Kawasaki ZX-10R takes on rivals 

I don't usually comment but feel the need to speak out against rubbish reviews like this. At least base it on fact and not who your biggest sponsors are. I own a ZX10R and it has plenty of grunt all the range. Maybe your test bike was shagged.

I tested both bikes on the road in 2011 the zx10r and the bmw s1000rr sport at the time I thought the zx10 was more track focused so I bought the bmw I kept it for 18 months and found that standard it ran wide in corners , had the stock suspension set by Phil Crowe he maxed out the rear shock adjustment , raised the ride height on the adjustable block and ended up with well the stock suspension is useless, made loads of adjustments to the forks still no good, I got ohlins 30mm cartridge kit and ttx rear shock all for m weight etc was good then, now problem was trying to accelerate out of corners it wants to wheelie everywhere , moved rear wheel further back in swingarm still couldn't keep up with...the zx10's and they were out of the crate, ive just bought a 2014 zx10r , oh and 18 months old the bmw dealer offered me £6000.00for it back in mint original condition as I had carbon wheels and all road fairings in bubblewrap from new the bike overall probably cost me about 10,000 loss in 18 months im keeping the zx std apart from fairings. kwaks go forward rather than wheelie and don't have the mad rush of power at 10000 upwards. hope this helps someone not to lose the money I did , but I hear the hp4 is v good but huge money...again. Boldini #42

Neavesy was saying that GSXr comes last and how unfair that was as its an epic bike. They are all epic !! They are all the worlds best 1000cc bikes and theres not really a hair between them all. Its the rider that wins any race not the bike. So its all down to personal preference, colour, sound, feel, style, comfort...everything. My choice was S1000RR because its BMW, and has the safety features i need - cos I'm rubbish. Quickshift is fantastic. Silverstone here i come!!

I went to a superbike race about a month ago, and Suzuki GSXR1000's took first and second place and were fighting for the lead the whole race. Clearly all these bikes are awesome and where they placed really doesn't mean a whole lot.

Thanks MCN! My ranking: 1. Aprilia RSV4 R 2. MV Agusta F4 1000 3. KTM RC8 R 4. Ducati 1198S 5. BMW S1000RR 6. Kawasaki ZX-10R 7.Yamaha R1 8. Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade 9. Suzuki GSX-R1000

All the bikes are great and most people would be happy to own to any of them. What a great job testing new bikes all day.

Give a KAWASAKI a great rider like YUKI HAGA or BIAGGI. It will smoke all the liter bikes out there! Especially the BMW! ZX10R is the KING!

If low and mid range power is a problem with the ZX10R, change the front sprocket to one with less teeth (or the rear sprocket to one with more teeth) and your problem's solved.

The ZX-10r is a sick looking bike

This is just personal opinions from MCN and not bike performance on track. We are also talking about over all package here. Give some track times. "Anyone can drive a fast bike, few can drive a bike fast."

@BikerDarren24 -- no. i don't care about the R1. It's about the 2011 zx10. And about putting the fireblade in front of the zx10. Bad review.

Should get some proper mics cause it the wind sound it annoying.

@fastkid392 I don't think that's the reason for them not including the Ducati. If that was the case, the Aprilia and KTM would have been present. Probably the only bikes they could get together at the time..I dunno. For this to be a true liter bike test it would have to include the 1198, RSV4 and RC8. MV Agusta is always forgotten in these test...same way they are forgotten on the race track. Snap*! lol

I have read that the new ZX-10R is detuned and that there is a version with 188 hp thats not available everywhere. I guess they will unleash it when the bike gets refreshed after its two year cycle. The power is supposedly available with a pipe and ecu.

@HOTOjake fully agreed, buy what you like and enjoy it.

little bias here since i own a s1000rr but i'm glad the bike held out for another year and looking forward to the the other makes attempt to knock the bmw down. Was fearing the zx10 was going to kill it with the rumors of around 200hp.

All of those bikes are absolutely epic.

@plaid4u you might not get rain but up in scotland we get the cold stuff from siberia. were usually at least 3 degrees behind london. Cold coupled with rain does NOT make good riding conditions :(

I'd still rather have the Suzuki or the Honda. Because for the difference in price I can put an Akrapovic full system, a tune and degree the cams. I also agree that when they test these bikes versus the new Aprilia, it will be interesting... the APRC is just phenomenal.

