On the same day that both visordown.com and hellforleathermagazine.com posted articles whingeing (rightly so) respectively about the fact that Kawasaki would not be bringing their new Ninja 400R to the UK or the US, (hellforleather's complaint was accompanied by a Michael Uhlarik opinion piece on the need for smaller street bikes in the North American market), Kawasaki Canada has sent us the welcome news that their newest small displacement Ninja will be available here as part of their 2011 lineup. A step up from the popular Ninja 250R, the 400R is identical to its middleweight 650 sibling but for its 399 cc engine, tuned for low- and mid-range performance, says Kawasaki.

Priced at $7,499.00, the Ninja 400R comes in traditional lime green Kawasaki livery and metallic black. We'll be testing it at summer's end and will give you our review then. Full specs are below.

SPECIFICATIONS 

ENGINE 

Type - Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke Parallel Twin 

Displacement - 399 cc 

Bore and Stroke - 68.4 x 54.3 mm 

Compression ratio - 11.0:1 

Valve system - DOHC, 8 valves 

Fuel system - Fuel injection: ø34 mm x 2 (Keihin) 

Ignition - Digital 

Starting - Electric

Lubrication - Forced lubrication, semi-dry sump 

FRAME 

Type - Diamond, high-tensile steel 

Wheel travel: front - 120 mm 

  rear - 125 mm

Tire: front - 120/70ZR17M/C (58W) 

  rear - 160/60ZR17M/C (69W) 

Caster (rake) - 25° 

Trail - 106 mm 

Steering angle (left/right) - 35° / 35°

DRIVETRAIN 

Transmission - 6-speed, return 

Final drive - Sealed chain 

Primary reduction ratio - 2.095 (88/42)

Gear ratios: 1st - 3.000 (42/14) 

2nd - 2.167 (39/18) 

3rd - 1.640 (41/25) 

4th - 1.360 (34/25) 

5th - 1.192 (31/26) 

6th - 1.040 (26/25) 

Final reduction ratio - 3.067 (46/15) 

Clutch- Wet multi-disc, manual 

SUSPENSION 

Front: Type - 41 mm telescopic fork 

Rear: Type - Offset laydown single-shock with adjustable preload

BRAKES 

Front: Type - Dual semi-floating 300 mm petal discs 

Caliper - Dual twin-piston 

Rear: Type - Single 220 mm petal disc

Caliper - Single-piston 

PERFORMANCE 

Maximum power - 32 kW (43 HP)  / 9,500 rpm 

Maximum torque - 37 N.m (27 lb-ft) / 7,500 rpm 

DIMENSIONS 

Overall length - 2,100 mm 

Overall width - 760 mm 

Overall height - 1,200 mm

Wheelbase - 1,410 mm 

Ground clearance - 145 mm 

Seat height - 790 mm 

Curb mass - 203 kg 

Fuel capacity - 15.5 litres

http://www.passionperformance.ca/motorcycle/articles/8069/