you this 2006 shootout pitting the SV650 against its Kawasaki Ninja 650R nemesis. The Ninja 650 has been updated since this shootout ten years ago, and Honda now has a competitor in the form of the CBR650F. Who knows, to really stir the pot, maybe we’ll throw a KTM 690 Duke into the mix. 

The chance to review an all-new motorcycle prior to the bike’s world launch is about as rare as a Vincent White Shadow, but that’s the opportunity our Australian correspondent, Jeff Ware, received late last November when he got to spin laps aboard Kawasaki’s all-new ZX-10R. Because the new 10R is the most exciting new sportbike of 2016, we jumped at the chance to publish Ware’s review so we could be among the first in the world to share riding impressions of this important new machine. Our review was cleverly titled “First First-Ride Review,” because Motorcycle.com’s official first-ride review was intended to be posted after the bike’s world launch.

The most exciting new sportbike of 2016 is Kawasaki’s ZX-10R, and Motorcycle.com readers have been able to read our review of it for the past six weeks, well in advance of our competition who have yet to catch up.

Our Australian correspondent, Jeff Ware, was blessed with the jackpot of motojournalist opportunities: testing an important new superbike-class contender ahead of its official world launch event. Ware, author of our recent 1980s Turbo Bike Shootout and the test of a Cagiva 500cc Grand Prix racer, is one of just five journalists to have spun laps of Oz’s Wakefield Park circuit on Kawasaki’s latest ZX-10R, the most exciting new regular-production sportbike of 2016. Ware says he expected improvements, but what he experienced was stunning. —Kevin Duke

In Europe, the Kawasaki model we know as the ZX-14 is called the ZZR1400, and there are two versions: the standard and the high-spec Performance Sport model. At EICMA 2015, Kawasaki announced small, but significant changes to the line, though it is still unclear if or when these changes will be implemented on U.S. ZX-14s.

It has been a year now since Kawasaki strung us along with what seemed like endless teaser videos for its Ninja H2 and Ninja H2R superbikes. Let’s revisit what made them so popular. Boasting 998cc from its inline-Four, the H2 brethren represents Kawasaki’s flagship motorcycle. Let’s not forget the supercharger attached to both models, giving them a healthy amount of torque without the need for an intercooler. The trellis frame, Brembo M50 brakes, and traction control, among other things, helped the H2 line handle about as well as it accelerated.

Its 2:23 am and I am lying in bed wide awake. I have my hotel window open and I am listening to the rain coming down. Just two weeks earlier if you’d  told me I was going to be in a tiny hotel room in Alcaniz, Spain, I would have laughed. But that’s where I am, and I am filled with so many different emotions. Different emotions because I am here as a guest to ride World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea’s Kawasaki at one of my favorite tracks, Aragon.

Despite winning the 2015 World Superbike championship in dominant fashion with Jonathan Rea, and the 2013 title before that with Rea’s teammate Tom Sykes, Kawasaki isn’t resting on its laurels when it comes to its aging Ninja ZX-10R platform and today announced its successor in the 2016 Ninja ZX-10R. Since the current platform’s release in 2011, its European rivals have upped the bar in the literbike wars considerably, and with Yamaha’s introduction of the new YZF-R1 last year, the battle for literbike supremacy is tighter than ever. Now, Kawasaki believes it has a contender more than able to take on this stacked field.

From the unchained environment of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where performance is the sole consideration for victory in our 2015 Six-Way Superbike Track Shootout, we move to the confines of public roadways to determine which superbike renders the best street-legal exhibition. As tight as our track test results were, the street shootout was just as close with a half-percent separating second from first place. If the MO offices were located in Florida, I’d demand a recount.

Rejoice, sportbike fans, as 2015 is bound to go down as the year of the liter-class superbike. After riding this latest crop of superbikes at their individual intros, your respective MO editors all came back gushing, proclaiming the bike they just finished riding is a viable contender for top honors in the class. Of course, with statements like that, pitting them all together and settling the score was the natural thing to do. And here for you now, we bring you the epic showdown you’ve long been waiting for, pitting five all-new or significantly revised superbikes on the racetrack against the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, winner of our 2012 Japanese Literbike Shootout. Stay tuned next week for our street impressions.

The idea of a Kawasaki sportbike that costs $25,000 might seem incongruous. That’s the realm of Italian exotics and, though Kawasaki ends with a vowel, it’s not a swanky European marque that commands an exotic price tag.

From the title alone, there’s a good chance new riders are intently combing through each word of this shootout. The beginner bike market is one the manufacturers value dearly, and for decades Kawasaki has owned this corner of the market with its EX/ Ninja 250, and now the current Ninja 300. Honda finally followed suit in 2010, introducing the CBR250R as a 2011 model, and later, in 2014, the CBR300R as a 2015. Now the floodgates have opened, as both KTM and Yamaha have launched their own small-displacement sportbikes – the RC390 and YZF-R3, respectively – to try to grab a slice of that pie. If it weren’t for the crop of highly advanced literbikes coming out this year, a strong argument could be made for 2015 being the year of the entry-level sportbike.