MCN, the whole sportbike world is waiting to see how the kawasaki will fair at the opening of WSBK this month. I hope your man is up to it.

these guys are better, faster and wiser in roadracing then ANY if you rookies will ever be... and yes im included as rookie, its just your own proudness to your MAKE that makes you hate them..

These results do not surprise me

I am a Honda fan but still I know that Beemer is best in class

I wouldn't mind a lack of low-end power on a bike. In fact, if I were looking to get a street bike (I usually ride dirt) I'd be looking for a bike where the power comes on like a rattlesnake. First you poke it with a stick, then you wait in fear for a little while, and then you die. And, given that preference, I'd get an early-70s Kawasaki 750 two-stroke with expansion-chamber pipes. And, perhaps best of all, the sound it makes in the powerband can cause lightning strikes on a sunny day.

Can´t wait for the new S1000RR challenge, because I just love exotic bikes!

@laxxxxxxen The BMW S1000RR is an eyesore. The non-matching mid fairings and the cock-eyed headlights don't do it any justice in the looks dept. If you think all bikes but the BMW are ugly, I'd like to know what you ride currently.

completely agree with their summing up.. not rode the 10r but its typical of the Kawasaki thou to be ashmatic in the midrange

@Jude2Mahoney Yeah, but it rains a lot during their vids...because it rains a lot in the UK.

I just run in my new 2012 ZX10R gets its first service friday. so I have'nt been riding it hard, this bullshit that it has no midrange grunt is well "bullshit" and ya have to go a tooth down on the front sprocket. I did a lot of test riding of different models and liked the kwaka the most, the ZX pulls like a 16 year old from the word go. its a great road bike,and its starting to prove itself on the race track, no midrange my arse, anyway ya buy what ya like and enjoy it !

@motorcyclenewsdotcom The BMW Power Boost Kit ECU makes 12-14 HP not 4HP as claimed, take a show room BMW and swap the ECU then redo the Dyno. Did you have the optional quick shifter or was it also fitted stock? Do you know the BMW with the full Kit Akropovic makes 195hp about 10 more than just the Power Boost ECU Kit, the Stock BMW is rated by BMW at 192.5hp. Take off 15% for the transmission losses and you get a lot less power than the 2 hp you claimed.

What Honda better then the zx10 ?? Nigga please

@supersayin1 yeah, moving the power up to higher revs is like removing the power at all... because it's rare the time you can use it.... but i agree.. KAWIS ANY TIME ANY DAY!!!

sucks u guys had to test them in the rain, lol but I wish i was one of the testers more lol

@IzzualYamakawa Because it is always raining in the UK.

@DuranXL you've got a really good point there

How much sense does it make not to have a direct comparison to the Aprillia RSV4? i know, there would have been no reason to test.

Interesting results.

"A head & shoulders above" What rubbish! Get a zx10 men to ride, get a r1 man to ride, a gsxr man, and you'll get a real street battle!

Hi MCN! I love all your vids and reviews as I use them as the basis above all others. i did have a question though: How bad is the low to mid-range power on the ZX-10R? Is it bad enough where it wouldn't be a good street bike (as that's where you spend most of your rpm time)? Does it feel completely underpowered when compared to the other 1000's? Thanks for any feedback you can give.

@motorcyclenewsdotcom ok one thing i still do not understand about your review. the yamaha won in 2009 (dont agree it should have but thats just me). How does a 2008 cbr win over the 2009 yamaha that won over the cbr in one of the previous years. he did say 1:03 it is the oldest. In 1:15 the yamaha won. can you explain this too me. why did the cbr win over the yamaha? Im not a yamaha fan just trying to understand how you guy get your results.

Honda 2nd! Yes I can live with that one. Honda all day. That BMW is nice though & the price makes it more desirable.

Well that was a little dissapointing, considering all the hype about the kawi. Maybe they will look at this and improve the next offering.

I couldnt live in the UK and be a rider. I can't stand looking at those bike in the rain

Soooo... in 2009 the R1 wins the group. In 2011 it comes after the CBR? A bike that is the same as 2008 other than ABS? I love the CBR '08, hey I ride one, but it is a bit odd the standings...

