Tag

2012 Kawasaki ZX-14

Browsing

Kawasaki is gearing up to launch its new hyperbike, the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 or the 2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400 as it’s known to our friends outside of the US market. Keeping a constant stream of video teaser videos over the past few weeks, Team Green has finally given us a glimpse at the new Kawasaki ZX-14 in it’s latest “Ultimate” video. Flashing the dimensions “84 x 65mm” in the video, the new ZX-14/ZZR1400 will surely live up to its name with a 1,440cc engine displacement, and is expected to make over 200hp in production trim.

The new ZX-14 is also likely to include anti-lock brakes and traction control, in order to help tame all that hyperbike power on-tap. If you’ve missed out on Kawasaki’s teaser campaign, we’ve got all of them waiting for you after the jump in reverse chronological order. Expect to see the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 unveiled on October 10th if Kawasaki can keep it under wraps for that long, sooner if the Japanese company can’t.

The internet has been abuzz lately with leaked/early/spy photos, some real, and some not so much. Looking a bit like the genuine article, we get another alleged glimpse at a soon to be released motorcycle before its public unveiling. While Kawasaki has been busy teasing the interwebs with videos that feature a nice exhaust note, a flash of green light, and the date: 10/10/2011,  it looks like Asian motorcycle magazine Young Machine has released its issue featuring the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 (that’s the 2012 Kawasaki ZZR1400 for our friends in other markets) a tad early.

In what looks to be the first photos of the new Kawasaki ZX-14, we also get a look at some of the basic features that the new hypersport will boast in 2012, namely a 1429cc motor, anti-lock brakes, Kawasaki’s traction control system, and rider-selectable engine maps. As for looks…ZX-10R owners will be pleased. Photos after the jump, and if you read what appears to be Japanese, help us out with a translation in the comments. Thanks for the tip John!

Rumors are swelling around the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 (the Kawasaki ZZR1400 for friends on the other side of the pond). First up is that a new updated Kawasaki ZX-14 is set to debut by the end of the month. Expected to be only a cosmetic makeover, the 2012 Kawasaki ZX-14 will mechanically be the same as the current model.

Looking farther down the pipe though, it would seem from reports and patents that Kawasaki has been eyeing putting a supercharger on the hypersport machine, presumably to better position the ZX-14 against the increasingly more powerful 1,000 superbikes, like the company’s on 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R.