upthemaiden
Well-known member
I was reading through Sport Rider last night. I'm about 3 months behind on my subscription, so this was the first issue that talked about the new zx10r and I think it came in the mail around October or November.
The article talked about the bikes 'wheelie control' and changes that were made to the bike because of it. It didn't go into detail as to what it actually was, but given the electronic nature of newer bikes I'm assuming it's hooked into the traction control and just cuts power to the back wheel when the front wheel slows down and that's how the bike knows the wheel is coming off the ground. It then said that because of having the wheelie control they were able to raise the center of gravity to improve the handling. The clutch was now higher in the motor, and they also shortened the wheelbase/swingarm, and left extra adjustment in the axle adjusters to move the wheel even further forward. All of that was able to be done now that the bike had wheelie control, because obviously a higher center of gravity and a short wheelbase normally make the front wheel lighter under acceleration.
Now I'm not an engineer or anything of the sort, but the whole thing just doesn't sound right to me. Keeping the front wheel down would make it possible to ride the bike faster, but if you're going to counteract that with a shorter swingarm and a higher center of gravity, it's just that much extra work the wheelie control is going to have to do, and you're just making the bike accelerate slower and slower. Obviously most newer 600cc racebikes can probably lift the front wheel off of acceleration alone up to 100mph+, but if they still have a lower center of gravity and a longer wheelbase it would now technically be able to out-accelerate a 1000cc bike just because the zx10 is going to be limiting the power to the back wheel due to the COG and short wheelbase, it won't even be able use it's HP until you're well over 100mph.
Now I know back in 2003 the new cbr600rr was supposed to have some special swingarm and linkage design that came off of the GP bikes that was supposed to keep the front wheel down under acceleration, but all this meant was that you could accelerate harder, it doesn't change any of the power getting to the wheel.
Any idea what I'm missing here? Shorter wheelbase and better handling would mean that you could take corners faster and need less acceleration coming out of the turn, but if that's what you're going for, why didn't you just buy a 600 in the first place(aside from the testosterone that makes a grown man feel like he's not enough of a man unless he's on a full 1000cc bike)? Beyond that, how does Kawasaki think it's going to compete in sales with a 1000cc bike that won't do wheelies?! I know not everyone is into wheelies, but seriously, unless you have the option to turn the wheelie control off, that sounds like a serious obstacle to get over for the marketing department. Big surprise after the original zx10r that Kawasaki put out in 2004, that thing was just a monster.
The article talked about the bikes 'wheelie control' and changes that were made to the bike because of it. It didn't go into detail as to what it actually was, but given the electronic nature of newer bikes I'm assuming it's hooked into the traction control and just cuts power to the back wheel when the front wheel slows down and that's how the bike knows the wheel is coming off the ground. It then said that because of having the wheelie control they were able to raise the center of gravity to improve the handling. The clutch was now higher in the motor, and they also shortened the wheelbase/swingarm, and left extra adjustment in the axle adjusters to move the wheel even further forward. All of that was able to be done now that the bike had wheelie control, because obviously a higher center of gravity and a short wheelbase normally make the front wheel lighter under acceleration.
Now I'm not an engineer or anything of the sort, but the whole thing just doesn't sound right to me. Keeping the front wheel down would make it possible to ride the bike faster, but if you're going to counteract that with a shorter swingarm and a higher center of gravity, it's just that much extra work the wheelie control is going to have to do, and you're just making the bike accelerate slower and slower. Obviously most newer 600cc racebikes can probably lift the front wheel off of acceleration alone up to 100mph+, but if they still have a lower center of gravity and a longer wheelbase it would now technically be able to out-accelerate a 1000cc bike just because the zx10 is going to be limiting the power to the back wheel due to the COG and short wheelbase, it won't even be able use it's HP until you're well over 100mph.
Now I know back in 2003 the new cbr600rr was supposed to have some special swingarm and linkage design that came off of the GP bikes that was supposed to keep the front wheel down under acceleration, but all this meant was that you could accelerate harder, it doesn't change any of the power getting to the wheel.
Any idea what I'm missing here? Shorter wheelbase and better handling would mean that you could take corners faster and need less acceleration coming out of the turn, but if that's what you're going for, why didn't you just buy a 600 in the first place(aside from the testosterone that makes a grown man feel like he's not enough of a man unless he's on a full 1000cc bike)? Beyond that, how does Kawasaki think it's going to compete in sales with a 1000cc bike that won't do wheelies?! I know not everyone is into wheelies, but seriously, unless you have the option to turn the wheelie control off, that sounds like a serious obstacle to get over for the marketing department. Big surprise after the original zx10r that Kawasaki put out in 2004, that thing was just a monster.
