The Kawasaki Ninja Z H2 stole the limelight at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show but Kawasaki had one more trick up its sleeve—the Ninja ZX-25R. What’s special about this quarter-litre bike? An engine and equipment that put many mid-weight motorcycles to shame.
The baby Kwacker is powered by a liquid-cooled, 249cc, inline-four motor. Yeah, the glorious inline-four has made a comeback after almost three decades in Kawasaki’s quarter-litre lineup. Though the power outputs haven’t been revealed yet, the bike is rumoured to be made available in two variants for Europe—an A2 compliant version making under 41bhp and full-blown version that is speculated to deliver well over 55 ponies!
While most of the quarter-litre bikes get ABS and riding modes (Honda CBR 250RR), the ZX-25R gets traction control, quickshifter and keyless ignition in addition to ABS and riding modes.
Visually, the bike looks very similar to the Ninja 400, but packs dollops of premium equipment. To start off, the bike gets separate function forks just like the Ninja ZX-6R. At the rear, it gets a horizontal back-link monoshock setup. It also doesn’t get a box-type swingarm like the 400 but gets a premium, gullwing unit.
Kawasaki hasn’t announced any plans of launching this bike in India and considering all the fancy equipment the bike is packing, it will cost well over Rs 5 lakh. In a country dominated by the “there is no replacement for engine displacement” philosophy, the bike is unlikely to be successful. Sigh.