2018 Kawasaki Ninja 400 review: Tantalisingly sporty, refreshingly comfortable

Kawasaki has always been the go-to brand for sports bike enthusiasts, first with the Ninja 250 and then with the Ninja 300. Now Kawasaki has given us the 400 and it promises to be a brilliant bike.

Visuals

The 400 definitely has the looks going for it. It's not lean and flowy, but that was never Kawasaki's style. Up close, the design language seems to trickle down from its bigger siblings with a front end that resembles the H2 and a tail section that is very similar to the ZX-10R.  In India, the bike gets just the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) edition paint scheme and we aren't complaining about that.

The build quality is fantastic and that comes as no surprise. The semi-digital instrument cluster has a negative LCD panel which feels nice and premium, but it’s the analogue tachometer that holds pride of place here. The switchgear showed no signs of clunkiness either.

Performance

The Kawasaki is nothing like the docile little 300. The 399cc engine may not be as refined as the Ninja 300, but vibrations are minimal. Roll the throttle however, and all of the 49 horses and 38 Nm of torque come out to play. Plenty of low-end grunt and smooth power delivery is much better than the Ninja 300's rev hungry nature.

Powering through the gears is also really easy as the gearbox operates beautifully thanks to the slip-and-assist clutch and a really light clutch lever. In fact pulling out of 40 km/h even on the 6th gear comes naturally with no hesitation from the engine whatsoever.

Cruise at 100 km/h with the needle hovering at around the 6,000 rpm mark on 6th gear. But to be fair, north of 5,000 rpm is where things get really interesting for the Ninja. Our speedometer saw a high of 170 and there was still some steam under the hood. Considering all of this, the 400 has astounding fuel economy with about 25 km to the litre in the city and 30 km to the litre on the highway.

All of that power will need good stopping capabilities and the Ninja doesn't disappoint there either. Brakes feel good with good initial bite and a decent amount of feedback through the lever. The ABS seemed a little odd though coming in too early sometimes and sometimes too late.

Ergonomics and ride quality

The ergonomics aren't as committed as the looks of the bike would suggest. Sure, the footpegs are set fairly far back and high up, but the handle bar too is higher up and much closer to the rider. This allows for a sitting position that is not too committed making it easy for city travel, but not too upright when you want to carve up a mountainside or attack corners at the track. With a seat height of just 785 mm, the bike fits even shorter riders. For the taller riders however, it can get a little cramped, especially in a full-tuck position.

Ride quality is uncompromised. The new tubular steel trellis frame is lighter than the 300's diamond type chassis and this means a light, flickable machine. Suspension is not too stiff, but undulations on the road while cornering do not seem to faze the bike much. Dunlop Sportmax tyres offer superb grip and all of this translates into a wonderful track bike.

Conclusion

The Kawasaki Ninja 400 is a wonderful bike, both for a leisurely cruise on the highway as well as burning through track-day. The pricing however, is a disappointment. At Rs 4.69 lakh, ex-showroom, the Ninja 400 is a whole 1.7 lakh more expensive that the Ninja 300. This is a shame considering most international markets have replaced the 300 with the 400 at a very slight premium.

Kawasaki needs to figure out a way to drop these prices because the Ninja 400 is an impressive machine that can be recommended to anyone wanting to upgrade from the 150-200cc segment.