Riders of a certain age will remember the 400cc supersport class, a short lived mini superbike fad which was super popular in the late Eighties and early Nineties.
Created as a result of Japan’s draconian licencing laws, the 400s were screaming 60bhp replicas of the day’s flagship sports bikes, with the Honda VFR400R (aka NC30), Kawasaki ZXR400R, Suzuki GSX-R400 and Yamaha FZR400RR all scaled down sisters of the respective company’s fastest superbikes. They were a riot to ride and, thanks to Japan’s equally draconian MoT equivalent, thousands of second hand examples landed on these shores as what we called grey imports.
Sadly for sportsbike fans, tastes changed (along with licence laws) and for decades these mini crotch rockets were no more – at least until now. Kawasaki clearly have good memories of the class (and why not?) and have rebooted the genre with a new ZX-4R, a 79bhp, 399cc, four-cylinder replica of Jonathan Rea’s world superbike weapon. Three versions will be available, with the ZX-4R SE featuring preload adjustable front suspension and world superbike inspired paintwork, while the ZX-4RR adds a ZX-10RR style Showa rear shock absorber.
All three variants utilise a fairly basic steel trellis frame derived from the Asian market ZX-25R, rather than the more upmarket aluminium items which adorned the iconic greys, but otherwise they pack a pretty fancy looking spec with Showa’s SFF-BP big piston front forks, radially mounted monobloc brakes and a range of rider aids including four preset ride modes and traction control. The SE also gets a USB charging port, tinted windscreen and frame protectors, all of which are options on the other versions.
Of course, Kawasaki have some form in the small sportsbike category, with the Ninja 400 generally regarded as the best in the A2 licence class ‘junior supersport’ category, but the 180kg ZX-4R is something of an outlier in today’s marketplace. The high-revving (15,000rpm) motor produces 79bhp at speed (thanks to the ram air system), placing it closer to higher capacity twins like the Aprilia RS660 and Yamaha R7 than the typical 400cc machine.
The Kawasaki ZX-4R range will go on sale in some Asian countries as soon as this month, however it’s likely to be at least six months before they make their way to Europe – with prices still to be announced.
