The Kawasaki Ninja 400 will cost only slightly more than the popular Ninja 300 it replaces when it arrives in Australia.
It is expected to arrive here in February, says Kawasaki Motor Australia marketing co-ordinator Milo Dokmanovic.
“Ride away price is not much higher than the Ninja 300,” he says.
Depending on your location price is $7699 ride away for green or orange, and $200-$300 less for the black.
The Ninja 300 was $5799 (+ on-road costs) and $6199 for the Ninja 300 with ABS.
Ninja 300Ninja 400 back on top?
Ninja 400At one stage, Kawasaki’s Ninja 250 and the Ninja 300 were the only twin-cylinder baby sports bikes.
Now there’s the Yamaha R3 and Honda CBR205RR, so the old Kawasaki engine that dates back to the ’80s, was in need of an update.
The new Ninja 400 is powered by a 399cc parallel twin with much more power and torque.
The original 296cc engine had 29kW of power at 11,000rpm and 27Nm of torque at 10,000rpm.
Now, the Ninja 400 has 33kW of power and 38Nm with more of that torque available lower in the rev range.
Learners will appreciate the 20% lighter clutch pull and the assist-and-slipper clutch to prevent rear-wheel lock-ups on novice ham-fisted gear downshifts.
The styling has been revamped so it looks like its bigger Ninja siblings and a chin-spoiler. Fuel is down three litres from the original model to 14 litres.
Kawasaki claims the new steel trellis frame which uses the engine as a stressed member makes it 6kg lighter at 162kW fully fuelled.
It also comes with LED headlights, a 310mm front disc and Nissin ABS.
Kawasaki Ninja 400
- Engine: 399cc liquid-cooled parallel twin
- Bore x stroke: 70mm × 51.8mm
- Power: 33kW @ 10,000rpm
- Torque: 38Nm @ 8000rpm
- Dimensions: 1990mm × 710mm × 1120mm
- Seat: 785mm
- Kerb mass: 168kg
- Tank: 14 litres
