After completely dominating the World Superbike series this year, Kawasaki are looking to capitalise with the first big updates to their flagship ZX-10R sportsbike since 2011.
Officially unveiled to the public yesterday, the 2016 Kawasaki ZX-10R may look very similar to previous models on the outside, but in reality it has undergone a huge transformation at the hands of the R&D team, along with official development advisor Tom Sykes.
An exhaustive list of changes would take forever to list, but there have been plenty of alterations to the engine, chassis, suspension, fairings, electronics, brakes and exhaust, which Kawasaki claim make this bike the closest thing they have ever built to a factory race replica.
Motorcycle News have done a great job of listing some of the major changes in their post-launch article which is available to read here.
With a number of upgraded superbikes released in 2015, somewhat reinvigorating the market, and Suzuki expected to release a changed GSX-R1000 for 2016 also, Kawasaki know that there has never been a more crucial time to try and convert success on the track into sales at the dealers.
If you are lucky enough to get your hands on the new 2016 model upon it’s release, you will find that the new bikes comes fitted with Bridgestone Battlax RS10 Racing Street tyres as standard – as also used on the supercharged Ninja H2.
The Battlax RS10 Racing Street is a high performance fast road and trackday tyre, which replaced the BT-003 RS as of 2015. It offers higher levels of grip over a wider temperature operating range, and uses a new MotoGP derived compound based on the acclaimed Battlax V02 – Bridgestone’s market leading racing slick tyre. It also boasts a larger footprint and improved line-holding over it’s predecessor, meaning more predictable behaviour both on road and track, as well as faster lap times.
Kawasaki’s decision to choose Bridgestone as the original equipment fitment on their most advanced superbike to date only goes to reaffirm the manufacturer’s status as the market leader in motorcycle tyres.
You can find out more about the Battlax RS10 Racing Street here.
