At the beginning of February, 2023, for the very first time, Kawasaki pulled the covers off the all-new ZX-4RR in the American market. Fans of high-revving, screaming, inline four-cylinder, 400cc bikes everywhere rejoiced. Like many OEMs, Kawasaki didn’t officially list a horsepower number for the US release, but peak torque was listed at 26.5 pound-feet at 11,000 rpm. Redline was listed as being over 15,000 rpm. There’s a lot to love about this little bike—and even better, the MSRP came in at under $10K new.
Of course, Kawasaki sells its bikes all over the world, and the ZX-4RR was way too good to not introduce in other markets. Since the cat was already out of the bag about the mere fact that the ZX-4RR exists, though, that meant that Team Green could take a different approach in how it teased its new 400cc supersport in other markets—and that, friends, is why we’re going to talk about a trio of videos that Kawasaki Indonesia used to tease its official launch.
As you may recall, Indonesia is a market that absolutely loves the ZX-25R and ZX-25RR. While we never officially got either bike in the US (sadface), the ZX-25R has been very popular in that market since its introduction in 2020. That’s why, in early March, 2023, Kawasaki Indonesia posted its first ZX-4RR teaser video, asking fans to pop a pair of headphones on and see if they could hear the difference between two high-revving, small-displacement engines.
One week later, Kawasaki Indonesia followed that auditory teaser up with another one that added a little bit of visual interest as well, although it’s also extremely auditory in nature. For this teaser, we’re treated to the unadulterated sound of the ZX-4RR as it screams around a track on a circuit test. The visuals are a dash view as it runs through the revs and we watch the speedometer and gear shift indicators climb higher and higher. It’s only 42 seconds long, but the sound is positively exhilarating.
Last but definitely not least, we have the final video teaser that Kawasaki Indonesia published prior to the product launch, and the title describes it all: Top Speed Dyno Run. It’s yet another dash view, where Kawasaki Indonesia manages to get the little ZX-4RR up to a speed of 253 kilometers per hour in sixth gear on the dyno. That's just over 157 miles per hour, for those of you converting at home. Yes, it’s a dyno, but that’s still pretty impressive, regardless.
On March 27, 2023, Kawasaki Indonesia officially launched the ZX-4RR for that market, and we learned that Team Green’s claimed power figures there are 77ps at 14,500 rpm (or 80ps with ram air pressure). That’s 76 horsepower at 14,500 rpm, or 79 horsepower with ram air pressure. Listed torque is 3.8 kilogram-meters at 12,500 rpm, or about 27.5 pound-feet at 12,500 rpm.
Now, before you get too excited, it’s not at all uncommon for OEMs to tune the same model slightly differently for different markets. As you can see from the conversions, the Indonesian bike has a slightly higher peak torque figure than the U.S. version. Still, though—we went into seeing and hearing all these videos with a certain sense of intrigue about this bike, and all these videos have only heightened it.