@UCMolosser Makes sense or they just can't give a good proper and comparative review. Its been over a month, they still haven't even answered my question, and a lot of other peoples question. I think they need to be more active in the discussions on there own reviews. They put out a review with questions that need answers. But my question still stands and I'm still wondering why they did it in the rain too. This wasn't a good review and not from good reviewers obviously. Thanks for commenting

an awesome review!!... not surprised the BMW came up top, but am surprised at the kiwi..

are they 4 strokes?

@FAHAD6612 the ducati is more than 1000cc they are testing the 999 or 1000cc

hey..where was the Aprilia in the review? The "standard" 1000cc 4banger family is now larger than just the Japanese mainstays +1 (BMW)..you gotta add the other.. Otherwise MCN, great review and explanation of your findings...keep it up

The difference between all these rockets is minor and indistinguishable by most buyers.

I hope they put the KTM RC8R '11 to the test as well

@NINJAZX14RRR Ninja dude, you're wrong. BMW didn't lie or cheat, if anything they under quoted power at the crank, not over quoted like we've seen other manufacturers do in the past. The dyno results from Akrapovic website put the bmw about 5-6 hp peak up on the klacka.

@HOTOjake dude... all bikes have more ability than their riders. a bike could throw you off at any minute in an instant. no one will EVER have more ability than the bike they are riding

I picked the zx10r cuz I got it for around 14k out the door I could have got a fireblade (leftover stock) for around 11k but it did not have abs or traction control like the zx now if I was going to get the s1000rr like I wanted after I got all the options I wanted it was over 20k an for the price I'd get the h2

Good review and HD is good. Now if they could work out how to reduce the wind noise on the microphone.. Interesting comment about the ZX's power. If it's all up high, kiss your license good bye!

HD videos at last!!!! Nice review! PS: The nodding helmet at 3:06 made me smirk...!! :]

Great review but i still love Kawasaki and 3rd isn't bad because it is more affordable than the others lol so Still number 1 for me lol

@benetton16 he says the price crept up over the years and hadnt changed at all, thats why

Pretty much agree. Good video, cool music too.

can't wait to see duel between BMW and MV Agusta / Ducati :)))

No KTM, Ducati, aprilia and MV Augusta? They don t count? I would never rely on these guys for input on my next bike. BMW is heads and shoulders above the rest? Show the lap times, price of each machine, maint cost and so on? Heads and shoulders above? I don't think so.

I lil' Biased on your S1K there? S1K's electronic better than 10R? I understand the power but electronics? In 2009 R1 Moved from 1st to 4th just because of the price? (I thought your reviewing how well the bikes are?) You didn't complain about Duccatis or the RSV4s price in other reviews when it cost more than that of the other bikes. Where is the RSV4? I think 10R is best bang for ur bucks. 1.) Zed 2.) S1k (I see Zed and S1K being close) 3.) R1 4.) CBR (I see CBR and R! being close) 5.) GSX

Why on earth would you put a control tyre on the bikes, it should be done with whatever it comes from the factory with, this way you can see what is truly a street-bike, track-bike and which bike is balanced in between. If the tyre that comes standard is hindering performance, say that, but the manufacturers shouldn't get a free pass when it comes to which rubber they wear. Everything else top notch!!!

you can really hear the computer in that BMW

With the BMW being head and shoulders above the competition and costing right around the same, why would you buy anything else?

@alan838 I agree 1 million times over! I'm sure they could have improved on controlling the 04 aka Widow makers power,handling and stability. Kawasaki kills me giving us a beast and dropping the power, they also did it with the 636. I really don't know what the hell they are thinking at kawasaki. I'm a die hard Kawasaki fan but it's pissing me off that they give us 2nd place bikes and expect us to live with it. Cheers !!!!

why you dont have 1198 and RSV4? are you afraid??

An S1000RR looks like a Ducati and R1 decided to have a kid together

I dont agree with the rankings after 1st......! Gotta learn more about that honda.....cant believe it made 2nd place.....and yes R1 has always been a problem on the road and the streets says a kawi for life guy!!!!! All in all, I still say it comes down to the riders!!!!!

@BMWRWankers the S1000rr's top speed 178mph? LOL this isnt the K1200s BMW, pal. As for a customers BMW being 190hp or so, well lets say that all depends on the Dyno and how well its was calibrated. remember the S1000rr inline 4 engine architecture is extremely oversquare easing the RPM's higher band for more HP. Hope i didnt leave you clueless....

@mn228 do you mean xr1100?

