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Okay so i was invited to a ninja 400 demo day here in western Australia, the bike goes on sale on the 19th of February but you're allowed to test before release so that's what I did, first of all you should know I have a ninja 300 that I have been riding for almost 2 years, and due to selling my car back in july 2017 all I do for transport is ride.I usually ride around 30-40 minutes a day and have stacked up 20k on the clock. I also went to the demo day with a close friend who owns a yamaha r3 which I also ride a lot and we did the test ride together, I have some footage from the test ride but my camera died about 3 minutes into it and we rode a decent 60 minutes on our own all around the city, highway and twistie roads ect. Okay so here's how everything went down,
As soon as I arrived at the kawasaki dealership I saw the 400's lined up at the front of the store, it was around 7:30pm so there was a solid 30 minutes left of sun light which is perfect because we left while the sun was up and returned at night, first thing I noticed is the quality of the ninja 400, It looks much better in person, the material on the black one is not as silver flaky as shown in photos which is a small turn off for me :/ but in its defence the plastic feels very high end along with everything and just the way it is put together feels very well built. the bikes look very clean and 2018 looking. after doing some paper work me and my buddy where given the key and off we went while we still had sun light, we both rode the black 400 as we chose them ourselves "I dont like the other colors, I like black because it fits my soul
" There was also one more fella who asked to tag along with us for the ride which we politely allowed and he rode the krt green edition. as soon as I got on the bike I noticed how bad the clutch levers are, Either I forgot how far the stock levers are out from the grip when I first got my ninja 300 or the ninja 400 levers are just way worse? Im thinking I have just forgotten since im most likely just used to the shorty levers on my and my friends 300/r3 But man oh man these ninja 400 levers are almost 3x as far distanced from the grips than my and my friends shorty lever "taking note I do have little hands :/"
The sitting position was actually really comfortable and only got better as we started moving, It's more upright but the way the tank and handle bars work together allow it to go from "Mmm nice relaxing ride" to "here we go, get down and move forward" I saw a few reviews where people where all saying how the handle bars are higher but what i noticed is they where on a much closer angle towards the rider compared to the 300, as in the bars where bent closer towards the fuel tank and I really loved that. as we moved I wasn't feeling it at all, felt way to mellow and quiet, I was getting nervous thinking the ninja 400 was not as powerful as I hoped for, but..I was dead wrong, I have gotten so used to riding the 300 and R3 that when I looked down I saw I was in 5th gear going 40mph/60kph which is perfect on the 300 while on the 400 its way WAY to high of a gear, it was at 2-3k rpm and almost stalling, once i dropped into 3rd gear it was nice and powerful.. a lot more than I imaged but it was a very smooth power. it felt almost electric but comfortable at the same time but gave you small hints that there was more to this engine then you think.
the more I rode it the better and better it felt, I was nervous at first but the more I rode it the more I felt like this bike couldn't betray me, the next major and weird thing was the turn at the stop lights, I went to do a very tight turn and it almost felt like the bike was falling... but it wasn't, it was putting itself into a deep dive into the corner, It was beautiful, it cornered like it was impossible to fall off, I felt no fear at all doing very tight turns, the tires where amazing, a lot better than what I was expecting, the next thing that I really loved that people don't talk about are the dual led headlights, man they do the job very well and look very high quality as I could see my friend in the rear view from a far distance and it just looked like a big ass expensive bike in the rear view "sorta like the led headlamped version of the panigale" it lit up the road in front of me a lot better than my 300 and was alot more even in spreading the light around.
okay so after 10 minutes of riding around we hit the highway and thats where this thing shined, since we where alone "no one supervising" we let this thing unleash, and man oh man it can kick, first of all it feels for its weight like a cruiser on the highway, it was so stable and smooth I really loved it, the windscreen is 10x better in terms of wind reduction compared to the ninja 300 and r3 and thank the lord that I was on the highway.. in 3rd and 4th gear... in the lower rpms "amazing right" in 4th and around 3-4k rpm in 3rd it was around 5-6k rpm which is a lot better than the ninja 300s 6th gear 7k rpm. also on the high way when wanting to pass someone this thing accelerates like a beast even at the higher speeds and gears, in fact I was going around 70mph in 4th on the highway, than to pass a truck in front I dropped to 3rd not thinking much and when i went to accelerate it through me back a little and i loved that.
