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Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R in the compact test

Retest the brake

After the brake dosage on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R received criticism and there were still a few things to clarify, MOTORRAD carried out another post-test.

Brakes are already a hot topic due to their design, and they were a particularly hot topic in the Superbike group test this spring (see MOTORRAD 8/2016). However, this was not only due to the high loads on the Aragon course. Because with the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R earned the brake dosage criticism. Apart from the fact that you brake more or less far into the curves on the racetrack, there are three corners in Aragon that are already approached in an inclined position.

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R in the compact test

Retest of the brake

Ninja ZX-10R missed the genuine feeling for the interactions between the brake and the front tire. That came as a surprise to the testers because they had shone with precise feedback and controllability at the presentation in Sepang. There, however, with deactivated ABS.

Rubbers exchanged too late in the first test?

After the test machine had gone back to Kawasaki, MOTORRAD received a rebuke from there. The brake pads were almost completely worn out; this would have caused the doughy brake feel. The testers should have replaced the pads earlier, especially since they had a new set with them. It is true that the pads on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R were ripe for a change after the final test drives. However, even the most heavily worn covering was not yet braked down to the carrier plates. It should be noted that the pad thickness at the start of the racetrack test the day before was certainly still ample, but the feeling for the brake metering was by no means more precise. None of the testers noticed any differences between the not even half-worn and almost completely worn pads, not even Christian Kellner, who set the lap times for MOTORRAD.

So there were a few things to clarify, and Kawasaki made the test machine available again for a retest during javelin training in Hockenheim. With new tires and brake pads as well as the old and new brake discs. In early summer temperatures, the tires of the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, which had to suffer from the cold asphalt in Aragon, did better. The brakes at Hockenheim, however, are subject to enormous stress, especially at the end of the Parabolica, where the brakes are slowed down from sixth to first gear. There, as well as in the braking zones in front of the Mercedes grandstand, the Sachskurve, the Nordkurve and before the entrance to the Parabolica, they certainly decelerated.

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R suddenly extremely precise

When Kawasaki mechanic Peter Schmidt, on the initiative of Uwe Seitz from sister magazine PS, inserted an electronic component from the racing kit and deactivated the ABS, it became clear how things could be much better. Suddenly, the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R could be braked extremely precisely to the turning point or to the apex of the bends. The "Sepang feeling" was there again; it was like feeling every single hole in the brake disks brush the pads.

The explanation for this lies in the special tuning of the ABS. If a high brake pressure is built up very quickly, the system activates the secondary circuit of the pressure modulator. To put it simply: it is already activated, although the front wheel of the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R is not yet locked. When the ABS is deactivated, the brake pressure acts directly on the pistons in the Brembo M50 calipers. The small electronics dongle is now freely available; it costs around 22 euros. It can be used to either shut down the rear wheel ABS or the entire system. Every time the ignition is switched off and on, the ABS is reactivated, but the operating permit expires when the dongle is inserted. So you shouldn’t use it in public transport. In addition, Kawasaki recommends replacing the brake pads for race track use when they are about halfway worn.

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