The 2023 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R is finally coming to Canada

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“Superbike” means different things to different people. Here in North America, it’s all horsepower and wheelies, the 1,000-cc monsters that we covet are so powerful — pushing nigh on 240 hp, if you’re talking Ducati’s latest Panigale — that only the ‘minding’ of sophisticated traction systems allow them to be ridden by we mere mortals. Sophisticated they may be, subtle they are not.

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In other parts of the world — that should be read “Japan, Europe, and the Far East” — the definition of “road-weapon” is more nuanced. In places where money is tight (Thailand and the rest of southeast Asia), where licensing restrictions are onerous (Japan), or where the roads extremely narrow (any place in Europe that borders the Alps or the Dolomites), not all top-flight sportbikes possess monster motors or inflated price tags.

Indeed, for the longest time, the 400-cc segment — bikes dismissed as but tiddlers, here — were the hottest sellers in Japan and other exotic markets. Pint-sized road-rockets like Suzuki’s GSX-R400, the Kawasaki ZXR-400R, and, most of all, Honda’s VFR400R — otherwise known as the NC30 — were North America’s motorcycling forbidden fruit. Screaming revs, incredible power-to-displacement, and scythe-like steering were attributes we Canadians could only read about in foreign magazines.

No longer.

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Kawasaki Canada has just announced it will be importing its latest pocket rocket, the ZX-4R, starting later this spring. Unlike other small-displacement sportsters in Canada — Kawasaki’s own Ninja 400, the KTM 390 RC, and Yamaha’s R3 — which are powered by either low-cost singles or slightly up-spec twins, Kawasaki’s new 399-cc roadster gets a superbike-like inline-four.

The bore is big (the pistons measure 57.0 millimetres across), the stroke is short (just 39.2 mm), and the straight intake ports suggest a direct shot from ram-air-fed airbox to combustion chamber, all attributes that promise those aforementioned screaming revs and a high and high-tech-enabled power-to-displacement ratio.

Alas, there is a wrinkle. Said wrinkle, I am told with some authority, are North American noise regulations. As in the 16,000 rpm that the ZX-4R is capable of hitting — at least, per European reports — cause some rancour for American noise-meters. So, instead of the little ZX producing peak power — at which speed noise tests are conducted — at 16,000 rpm, the maximum thrust of our Canadian ZXs is ECU-restricted to occur at 11,500 revs, much easier on the decibel-meter, it seems. In other words, Canadian ZX-4Rs are likely to produce somewhere in the neighbourhood of 55 to 60 horsepower, rather than the 80-odd ponies being boasted by the U.K. version.

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Not to fret, however — and this is where I will deviate from normal news regurgitation — since there should be an easy solution. According to experts that should know — here I’m talking about Rob Egan, owner of Brooklin Cycle and tuner to the stars — most such restrictors simply back off the ride-by-wire throttle plates. In other words, the big-bump cams, the easy-flowing exhaust system, and that aforementioned ram-air intake system are all in place; the ECU just shuts the throttle down electronically when it wants to, well, shut down the party.

Thus, unless we are greatly mistaken, it should possible to get our Canadians ZX-4Rs to run full steam with nothing more than an electronics fiddle. A simple dyno-tune won’t do, but a Woolich ECU reflash almost certainly will. Egan is already planning his retirement on the flock of ZX-4Rs he expects to tune on his dyno.

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That little fiddle aside, the ZX-4R is completely ready to twist a back road or blitz a racetrack. Based on the even smaller ZX-25R — 250 cc with four pistons! — the ZX-4R will weight south of 180 kilograms and boast a super-steep 23.5 degrees of rake. Turn in should be MotoGP-sharp.

Four-pot, radially-mounted front calipers ensure that all that power — once you’ve had that ECU flashed — is well contained, and there is an onboard ABS system to manage things when the road is neither smooth, dry, or clean. There are, of course, multiple riding modes, namely Sport, Road, Rain, and Rider, this last allowing personal customization. Each makes for a separate level of traction control and throttle response, though I suspect they’ll not be of much use until the engine is de-restricted.

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On the suspension front, the ($9,999) ZX-4R rides on 37-mm SFF-BP (split-function) inverted front forks which are, alas, not adjustable at all, and a rear Showa shock with simple preload adjustability. The good news is that that there’s an upmarket version of the new ZX — one of Kawasaki’s venerable double Rs — that adds preload adjustment to the forks and damping adjusters to the rear shock. That ZX-4RR will set you back exactly 1,000 extra loonies ($10,999). And, no, anticipating the question I am sure is next on your minds, just cause it’s an RR, doesn’t mean it’s unrestricted. However, you do get a compact version of Kawasaki’s Quick Shifter (KQS) for that extra grand.

Other than that little ECU wrinkle, the new ZX-4R sounds extremely appealing and, despite the restrictions, is the sportbike I’m most looking to throwing a leg over this summer. As long as someone has fiddled with its computer first.