| | | | 2008 kawasaki international press conference in Paris. |  Written: 27/09/2007 : 18:27. Read 6095 times (10/day). | A really green press conference... The coffee was not good but the beer was cold.
A little more seriously, Kawasaki showed us the New ninja ZX10R, the new Ninja 250R, the new ZZR1400 and the new VN2000 Classic.
Before anything else, i want to say one thing about the new ZX10: In real, this bike looks awesome despite an ugly silencer. This said, let's start this article.
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So, the conference took place in Paris, with a lot of green lights, 2 giant screen, a powerfull sound system, and a really awefull coffee (pointless?)...
Whatever, after a speech from Hiroshi Takata (general manager research and development division) that almost made me cry (well, you know, when people starts talking about involvment in motorcycles, about power, torque, passion and all these sort of thing, I become quite sensible...), kawasaki showed us the new Ninja 250R.
Ninja 250R
The bike is not nice, but not ugly... Anyway, it's lean, really lean despite a dry waight of 152kg!
The engine is a 249cc, 4 strokes, liquid cooled parrallel twin, DOHC, 8 valves. It delivers 30HP @ 10.500 rpm and 2.1DaNm at 8.500 rpms. Every thing else is very « basic » and doesn't give me a strong erec.... oops. Basic frame, basic suspensions (however, the rear got a Bottom-Link Uni-Trak with gas-charged shock and 5-way adjustable preload ).
Maybe it will be a fun bike if it's low priced... (we will post full specs in a dedicated article)
VN2000 Classic
If you like Harley Davidson clones with strong engines, maybe you will like this one. For sure, the liquid cooled, OVH 8 valves, 2053cc engine will be strong, and Euro 3 compliant. This cruiser is not ugly, and for sure not a bad bike... It's just it miss real personnality...
(we will post full specs in a dedicated article)
ZZR1400
I'm in love with this one since the first time I leaked some official pictures two years ago.
I'm still in love...
This new 2008 ZZR1400 is Euro 3 compliant, mechanical noise were reduced, and overall the engine was improved:
Massive power and torque from the 1,352 cm3 In-Line Four engine.
Stability and reflexive handling care of the aluminium monocoque frame.
43 mm inverted fork and fully adjustable Uni-Trak rear suspension.
triple petal disc brakes, radial-mount front brake calipers and radial-pump master cylinder.
AWESOME design
(we will post full specs in a dedicated article)
Ninja ZX10R
Regis Laconi « rided » this bike today at the press conference: just 30 meters...
Bad people will say it's because beyond 30 meters, there is a huge risk for kawasaki riders to fall or break the engine. The truth is: the place wasn't the Ccntinental Circus.
More seriously, some people didn't like the pictures we showed you earlier: the front looked weird, and the exhaust was ugly.
In real, the front is perfect and the exhaust is still ugly. I'm not a ZX10R fan, but i really like this new one.
Anything else is pure marketing without a real road/track test: « Kawasaki engineers wanted a highly communicative package that would enable the two-way dialog between rider and machine that professional racers require to ride at the highest level. A chassis that would deliver a high level of feedback while being highly responsive to rider input - and all this in stock form. »
(available specs are in the previous article)
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