Kawasaki Ninja 400 – or is it a 420?
[[{"fid":"45102","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":607,"width":640,"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"}}]]New bike spotted filming advert in America
KAWASAKI looks set to replace the Ninja 300 with aw new Ninja 400 later this year. Or maybe it’s actually a Ninja 420?
Local news crews in Milwaukee – yes, Kawasaki was on Harley’s home turf – covered the story when Kawasaki closed down several road junctions in the city to film an advert for the new bike. They caught footage of two of the bikes, both parked and in action.
Unfortunately the bikes are only seen from the rear, leaving plenty of questions over their mechanical design and styling.
What little that can be seen of the bodywork, forks and swingarm suggests the new model is a replacement for the Ninja 300 rather than any relation to the Japanese market Ninja 400, which is simply a sleeved-down version of the old-model Ninja 650.
However, it’s unlikely that the Ninja 300’s parallel twin engine can be upped to as much as 400cc. It’s also a very old design, with its roots in the early 1980s GPZ250 twin, so long overdue an all-new replacement.
Unfortunately, even using our best CSI-style ‘enhance’ techniques (well, Microsoft Paint), we can’t make out whether the new bike’s giveaway licence plates read ‘Ninja 400’ or ‘Ninja 420’ – what do you reckon they say?
