First Ride: 2007 Kawasaki ZX-6R

"Yeah, can I have a few clicks off the mirrors, a softer compound seat and some heated grips please?" Satoshi Edisu leans his head towards me, looks down at his clip board, studies his technical data sheet and replies."We added a turn of preload to the forks and raised the rear ride height 2mm. Sorry, no heated grips, best only on touring bikes." Brilliant!

Okay, hands up, I'm out of my depth here. But sod it, I'm enjoying the ride so I'm going to live the fantasy. You see for the launch of the 2007 ZX-6R Kawasaki pulled out all the stops, not only with the bike but also the experience.

'Hardcore.' 'The ultimate track day.' 'Stay on the gas.' These are all terms the Kawasaki marketing people were using during the presentation of the new ZX-6R. This is a bike that is unashamedly aimed at the track day rider, race rep nut and experienced road rider. What they're saying, then, is it's not for novices. So to allow us to experience the new 6R in its best light, i.e. on a race track, Kawasaki unveiled it at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, and gave each of us undeserving journalists our very own two-man pit crew. Which is where we came in.

To be truthful Kawasaki didn't really need to go through all this rigmarole to persuade us the bike is track focused. Just look at the changes over the 2006 model.

The engine is now 599cc - gone is the cheating 36cc big bore - so it complies with the supersport rules with no need for a homologation RR version. And along with the new capacity comes a completely new motor, the first time in 10 years the ZX-6 lump has been entirely overhauled. As well as being 40mm narrower and 40mm shorter, the engine has bigger valves, new cams, short skirt pistons and a claimed rev limit of a dizzying 16,500rpm! And this despite using the same bore and stroke as the ZX-6RR. That'll be thanks to the use of lighter components and the reduction of internal friction. All-up it makes a claimed 123bhp and 48.7lb.ft of torque.

What all these changes add up to is a far more track-focused bike. In the same way Yamaha abandoned the less focused, relatively relaxed R6 in 2005 in favour of the aggressive, rev-hungry 2006 model (actually they sold them alongside each other for much of 2006), Kawasaki has retargeted the ZX-6R.

And it works. On track the new ZX-6R is stunning, and for those fleeting few days in Alabama I felt like a proper World Supersport racer. But without the talent...

As with the current R6 you have to understand how to ride the ZX-6R to get the best out of it - and that is quite simply to feed it revs. Lots of revs. This little green beast drinks revs faster than a tramp sucks back Tennents Super. Kawasaki's engineers claim the new bike actually has the same midrange torque as the old 636. Yes it has, sort of, but given the new bike's higher rev limit the 'midrange' is now 4000rpm further up the scale than it was.

To get the motor on song the re-designed - and now readable - rev counter has to be showing over 6000rpm. At 8000rpm things start to speed up (a little), by 10,000rpm it's really getting interesting, at 12,000rpm you're starting to fly and at around 14,000rpm both you and the bike are bouncing off the walls and screaming like a deranged gibbon. Honestly, you really do have to thrash the living hell out of the 6R. And while that isn't a bad thing on track, I could see it getting quite annoying on the road.

But once the engine is in its sweet spot the Kawasaki really does fly. The gear ratios are perfectly spaced so the power never drops out of the zone. Another excellent characteristic is the amount of over-rev Kawasaki has left in the engine, meaning you can hang on to a gear and let the engine scream past without the rev limiter halting progress. This may not sound like a great feature to road riders, but on track it was saving two gear changes, which wastes valuable time. And that's what the ZX-6R is all about: saving fractions of seconds under race track conditions - or at least feeling like you are.

So it's just as well the chassis is so impressive. I've got no racing ambitions - working with Mackenzie and Whitham kind of puts you in your place on that front - but I can hustle around a track at a fair lick and the ZX-6R's chassis simply blew me away. The combination of superb Bridgestone BT-002 tyres and the ZX-6R's chassis let me get away with blue murder, even getting the pegs down at one point which, considering the hero blobs had been removed is insane.

The Barber track is small-bike focused with short straights and lots of corners varying from slow hairpins to scary fast chicanes, none of which caused the Kawasaki the least bit of bother. Once Edisu-San had stiffened the suspension slightly to allow for a tubby rider and to eliminate a slight patter from the front, the bike behaved perfectly. Much like Yamaha's R6 the Kawasaki gives a feeling of total balance in corners. Although I've not ridden the new CBR600RR, talking to Niall, who tested it at this very circuit only two weeks before, the main handling differences between the Honda and Kawasaki appear to be the Honda's steadier turn-in. Also the Honda has a steering damper - something Kawasaki still refuses to add, but I think they should. Like all ZX-6Rs the 2007 model will shake its head when it hits bumps under hard acceleration, so quite why Kawasaki is digging its heels in over this issue is a mystery.

But one thing I can't believe is the Honda can be anything like as good as the Kawasaki on the brakes. It's awesome. The combination of the chassis and excellent slipper clutch keep it perfectly balanced when braking hard, and when I say hard I mean hard because the radial brakes are ferociously powerful with loads of feel. Most of the heavy braking at Barber is done downhill, over bumps, and apart from the occasional impromptu stoppie the ZX-6R never got out of shape.

