Three new destroked Kwackers for 2011: The Kawasaki Ninja 400R, ER4N and ER4F?

2011 Kawasaki Ninja 400R

The sharp folks at Visordown have managed to lay their hands on a few pictures of the brand new 400cc range of the ever popular Kawasaki Ninja. These motorcycles seem primed a Japanese launch in the near future as Japan is one market that highly encourages the 250cc and 400cc smaller capacity motorcycles with big tax breaks.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Japanese government heavily taxes the larger capacity motorcycles thus making it that much more difficult for Japanese motorcycle enthusiasts to afford and ride them. So, the Japanese market sees a plethora of small capacity motorcycles like the Kawasaki Balius II and the Honda Hornet 250, both of which rev to the moon and have plenty of pep to keep most folks happy and entertained. Now, from what we’re hearing, Kawasaki’s 2011 range of 400cc Ninjas will produce close to 70 Bhp, just a smidgeon lesser than their 600cc elder brother the Kawasaki Ninja 650R parallel twin.

We don’t buy this. While this power output is quite possible on banzai inline fours, a parallel twin producing close to 70 Bhp seems a little far fetched given the fact that highly strung inline fours like the Honda Hornet 250 produce close to 40 Bhp or 160 Bhp per liter, while the Ninja 250R pumps out 33 Bhp or 130 Bhp per liter in terms of specific outputs. By this analogy, the 400cc Parallel twin Ninjas producing 70 Bhp would amount to a very high specific output 175 Bhp per liter which simply doesn’t seem very likely, more so in parallel twin guise. This said, this power output can be very much possible if the 400cc 2011 Ninjas come with a highly strung inline four engine.

While these motorcycles looks extremely alluring, especially in the Indian context, we’re more than a little skeptical about the highly strung 400s in inline four guise, making it to Indian shores. The reasons of course would be the pricing, which for the Japanese models, will be quite high given the fact that they would probably have to brought in, in CBU guise and also the fact that India does not have a Free Trade Agreement with Japan yet though the end of 2010 might present a different picture on this aspect. Yet another reason for the CBUs not coming directly to India in inline four guise would be the highly strung motors which would require good fuel quality, thus giving these motorcycles extremely limited utility.

This, especially as motorcyclists who buy the 400cc Ninjas for the lower prices would be the ones who most likely would like to do long distance touring than just the occasional track days and weekend poser rides. Now, lets consider another scenario, that of the Ninja 400s being parallel twins with power outputs close to perhaps 50-55 Bhp. In that case, these motorcycles could be in relatively lower states of tune, thus making them perfect for Indian roads and more importantly the fuel quality away from the big cities.

The recently set up India Kawasaki Motor can assemble these motorcycles and if that happens, a price of about INR 4-5 Lakhs or even lesser could be a distinct reality. If Thailand also gets the 2011 Ninja 400s, then nothing like it, as we have FTAs with the Thai. All in all, a sportier 400cc Ninja, parallel twin or inline four, would be a much better bet than the boring, commuterish Ninja 650R. Bring it on Bajaj, PLEASE! Till then of course, speculation will be the name of the game.

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June 24, 2010 | By Jay Prashanth · Tags: 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 400R, 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 650R, 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ER-4F, 2011 Kawasaki Ninja ER-4N, India Kawasaki Motor

Comments

3 Responses to “Three new destroked Kwackers for 2011: The Kawasaki Ninja 400R, ER4N and ER4F?”

Deepak on June 24th, 2010 9:06 pm

nobody gives a f@#k to what you puke
oddy on June 25th, 2010 12:03 am

i followed the link provided and also googled a bit i found out dat this news is been given out by a mag called young machines. the one dat gave us a scoops abut yamaha yzf-250r4. dat scoop never saw the light of the day. neways, the other post did give jap kawa sites link which had info only on er4-n and it was clearly mention that the bike produces 43ps i.e. some odd 42bhp.

here is the link dat i found.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/New-bikes/2010/june/jun2310-new-400cc-kawasaki-models/

i dunno if this bike is coming to india or not but i wud really luv ninja 650r to come on our shore.. based on the spec sheet it might not be a outright performer but a real gud tourer it seems and i doubt nething in this world has ever come foolproof and above comsumer expectation. and even if it does we will let ourselves by sayin ‘it still cant fly…’
Jay Prashanth on June 25th, 2010 1:07 am

Oddy,

Wonderful find. Yeah, the 42 Bhp assertion of yours kind of reinforces what I said. 40-45 Bhp from a 400cc parallel twin would be a good bet. Meanwhile, thank you for your efforts. Highly appreciated.

About the Ninja 650R, it might come to India pretty soon, at a terrific price of INR 5L as well.

Cheers,

Jay