now the brakes, WOW. I have the ninja 300 without abs so I like to slide a little at the lights when coming to a stop, but this thing...the breaks are a instant stop but a very nice confidence inspiring instant stop, on the 300 when I hit the front brake it throws u forward a bit which is very uncomfortable while this thing has none of that, the brakes are very confident inspiring, I felt like i could come to a complete stop at any second without the fear of sliding or throwing myself over the handle bars. also I saw a few people on reviews say the breaks are "spongy" not at all, in fact I have ridden the 300,r3, fz07, honda cbr 600rr, ninja 250 and a 07 honda 600cbr and this thing had the best breaks feed back out of all of those, I loved the breaks.
when we finished up on the highway we went home through the twisties/zigzag rode, man this thing was quality, I have never felt more safe and more like I could do what ever I wanted on a bike, I was leaning like I have owned this bike for years its that confidence inspiring,I was at the point of knee scrapping and felt I had more room to go "was wearing shorts so didnt really want to push it" then I looked down at the dash and realised i was going over 60mph on very tight rodes leaning this thing likes its made of air, it was such a confidence builder, once again really surprised with the stock tires.
so after 1 hour of riding what I found out is that this has more than enough power than ever needed, if you're not planing to go over 120mph this thing is perfect, it gives you power very smoothly like its a inline 4, tho when u turn that throttle to max its will remind you that its a ninja, it feels bigger than it is, even tho its 103cc more then the 300, it feel like a 600cc bike in a small package with a very well balanced power band. I didnt feel sore from riding at all, a lot better than the 300, the brakes blew me away I really loved them, the engine breaking was very smooth "again felt like a inline 4" the tires are awesome, the bike felt very balanced I couldn't fall off the bike if I tried, the first turn was a little scary on how much the bike just wanted to dive into the turn as if it had a mind of its own but I trusted it and it repaid me with a smile, the power is very nice for commuting, you look and realise you have so much room, going over 70mph in 3rd gear is great, but so smooth at the same time, then a quick flick of the rist and the things turns into a lion thats about to pounce on its pray, its very satisfying. all in all the video's do no justice, the bike looks much better in person, it feels like a completely different machine when compared to all the other 250/300's and even the honda 500, you can really feel that the bike is built from ground up and it really feels like a 2018 game changing bike, only thing I hated was the clutch and brake levers other than that its the best bike I have ever ridden and I have as soon as getting of it walked in and purchased it pick up is on the 24th and I cannot wait to take this thing for a long drive around the beach
engine 10/10
brakes 9/10
clutch 7/10 "very light to pull in but the distance in pull in with stock levers is wayyyy to far but easy fix"
tires 9/10 "million times better than the 300's stock tires"
design 9/10 "feels like a much higher quality bike compared to the 300 and r3"
comfort 9/10 "felt like a cruiser though the way the bars and seat and tank are positioned it also felt more sporty when compared to the 300 which is a weird and hard to explain but its a very satisfying feeling, definitely more comfortable"
all in all great great bike, good beginner bike, I thought how the **** can this much power be good for begginers? But I now see how its done, kawasaki have been very smart, The power Band is like this 2-3k rpm is mellow but still slightly more than the ninja 300 but not by much, 4-6k rmp you can get a taste that it has much more to it than you think while being smooth and making the ninja 300 and r3 look like kids toys, then 7-10k rpm is a kick to your ass, doing the gearing and power band this way is excellent and I wouldnt have it any other way though I have lost my license before due to speed and seen friends die due to speed I will get this thing knowing I can ride and relax at smaller RPM while still at a nice high "not illegal" speed and yet have the power to jump and move when needed, Team green has hit the nail on the head and its the best bike I Have ever rode on
final verdict : Makes everything else including its preDecessor "the ninja 300" look like it belongs in a museum, Well done Kawasaki, You have removed all excuses from the other big bike names that you cant make a quality bike for a low price tag
