The ZZ-R1100 or ZX-11 is a

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 ...

in Kawasaki's Ninja series made from 1990 to 2001, as the successor to the 1988–1990 Tomcat ZX-10. With a top speed of , it was 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 ...

from its introduction until 1996, surpassed by the

Honda CBR1100XX The Honda CBR1100XX Super Blackbird is a Honda motorcycle, part of the CBR series made from 1996 to 2007. The bike was developed to challenge the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 as the world's fastest production motorcycle, and Honda succeeded with a top sp ...

. It was marketed as the ZX-11 Ninja in North America and the ZZ-R1100 in the rest of the world. The C-model ran from 1990 to 1993 while the D-model ran from 1993 to 2001, when it was replaced by the ZZ-R1200 (ZX-12C) 2002-2005

Competition for fastest production motorcycle

With a record top speed of the ZX-11 was the fastest production motorcycle for six years, from its introduction in 1990 through 1995, when it was surpassed by the 1996

. When the bike was introduced in 1990, the nearest production bike top speed was slower and it belonged to the ZX-10, the bike that Kawasaki was replacing with the ZX-11. The ZX-11 also had a ram air induction system. The 1990 ZX-11 C1 model got a

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 ...

, the very first on any production motorcycle. The 1997 ZX-11's quarter mile time was 10.43 seconds at . In 2000 the

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R is a motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series made by Kawasaki from 2000 through 2006. The inline-four engine produced at low speed, and increased to at high speed due to its ram-air intake, making it the most powerf ...

was introduced. The ZX-12R was designed to be more of a pure sportbike. It was much anticipated since the Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa held the title for fastest production bike when it was introduced in 1999. European governments threatened to ban high speed motorcycles, leading Kawasaki to de-tune the ZX-12R prior to its release. Starting at the very end of 1999, a

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 ...

between larger European and Japanese manufacturers has limited production motorcycle top speeds to , In 2002 the

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, ...

was released, which is a sport tourer and more akin to the ZX-11.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawasaki Ninja Zx-11 Ninja ZX-11 Sport bikes Sport touring motorcycles Motorcycles introduced in 1990

Competition for fastest production motorcycle

See also

Notes