The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R is a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

in the

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

sport bike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

series made by Kawasaki from 2000 through 2006. The

inline-four engine A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the ...

produced at low speed, and increased to at high speed due to its

ram-air intake A ram-air intake is any intake design which uses the dynamic air pressure created by vehicle motion, or ram pressure, to increase the static air pressure inside of the intake manifold on an internal combustion engine, thus allowing a greater massf ...

, making it the most powerful production motorcycle up to 2006 and the release of the ZX-14. It was a contender to be the fastest production motorcycle, and played a role in bringing to a truce the escalating competition to build an ever-faster motorcycle. Its top speed was electronically limited to , tying it with the

Suzuki Hayabusa The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa is a sports motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's List of fastest production motorcycles, fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of . In 1999, fears of a European re ...

and

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 The ZZR1400 or Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 and ZX-14R (2006–2022), is a motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki that was their most powerful sport bike as of 2006.

as the

fastest production motorcycle The fastest production motorcycle for a given year is the unmodified motorcycle with the highest tested top speed that was manufactured in series and available for purchase by the general public. Modified or specially produced motorcycles are a dif ...

on the market, after the 1999 Hayabusa was replaced with a speed-limited version as part of a gentlemen's agreement between motorcycle manufacturers that lasted until the 2007 MV Agusta F4 R 312.

Model designation

Usually 1,200 cc Kawasaki sportbike was called ZZ-R1200 in some markets and ZX-12R in others, but the ZX-12R only went by one name. The 2002–2005

Kawasaki ZZ-R1200 The ZZ-R1200 or ZX-12C, is a sport bike made by Kawasaki from (2002-2005). Identified by its model number ZX1200-C1, it is the successor to the ZX-11(1990-2001). Considered a sport tourer, it had a twin-spar aluminum frame and a liquid-cooled, ...

touring motorcycle did use this scheme, going by either ZZ-R1200 or ZX-12C. The ZX-12R's R designation followed the race-replica

Kawasaki ZX-6R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R is a ''636 cc'' class motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki. It was introduced in 1995, and has been constantly updated throughout the years in response to new products ...

, ZX-7R, ZX-9R,

ZX-10R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R is a motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, the successor to the Ninja ZX-9R. It was originally released in 2004 and has been updated and revised throughout the years. It co ...

Top speed limited by agreement

Apart from the first year of production ZX-12R, the 2000 model year was unrestricted, 2001 onwards its top speed was restricted by a motorcycle manufacturer gentlemen's agreement that was started in late 1999. This was due to a voluntary

gentlemen's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

that included

BMW Motorrad BMW Motorrad is the motorcycle brand of BMW, part of its Corporate and Brand Development division. It has produced motorcycles since 1923, and achieved record sales for the fifth year in succession in 2015. With a total of 136,963 vehicles sold i ...

and the Japanese manufacturers, amid fears of government regulation of motorcycle speeds mainly in Europe. Prior to the agreement, with rumors of going 200-mph Kawasaki had planned a world press event to launch their answer to Suzuki's Hayabusa, but the event was abruptly cancelled, and instead the ZX-12R with a revised

engine control unit An engine control unit (ECU), also commonly called an engine control module (ECM), is a type of electronic control unit that controls a series of actuators on an internal combustion engine to ensure optimal engine performance. It does this by re ...

that limited speed to about 300 km/h was released with no fanfare or comment by Kawasaki.

Performance

At its introduction the ZX-12R was Kawasaki's flagship sport bike and a competitor to the

. Its handling and

braking A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

matched the power of the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

resulting in a motorcycle that was docile at low speeds and very easy to handle in heavy traffic, but had strong acceleration. The

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

engine generated at the rear wheel. ''

Cycle World ''Cycle World'' is a motorcycling magazine in the United States. It was founded in 1962 by Joe Parkhurst, who was inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame as "the person responsible for bringing a new era of objective journalism" to the US. ''Cyc ...

'' tested the ZX-12R's acceleration at 2.59 seconds. They found an electronically-limited top speed of , a braking distance of , and fuel economy of . They tested the time at 10.04 seconds, reaching . The 1/4 mile result ''

Motorcyclist Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-engine displacement, displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in ...

'' reported was 9.87 seconds at , and ''Sport Rider'' found 9.95 seconds at .

Monocoque aluminum frame

While most sport bikes use an aluminum perimeter frame, the ZX-12R uses a unique

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

aluminum frame. Described by ''

'' in 2000 as a "monocoque backbone...a single large diameter beam" and "Fabricated from a combination of castings and sheet-metal stampings", this was the first use of this type of frame on a mass-produced production motorcycle. This design surpasses the level of chassis strength and stiffness associated with conventional aluminum perimeter frames. Its intention was also to make the bike narrower, and there by more aerodynamic. The design saves space by housing the battery and incorporating an efficient airbox and a cartridge-type air filter that slides into the frame. It was fuel-injected with four Mikuni 46 mm throttle bodies and was Kawasaki's first fuel-injected sport bike since the 1981–1985 GPZ1100.

Model history

The 2002 model was updated with 140 changes. While some of those changes made the bike easier to launch- such as a heavier crankshaft, a reshaped flywheel, and fuel mapping changes- it had less than the 2000 and 2001 models' . It had a revised suspension with stiffer front fork springs and a softer rear shock spring. The front fender had cosmetic changes, and panels were added to the inner fairing below the instruments and bars. The centrally-located ram-air intake scoop protruding from the fairing that takes advantage of the higher front air pressure was revised. This intake is integrated into a wider and shorter front cowling from

Kawasaki Aerospace Company is the Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). It produces aircraft, spacecraft systems, space systems, Flight simulator, simulators, jet engines, missiles, and electronic equipment. During the 1930s and 1 ...

division, lowering the drag coefficient by one point from 33 to 32. The last update was in 2004, with the addition of radial brakes and more fuel injection changes. The ZX-12R was discontinued in 2006, and was followed by the 2006 ZX-14 (ZZR1400) which had a similar monocoque frame.

References