As soon as I arrived at the kawasaki dealership I saw the 400's lined up at the front of the store, it was around 7:30pm so there was a solid 30 minutes left of sun light which is perfect because we left while the sun was up and returned at night, first thing I noticed is the quality of the ninja 400, It looks much better in person, the material on the black one is not as silver flaky as shown in photos which is a small turn off for me :/ but in its defence the plastic feels very high end along with everything and just the way it is put together feels very well built. the bikes look very clean and 2018 looking. after doing some paper work me and my buddy where given the key and off we went while we still had sun light, we both rode the black 400 as we chose them ourselves "I dont like the other colors, I like black because it fits my soul
" There was also one more fella who asked to tag along with us for the ride which we politely allowed and he rode the krt green edition. as soon as I got on the bike I noticed how bad the clutch levers are, Either I forgot how far the stock levers are out from the grip when I first got my ninja 300 or the ninja 400 levers are just way worse? Im thinking I have just forgotten since im most likely just used to the shorty levers on my and my friends 300/r3 But man oh man these ninja 400 levers are almost 3x as far distanced from the grips than my and my friends shorty lever "taking note I do have little hands :/"The sitting position was actually really comfortable and only got better as we started moving, It's more upright but the way the tank and handle bars work together allow it to go from "Mmm nice relaxing ride" to "here we go, get down and move forward" I saw a few reviews where people where all saying how the handle bars are higher but what i noticed is they where on a much closer angle towards the rider compared to the 300, as in the bars where bent closer towards the fuel tank and I really loved that. as we moved I wasn't feeling it at all, felt way to mellow and quiet, I was getting nervous thinking the ninja 400 was not as powerful as I hoped for, but..I was dead wrong, I have gotten so used to riding the 300 and R3 that when I looked down I saw I was in 5th gear going 40mph/60kph which is perfect on the 300 while on the 400 its way WAY to high of a gear, it was at 2-3k rpm and almost stalling, once i dropped into 3rd gear it was nice and powerful.. a lot more than I imaged but it was a very smooth power. it felt almost electric but comfortable at the same time but gave you small hints that there was more to this engine then you think.
the more I rode it the better and better it felt, I was nervous at first but the more I rode it the more I felt like this bike couldn't betray me, the next major and weird thing was the turn at the stop lights, I went to do a very tight turn and it almost felt like the bike was falling... but it wasn't, it was putting itself into a deep dive into the corner, It was beautiful, it cornered like it was impossible to fall off, I felt no fear at all doing very tight turns, the tires where amazing, a lot better than what I was expecting, the next thing that I really loved that people don't talk about are the dual led headlights, man they do the job very well and look very high quality as I could see my friend in the rear view from a far distance and it just looked like a big ass expensive bike in the rear view "sorta like the led headlamped version of the panigale" it lit up the road in front of me a lot better than my 300 and was alot more even in spreading the light around.
okay so after 10 minutes of riding around we hit the highway and thats where this thing shined, since we where alone "no one supervising" we let this thing unleash, and man oh man it can kick, first of all it feels for its weight like a cruiser on the highway, it was so stable and smooth I really loved it, the windscreen is 10x better in terms of wind reduction compared to the ninja 300 and r3 and thank the lord that I was on the highway.. in 3rd and 4th gear... in the lower rpms "amazing right" in 4th and around 3-4k rpm in 3rd it was around 5-6k rpm which is a lot better than the ninja 300s 6th gear 7k rpm. also on the high way when wanting to pass someone this thing accelerates like a beast even at the higher speeds and gears, in fact I was going around 70mph in 4th on the highway, than to pass a truck in front I dropped to 3rd not thinking much and when i went to accelerate it through me back a little and i loved that.