Having spent a day and a half thrashing the Kawasaki around the track I have to say I am very impressed. I can't find fault with the chassis, and even then there's more than enough suspension adjustment to dial any gripes out. The brakes are stunning and the motor pulls like a train when you feed it revs. The styling and build quality are excellent, especially the chassis with its black frame, swingarm and even foot rest hangers. And the new rev counter is clear and even has a gear indicator. It's a stunning track machine. And there lies the issue.

Kawasaki say the ZX-6R is aimed at the 'experienced rider', with development focused on making it the fastest around a track. Which is no bad thing. I don't doubt it will be close to this target if not on the bull's eye. But are you this kind of rider?

Although we didn't get to ride the ZX-6R on the road the very nature of its engine means it will be hard work away from the track, much like Yamaha's R6. Where Suzuki and Honda have developed their 600s for more midrange torque to make them better road bikes, Yamaha and Kawasaki have gone down the 'revs rule' route. Is this a bad thing? It depends what you're looking for.

If riders of the old or even current 636 are expecting a similar type of character to their midrange boosted ZX-6R they may well be disappointed with this new model. But will this stop it selling to other riders? I doubt it. Yamaha's R6 was, at the time of going to press, 2006's best selling 600 in the UK, so maybe this is what the buyers are now demanding. If this includes you then enjoy, and I'll see you at a race track in the very near future.

Kawasaki has stuck with an underseat exhaust, but all the heavy bits are sited beneath the motor.


Slipper clutch mates with cassette type gearbox for easy ratio changes - if that's your thing.


The 'stiffness balance' of the frame has changed, allowing controlled flex to aid handling.


Front discs are are thicker, up from 5.5 to 6mm. Heavier, but with better heat dissipation.

VERDICT 5/5


The ultimate track day tool? Quite possibly. Road tool? Not so sure.

SPECS


TYPE - SUPERSPORTS


PRODUCTION DATE - 2007


PRICE NEW - £7295


ENGINE CAPACITY - 599cc


POWER - 123bhp@14,000rpm


TORQUE - 48.7lb.ft@11,700rpm


WEIGHT - 167kg


SEAT HEIGHT - 820mm


FUEL CAPACITY - 17L


TOP SPEED - 165mph


0-60 - n/a


TANK RANGE - N/A

"Yeah, can I have a few clicks off the mirrors, a softer compound seat and some heated grips please?"
Satoshi Edisu leans his head towards me, looks down at his clip board, studies his technical data sheet and replies.

"We added a turn of preload to the forks and raised the rear ride height 2mm. Sorry, no heated grips, best only on touring bikes." Brilliant!

Okay, hands up, I'm out of my depth here. But sod it, I'm enjoying the ride so I'm going to live the
fantasy. You see for the launch of the 2007 ZX-6R Kawasaki pulled out all the stops, not only with the bike but also the experience.

'Hardcore.' 'The ultimate track day.' 'Stay on the gas.' These are all terms the Kawasaki marketing
people were using during the presentation of the new ZX-6R. This is a bike that is unashamedly aimed at the track day rider, race rep nut and experienced road rider. What they're saying, then, is it's not for novices. So to allow us to experience the new 6R in its best light, i.e. on a race track, Kawasaki unveiled it at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, and gave each of us undeserving journalists our very own two-man pit crew. Which is where we came in.

To be truthful Kawasaki didn't really need to go through all this rigmarole to persuade us the bike is track focused. Just look at the changes over the 2006 model.

The engine is now 599cc - gone is the cheating 36cc big bore - so it complies with the supersport rules with no need for a homologation RR version. And along with the new capacity comes a completely new motor, the first time in 10 years the ZX-6 lump has been entirely overhauled. As well as being 40mm narrower and 40mm shorter, the engine has bigger valves, new cams, short skirt pistons and a claimed rev limit of a dizzying 16,500rpm! And this despite using the same bore and stroke as the ZX-6RR. That'll be thanks to the use of lighter components and the reduction of internal friction. All-up it makes a claimed 123bhp and 48.7lb.ft of torque.

What all these changes add up to is a far more track-focused bike. In the same way Yamaha abandoned the less focused, relatively relaxed R6 in 2005 in favour of the aggressive, rev-hungry 2006 model (actually they sold them alongside each other for much of 2006), Kawasaki has retargeted the ZX-6R.

And it works. On track the new ZX-6R is stunning, and for those fleeting few days in Alabama I felt like a proper World Supersport racer. But without the talent...

As with the current R6 you have to understand how to ride the ZX-6R to get the best out of it - and that is quite simply to feed it revs. Lots of revs. This little green beast drinks revs faster than a tramp sucks back Tennents Super. Kawasaki's engineers claim the new bike actually has the same midrange torque as the old 636. Yes it has, sort of, but given the new bike's higher rev limit the 'midrange' is now 4000rpm further up the scale than it was.

To get the motor on song the re-designed - and now readable - rev counter has to be showing over 6000rpm. At 8000rpm things start to speed up (a little), by 10,000rpm it's really getting interesting, at 12,000rpm you're starting to fly and at around 14,000rpm both you and the bike are bouncing off the walls and screaming like a deranged gibbon.