I'll take the underdog low tech bikes over the new Hi-tech wonders. Give me the R1 and CBR. Oh wait..I already have the R1! ;P Besides this test means nothing without on track lap times. I could care what some moto-journo thinks about a bike. Knowing which bike is fastest around track is good info to know, but in the end...I buy the bike that makes my heart skip a beat when I see and ride it.

@Matt27703 Aprilia RSV4R +Akrapovic exhaust= 168mph @ March 2010 Texas Mile. i know, the guys probably didnt tune it right. Thats my thinking

Hm...? R1 gets 4th because it hasn't changed, but neither has the fireblade..which is 2nd now. Yet in 2009, the same R1 beat this same fireblade. Yes, the prices for the R1 has gone up...but who's talking about prices? The s1000rr is more expensive too

@Freakorcycle AGREED!

@Poler777 lol in denmark a R1 cost little over 55k $, only USA are that lucky

why is it everytime I watch a british thing testing a bike its raining? haha

when i saw it for the fist time in newspaper i thought it is aprilia LOL XD

I love the zx so does TOM Sykes as for the bmw sure if I had a lot more money

can someone tell me what kind of helmet trevor is wearing? the yellow one with a biohazard symbol on it:)?

i,m confused why are they using an 11" gsxr1000 against the new one k12

@c7h30r30 I agree with you guys. I don't like the front design of the BMW. doesn't look nice to me compared with the others. we have to keep in mind that ultimately these guys are just sharing their subjective opinions. they claim to be experts but there are a lot of experts who would disagree with them.

The S1000RR is hard to beat. I'm very satisfied with mine!

14K pound sterling for the R1?? That's over $22k USD. Here in New York, you can get a new R1 for (real world dealer price) $12K USD. Even though the Brit price includes VAT ("sales tax/VAT" isn't included in US prices) your getting anally reamed by the UK importer.

BAD REVIEW this time MCN.

Show us the times....

Coments. The critique on the R1 seemed to be price biased. Is it more expensive in the UK than an S1000RR? And, was that the point of the exercise? Four Jap bikes, one Euro ... fair comparo when RSV4 et al are mentioned and omitted. Kwaka loses by comment by its power being made right at the top end ... tell me thats not exactly where the BMW delivers its grunt, yet loses ... just because? Possibly not much time to put the comments together but sometimes the less said ...

@Poler777 and what about us italian buying OUR Ducatis for almost twice the price than the US?

@ Too right mate bikes are a silly price in the uk

in stock form th zx10r aint all that but if u dress it up properly it will kill, if modded it kills a busa in a straight line and the new tc is gonna do its job round corners. bit dissapointed being a die hard kawa fan, the looks on new bike are awesome except for the ugly tail...now to see a review from motousa and watch how it performs in superbike races

@4obaka I don't know which rock you've been living under but the bmw is the best in class by a long shot for the last few yrs. No one into bikes doesn't know this and no one into bikes cares about their cars except perhaps the M class models.

4:49 meany hitting the bmw like that

KTM and Ducati I recon? where are these top bikes?

After watching this video again, it's extremely hard to take anything away from this. It's not in depth enough to be a real comparison video. This is more a teaser video than a "actual" comparison video. Maybe there are more details in the article I dunno, I'm just not sold on this would-be comparison. Tell us more about the TC on the Kawasaki. How does it compare to that of the BMW's TC? I'm pretty sure if this vid was 30 mins, no one would complain, as long as the content is good. hint hint

GOOOOOOOOOO BMW :) it's my all time favorite bike

BMW- what average joe could afford it? Now the Honda is more realistically priced, but even coming from a honda cbr owner, it needs to be updated on looks. Kawasaki... what can i say? Ninja says it all. I would love to buy another ninja (considering my first bike was a ZX-636) and this new ZX-10R makes my old ninja look like a scooter. But i'm curious to know how comfortable it is compared to the honda.

YEAH go Bmw :D im alone in the world cause i love the looks :)

How can the R1 be the winner in 2009 and 2 years later be under a 2008 CBR??? It makes no sence to me...

@BMWRWankers what is wrong with you? so how sure are you that fastbikes magazine uses a stock zx10r.

How the hell is the honda in 2nd and the r1 is in 4th. when they just said that the gixxer is old just like the honda. These guys make no sense!!!!!!!