now the brakes, WOW. I have the ninja 300 without abs so I like to slide a little at the lights when coming to a stop, but this thing...the breaks are a instant stop but a very nice confidence inspiring instant stop, on the 300 when I hit the front brake it throws u forward a bit which is very uncomfortable while this thing has none of that, the brakes are very confident inspiring, I felt like i could come to a complete stop at any second without the fear of sliding or throwing myself over the handle bars. also I saw a few people on reviews say the breaks are "spongy" not at all, in fact I have ridden the 300,r3, fz07, honda cbr 600rr, ninja 250 and a 07 honda 600cbr and this thing had the best breaks feed back out of all of those, I loved the breaks.
when we finished up on the highway we went home through the twisties/zigzag rode, man this thing was quality, I have never felt more safe and more like I could do what ever I wanted on a bike, I was leaning like I have owned this bike for years its that confidence inspiring,I was at the point of knee scrapping and felt I had more room to go "was wearing shorts so didnt really want to push it" then I looked down at the dash and realised i was going over 60mph on very tight rodes leaning this thing likes its made of air, it was such a confidence builder, once again really surprised with the stock tires.
so after 1 hour of riding what I found out is that this has more than enough power than ever needed, if you're not planing to go over 120mph this thing is perfect, it gives you power very smoothly like its a inline 4, tho when u turn that throttle to max its will remind you that its a ninja, it feels bigger than it is, even tho its 103cc more then the 300, it feel like a 600cc bike in a small package with a very well balanced power band. I didnt feel sore from riding at all, a lot better than the 300, the brakes blew me away I really loved them, the engine breaking was very smooth "again felt like a inline 4" the tires are awesome, the bike felt very balanced I couldn't fall off the bike if I tried, the first turn was a little scary on how much the bike just wanted to dive into the turn as if it had a mind of its own but I trusted it and it repaid me with a smile, the power is very nice for commuting, you look and realise you have so much room, going over 70mph in 3rd gear is great, but so smooth at the same time, then a quick flick of the rist and the things turns into a lion thats about to pounce on its pray, its very satisfying. all in all the video's do no justice, the bike looks much better in person, it feels like a completely different machine when compared to all the other 250/300's and even the honda 500, you can really feel that the bike is built from ground up and it really feels like a 2018 game changing bike, only thing I hated was the clutch and brake levers other than that its the best bike I have ever ridden and I have as soon as getting of it walked in and purchased it
pick up is on the 24th and I cannot wait to take this thing for a long drive around the beach engine 10/10
brakes 9/10
clutch 7/10 "very light to pull in but the distance in pull in with stock levers is wayyyy to far but easy fix"
tires 9/10 "million times better than the 300's stock tires"
design 9/10 "feels like a much higher quality bike compared to the 300 and r3"
comfort 9/10 "felt like a cruiser though the way the bars and seat and tank are positioned it also felt more sporty when compared to the 300 which is a weird and hard to explain but its a very satisfying feeling, definitely more comfortable"
all in all great great bike, good beginner bike, I thought how the **** can this much power be good for begginers? But I now see how its done, kawasaki have been very smart, The power Band is like this 2-3k rpm is mellow but still slightly more than the ninja 300 but not by much, 4-6k rmp you can get a taste that it has much more to it than you think while being smooth and making the ninja 300 and r3 look like kids toys, then 7-10k rpm is a kick to your ass, doing the gearing and power band this way is excellent and I wouldnt have it any other way though I have lost my license before due to speed and seen friends die due to speed I will get this thing knowing I can ride and relax at smaller RPM while still at a nice high "not illegal" speed and yet have the power to jump and move when needed, Team green has hit the nail on the head and its the best bike I Have ever rode on
final verdict : Makes everything else including its preDecessor "the ninja 300" look like it belongs in a museum, Well done Kawasaki, You have removed all excuses from the other big bike names that you cant make a quality bike for a low price tag
