First ride! 2009 Kawasaki ZX-6R

MCN Road Tester Adam Child is in Japan to ride Kawasaki’s all new ZX-6R. Here’s his initial impressions. 

“This new Kawasaki ZX-6R has been heavily revised for 2009, the main areas where they have tried to improve the bike being engine performance, corner entry and stability, with better feedback through the chassis to the rider.

“Kawasaki are claiming more mid range and top end power, they also claim a reduction in the bike’s overall weight by 10kg. But the big talking point is their ‘big piston’ front forks, which are the first on a production 600 bike.

“From a riding point of view the first impression is that the front forks feel slightly odd as they don’t have the huge dive and rebound of conventional forks. They are much more controlled and linear which takes a bit of adjusting to.

“Engine wise, it doesn’t feel like there’s a huge amount of difference at the top end, however, there is a real difference mid-range and the power deliver is really smooth which gives the bike a feel of not being overly quick, but it is.”