Sure they're still building 600's that can run (which was evidenced in Supersport trim at Daytona), but what on earth happened to the ZX10R's!!! I mean they looked weak at best at Daytona, and they're getting crushed on a course that the Haydens love at this week's test. Was it complacency and no offseason development from last year's ending point, while the competition all kept improving, or did that bike somehow exceed it;s own ability last year? Just wondering...
I've been wondering if Suzuki took the Kawi 1000cc design and tweaked it for their own bikes as part of the R&D relationship the two companies have.
the two bikes have nothing in common......and I woud say there is nothing wrong with the ZX10.......other than its not as fast an 05 GSXR...
By the looks of it the Kaw wasn't good enough to only tweak it, it appears that they may have re-invented the open class yet again!!! I'm not a Suzi fan, but you have to have respect for what they build! I thought that the Kaw 10R platform with another year of development and refinement would be a really strong competitor. Oh well, apparently not.
I thought only the dirt scene shared the R&D relationship.....nothing street oriented was going to be shared. Atleast that's what I remember reading back when they first started. B.
Then again who wouldn't want to share the Mean Streak? I mean it's not exactly ground breaking (unless it tips over). Then again, as a long term Kaw fan, I wish they'd paint a couple 05 Gixxer 1k's green and toss the keys to the Haydens!
thats pretty sweet the way the IC piping run through the stock ram air frame tubes, i wonder if they use intercooling
While I know Chip is biased and I can't blame him...the ZX10R was picked all over the world as bike of the year in 2004. What...you don't think they may have missed the setup..after all...Daytona is not really the same place anymore. The Haydens were in every race last year...the evolution of the sportbike will always continue. I ride a ZX10 on the track....it's not that it is not good....just so much power and finding ways to extract it is not always easy. Ten Kate says that all the time...you must know how to set up a powerful bike..or else you lose every time. I have heard Pridmore say it several times....Mladin is simply that much better at setting a bike up than anyone else..the rest is known to everyone.
