Kawasaki ZX-4RR vs Yamaha R7

Kawasaki ZX-4RR vs Yamaha R7 now Kawasaki recently announced their brand new zx4 RR and it seems to have caused quite a stir in a market full of parallel twins it’s refreshing perhaps even quite exciting to see a smaller capacity high revving in line 4 that absolutely screams up to 16 000 RPM but is this bike all is cracked up to be or has the hype gotten the better of it well in this video we’ll compare it to what I see as the closest rival currently on the

market the Yamaha R7 a proven solid middleweight performer and The Benchmark I’d say for an affordable sports bike so we’ll go through all the details and score them in the key categories and then at the end declare a winner now first up let’s take a look at the engine and yes the zx4rr certainly has a bit of a USP here you see a couple of years back Kawasaki announced the zx25r for some Asian markets and the idea is a slender little 250 sports bike that revs to the moon and back to generate some peaky top-end power now this bike went down except exceptionally well still to this day

one of the most viewed videos on this channel with 1.3 million views and so the only complaint was that they didn’t offer it to the rest of the world now fast forward to now and the Motorcycle in Public’s prayers have been answered for the zx4r has been announced which is pretty much the same bike just with a slightly plumper motor this thing

will Redline at 16 000 RPM and so while it’s a smallish capacity engine that doesn’t make a great deal of Grunt and mid-range torque it still spins up to a speed that’s enough to make some decent Peak power so although the figures are somewhat vague at the moment from Kawasaki it’s believed to be somewhere between mid to high 70s of horsepower when you factor in the effects of ram air now unfortunately there has been some speculation that this

peak power figure might be significantly lower in North America oh into strict noise regulations in Canada but judging it on the anticipated European numbers I think it looks pretty impressive now the Yamaha on the other hand has the same cp2 power twin as pretty much all their other middleweight bikes so the nt07 naked the xsr 700 retro the Tracer 7 Sports tourer and the tenora 700 adventure bike now it is

Kawasaki ZX-4RR vs Yamaha R7: Which Is Better? Specs Battle!

much larger in capacity at 689 cc to the 399 of the Kawasaki and so naturally it can make way more torque and make it lower in the Rev range so 67 newton meters at six and a half thousand RPM as opposed to about 36 newton meters for the Kawasaki right up at 11 and a half thousand RPM so much more bottom end to it but the trade-off is that it doesn’t rev out anywhere near as much so this pizza eight and a half thousand RPM and it makes about 72

horsepower so it can’t quite compete in that sense but that mid-range and grunt plus the super Lively throttle that they give these cp2 bikes do make it pretty entertaining to ride especially at Road speeds so I’d say for most real world Road riding applications especially in the UK where we don’t have really that many long flowing Corners the

Yamaha is probably the better shout but I’m still going to give the point to the Kawasaki here for the audacity to build a bike with this engine layout also the sound it will produce and then you’ve got the uniqueness now from a chassis perspective these bikes aren’t a million miles apart so the Kawasaki gets a steel trellis frame with a curved steel swing arm and they say that the design is inspired by their world superbike zx10rr in order to deliver perfect front rear weight distribution and therefore super Nimble handling suspension comes from showa with a 37 millimeter separate function big piston fork with

preload adjustability and there’s the same shower bfrc light rear shock as the ninja ZX10R breaks her own Brandy with a pair of four-part radially mounted monoblock calipers and it gets a pair of two 90 mil discs at the front and a single 220 at the rear as for tires there’s a 120 by 70 up front and a 160 by 60 on the rear and you’ve got Dunlop providing their GPR 300s now these is it described as Urban sport tires so built for a bit of commuting as well as

quicker riding and with relatively modest power levels on top they ought to be up to the job now the R7 gets a steel Diamond frame with an aluminum center brace and it’s suspended on KYB suspension with this one you get full adjustability on the fork so a little more customization to how this bike rides and then a horizontal rear shock with preload and rebound brakes are on slightly larger 298 mil discs at the front and they’re comparable in terms of