Last time I was at Auto Club Speedway, the MO crew was testing the three fastest streetfighters, and it was a rush to see speedometers creep past 160 mph on the banked front straightaway. This week I watched numbers rush past 175 mph on the same track, this time aboard the quickest-accelerating production vehicle on the planet, Kawasaki’s 2015 Ninja H2.

The Lightweight Nakeds Comparo we did last September was such a hoot we decided to do it again on a few more little thumper/screamers. Flying around sunny SoCal’s freeways and mountain roads like little white blood cells fighting pathogens and boredom in your cardiovascular system is what we do best, flitting from Starbucks to Starbucks, letting the lattes fall where they may.

Recently, we here at Motorcycle.com brought you one of our biggest tests to date, in the form of our 2014 Middleweight Mash-Up Six-Way Shootout. In it, we wrangled six bikes with minimal  or non-existant fairings, ranging in displacement from 471cc ( Honda CB500F) to 690cc ( KTM 690 Duke) and put them to the test.

If you’re like us, then you must be salivating over the 2015 literbike prospects. With no less than eight new bleeding-edge sportbikes on the table from both European and Japanese marques, the bar is being raised in the quest for track domination or, in the case of the Kawasaki H2 and H2R, simply having the rider experience intense acceleration like they’ve never felt before. However, there’s an interesting trend in the method in which each manufacturer is going about upping the literbike ante. More and more, a greater emphasis is placed on technology and electronics rather than hardware. Sure, hardware isn’t being ignored, but with today’s bikes making so much power, being able to harness it effectively is of utmost importance.

One of the questions I’ve heard frequently asked about the Kawasaki Ninja H2 and H2R can be summed up with one word: Why? Why the H2R? It doesn’t fit the requirements of any international racing series. It’s not street legal. And why the H2? Isn’t it just a detuned H2R, designed not to break the European and Japanese manufacturers’ gentleman’s agreement of keeping streeting machinery to under 186 mph (300 kph)? As if a motorcycle we expect to make in the neighborhood of 200 horsepower and go right up to an expected software-limited top speed can be called detuned. That’s before we even consider the massive torque bump the supercharger should deliver.

Kawasaki announced it would introduce the single-cylinder Ninja 250SL sportbike and naked Z250SL to the European market as lighter, less expensive alternatives to the company’s on Ninja 300 and Z300.

With 23 teaser videos spread between the no-limits Ninja H2R and street-legal Ninja H2, Kawasaki has done a masterful job of hyping the two H2 models. At EICMA 2014, Team Green took the wraps off the H2 model, and even though those in attendance practically knew what to expect, practically nobody could take their eyes – and cell phone cameras – away from the Ninja H2. MO’s Editor-in-Chief, Kevin Duke is at EICMA, and was one of those left in awe from the H2. in this video he explains what makes the latest Ninja so special.

After one of the lengthiest teaser campaigns in recent memory, Kawasaki has revealed the Ninja H2, the street-legal version of its track-only Ninja H2R. The $25,000 2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2 will be produced in small numbers with dealers accepting deposits up until Dec. 19 on a first-come, first-served basis.

It’s easy for us to get carried away in the spirit of the MOment, no matter what kind of motorcycles we’re testing here at the MO. Manufacturers are constantly showering us with the latest greatest machines: $30,000 six-cylinder sport tourers? We love them. $15,000 retro nakeds? Fantastic! Cruisers? Fresh surprises every year, including the new Indian Scout.

The dance of the Seven Videos (okay, nine) is over at last, as Kawasaki releases its jaw-dropping new H2R.

According to my weather app, it was officially 100 degrees at 10pm the night we rode in to Borrego Springs, CA, during our Middleweight Sport-Touring Shootout. I’m sitting poolside sipping a tasty, cold beverage while bossmen, Kevin Duke and Sean Alexander, discuss the finer points of gun control in the parking lot.

Introduced in 2011, the Ninja 1000 bridged a gap between the uncompromising performance of Kawasaki’s flagship ZX-10R and its more docile, long-distance counterpart the Concours 14 ABS.

If we got a dime every time we were asked what to buy as a first bike, we could easily buy a Kawasaki Ninja 300, Honda CBR500R or Kawasaki Ninja 650, three bikes we feel are best suited to answer the query. The truth is, there isn’t a simple answer anymore. Height, weight, natural ability, and of course wallet size all play important roles in determining which motorcycle you should start on.

A MO favorite, the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 does a great job of combining sporting capabilities with a relaxed riding position to create a versatile machine ready to tackle almost any riding duty. Its bars are high, pegs relatively low, and it provides a comfortable cockpit for a weekend ride or a quick trip across town to do some errands. It’s a terrific do-it-all sportbike and also makes a fine platform for lightweight sport touring.