Like a lot of superbikes in the middle of the last decade the ZX10R put on weight, became a little less nimble and lost it’s rawness. The 2004/05 ZX10R is possibly still the rawest bike released to the general public to date and quickly gained a following. Until the 2005 GSXR1000 K5 was released it was arguably the top of the performance heap, although the R1 was as quick and easier to ride. The easiest way to describe the 04 ZX10 was an R6 with a ZX12R motor bolted in. The 1385mm wheelbase (typical of a 600) saw the front wheel pawing the air at every twist of the throttle when it wasn’t lighting up the back tire. In the right hands it was a weapon, but it needed respect and many ended up smashed up on a track day or the roadside.
It is as legendary as the original Fireblade and the original R1 and felt like for once the engineers had given you a proper race engine out of the box, such was the bottom end and midrange coupled to a screeming top end. Add to that one of the hardest looking bikes ever to grace tarmac it was (and is) a true bad boy!
Enter the 06 ZX10R. Gone are the sharp lines, weight is up 5kg and it looks it. Reminds me of a fit girl I went to school with, seeing her years later no amount of stripey clothing could disguise the extra poundage she now carried. We set our own benchmarks in life and people will want you at your best.
The wheelbase is 5mm longer to aid stability which on it’s own would be welcome, but with the added weight the nibble package that once was has suddenly just become average. The bike was claimed to have a bit more horsepower but as far as I know they are no faster and the power has been dulled down to make it just like all the others.
So to sum up it’s fatter, uglier than the old model, and less fun. Kawasaki tried to copy Honda and Yamaha by making a safer more usable bike for the masses with underseat exhausts that look like the after thought they are. Thankfully the marketing manager has since been sacked and Kawasaki have gone back to doing what they do best. Making bikes that are for men!!
On the plus side WSB rider Chris Walker managed to win a race at Silverstone on one of these in the wet after going down at the first corner, finding himself in dead last in front of an ecstatic British crowd. Can’t think of a lot else good to say about the 06 ZX10 apart from they look respectable in black. Getting a nice one for about 4 grand or less shouldn’t be too hard as they are a pig to sell on and all the self respecting lunatics and club racers shunned them from the word go. That said you can pick silver 07 plate Fireblades up for under 3 grand with less than 5000 miles on the clock. They may be no better but at least they look trick and will be more reliable as well as probably a bit easier to sell on. So not sure the 10R is that much of a bargain really unless you like fat bikes.
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