caliper specs although this bike does get a radial Brembo master cylinder which gives it a really nice feel and crispness at the lever then you’ve got the fat attire on the rear too so a 180 by 55 for that proper Sports bite look and the stock Bridgestone s22 tires are more Sports biased as well so I think I’m leaning towards the R7 on this one more suspension adjustability better tires the Brembo master cylinder and they’re absolutely tied on weight at 188 kilograms each curb so it has to be the Yamaha now one thing for me that can really detract from the riding experience on a lot of middleweight sports

bikes is too much of a chilled out Road bias riding position take the Ninja 650 for example a perfectly good bike but to ride it feels pretty much like an upright Naked Bike you just can’t really get into it on the track for example because your bum is relatively far forward and the bar is too close and high but the Yamaha R7 sort of set that

straight with clip-on bars properly high up rear sets and a reasonably tall seat height are 835 millimeters now it’s not quite as aggressive as some of the more serious more powerful sports bikes on the market but for me it strikes that perfect balance of usability on the road and then a sporty tuck when you’re riding quicker or if you take it to the track now the Kawasaki looks to be roughly more of the same this isn’t like a learner 400 the ninja 400 already exists in their lineup to

serve that market well this looks more focused with relatively low clip-on bars and higher up pegs but what I will say is the sea is quite a bit lower than the Yamaha so 800 millimeters 35 mil is a substantial difference and it really will affect how the bike feels to ride and I like on a bike of this nature anyway to be a little bit more tail up so I think I’ll

go for the Yamaha again now where this bike starts to fall down a little bit is if you like your features and Tech because it’s super simple just like all of the cp2 powered Yamahas you get a basic LCD display that gives you all the essential writing information but nothing more really and there are no riding modes no traction control no cornering

sensitive interventions just basic ABS and the most fancy thing really is the quick shifter on the upshift but that’s about 140 quid as an accessory the Kawasaki though couldn’t be much more different so that gets a TFT color display and that allows you to manage four riding modes so sport Road rain and custom and within that you can choose from two power modes and three levels of trash in control then you’ve got the quick shifter

which works on both the up and down shift and it comes as standard on the RR model now there’s also some phone connectivity if that’s your cup of tea and so this one has to go to the Kawasaki there’s no question about it now before we get on to the next couple of categories I just want to say a quick thanks to today’s video sponsor and that’s Speedo

Angels replacing a damaged or scratch Speedo can cost hundreds if not thousands but Speedo Angels make these Dash protectors that cost just a few quid now they make them for the R7 and no doubt they’ll have one for the Kawasaki 2 as soon as they hit UK Shores so pick up yours through the link in the description and you’ll also find a

20 discount code down there too specifically for our viewers so once again a massive thanks to Speedo angels for their support looks wise well this is a big part of owning any bike and I think both deliver plenty of the character and Swagger of their larger siblings so the Kawasaki’s green and angular Bodywork definitely has clear Echoes of their Z x10rr and that’s exactly what you want when you’re buying your way into a brand at a lower price point the R7 on the other hand is a little bit more subtle but it definitely shade of R1 about it

with the projector headlights at the front and so personally I’d be happy on either and I think I’ll have to call this one evens but do let me know which you think is the better looking bike down in the comments so look the decider for this one comes down to the price and the UK price for the Kawasaki is yet to be announced but in the US it comes in

at 9 699 which puts it right in direct competition with the R7 at 9199 both are around the same ballpark the Yamaha biases a little bit more towards the chassis Mechanicals the Kawasaki gives you that distinctive engine character and a bit more Tech and so it’s very close to call but I think I’ll have to give it to the Yamaha because even if you add the quick shifter which is an accessory it’s still gonna come in at less money so that’s two points to the Kawasaki and

three to the Yamaha and that makes the Yamaha R7 today’s winner but look I’d still be sorely tempted by that engine on the Kawasaki and I’m still looking forward to getting to review one to this year but in the meantime as always I’d love to know which one you’d pick so do let us know down in the comments below and if you’d like to see more of the best new sports bikes for this year then I’ve already conveniently made a list of our top picks so give it a click give it a watch let us know what you think many thanks