Don Quixote
Nordic BoTT 2010
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2006/Jan/060127zx10.htm
Kul läsning, mest om racing. Bl.a
Duplicating this command performance on both fronts with the 2004-2005 ZX-10R wasn't in the cards. The bike may have won nearly every liter-bike shootout worldwide, but, as the spin...um...story goes, knowing that it wasn't a competitive platform, Team Green didn't make a big push for racetrack glory—hence the factory team didn't prep it for the U.S. Superbike series and a lackluster, B-level effort was undertaken in World Superbike. Another theory is that the AMA's short-range rulemaking and Kawasaki's Yen-draining MotoGP efforts stymied superbike development.
After assessing this constructive—and sometimes destructive—criticism, everyone involved with the 2006 ZX-10R zeroed in on an all-encompassing engineering goal: To make the 10R go faster around racetracks than any other bike.
In an unconventional gush of corporate honesty, it was divulged that the 2004 ZX-10's designers made too many engineering tradeoffs in the name of building the lightest, fastest and baddest sportbike on the planet. Today's assignment: to investigate if they repeated the errors of their ways on the second-generation ZX-10R. If jumping back into the AMA Superbike class after sitting on the sidelines for three years is any indication, the bike must be impressive. Committing Tommy and Roger Lee to the premier class is the biggest story of this pre-race off-season.
Utilizing input from the world's press, customers, as well as various racers and test riders, including the Haydens and their mentor, three-time AMA Superbike champion Doug Chandler, engineers got to work on the 2006 version soon after the 2004 bike was unleashed.
Stressing that the white-coated engineers absorbed each and every message, Kawasaki Sportbike Product Manager Karl Edmondson prefaced major design improvements in his action- and information-packed PowerPoint tech presentation—complete with dramatic music, no less-with "You guys complained about...," as if the assembled journalists were the only ones to take issue with the previous model's bad habits.
Although the previous ZX-10R inevitably won magazine shootouts over the soft, heavy CBR, not-quite-there R1 and outstanding GSX-R, editors complained about the muscular Kawasaki's nervous, flighty nature, lack of a steering damper, crummy transmission and hard-to-read LCD tachometer. Nonetheless, these character-building traits add up to one hell of an exciting ride. On serpentine canyon roads, this raw, untamed land-based missile demands respect, a deft throttle hand and serious gymnastics to keep it going straight with both tires on the tarmac.
Kul läsning, mest om racing. Bl.a
Duplicating this command performance on both fronts with the 2004-2005 ZX-10R wasn't in the cards. The bike may have won nearly every liter-bike shootout worldwide, but, as the spin...um...story goes, knowing that it wasn't a competitive platform, Team Green didn't make a big push for racetrack glory—hence the factory team didn't prep it for the U.S. Superbike series and a lackluster, B-level effort was undertaken in World Superbike. Another theory is that the AMA's short-range rulemaking and Kawasaki's Yen-draining MotoGP efforts stymied superbike development.
After assessing this constructive—and sometimes destructive—criticism, everyone involved with the 2006 ZX-10R zeroed in on an all-encompassing engineering goal: To make the 10R go faster around racetracks than any other bike.
In an unconventional gush of corporate honesty, it was divulged that the 2004 ZX-10's designers made too many engineering tradeoffs in the name of building the lightest, fastest and baddest sportbike on the planet. Today's assignment: to investigate if they repeated the errors of their ways on the second-generation ZX-10R. If jumping back into the AMA Superbike class after sitting on the sidelines for three years is any indication, the bike must be impressive. Committing Tommy and Roger Lee to the premier class is the biggest story of this pre-race off-season.
Utilizing input from the world's press, customers, as well as various racers and test riders, including the Haydens and their mentor, three-time AMA Superbike champion Doug Chandler, engineers got to work on the 2006 version soon after the 2004 bike was unleashed.
Stressing that the white-coated engineers absorbed each and every message, Kawasaki Sportbike Product Manager Karl Edmondson prefaced major design improvements in his action- and information-packed PowerPoint tech presentation—complete with dramatic music, no less-with "You guys complained about...," as if the assembled journalists were the only ones to take issue with the previous model's bad habits.
Although the previous ZX-10R inevitably won magazine shootouts over the soft, heavy CBR, not-quite-there R1 and outstanding GSX-R, editors complained about the muscular Kawasaki's nervous, flighty nature, lack of a steering damper, crummy transmission and hard-to-read LCD tachometer. Nonetheless, these character-building traits add up to one hell of an exciting ride. On serpentine canyon roads, this raw, untamed land-based missile demands respect, a deft throttle hand and serious gymnastics to keep it going straight with both tires on the tarmac.
