[Lilrandysavage]

instruments look so beautiful. as far as bike width i guess i never cared as I've easily flat footed every bike I've ever been on. 5'11 with long legs and arms. wider feels better to me

 

[Timpo]

I think Kawasaki did the right thing.
Honda does have CBR250RR, while many of you might prefer that, I think the Ninja 400 will beat the CBR250RR around the track simply because of lightweight and more power.

They say the new Ninja 400 is "Street Born, Track Inspired"

The CBR250RR sure is nice, but for thousands of $ more? I don't know...

 

[Kiwi rider]

I think Kawasaki did the right thing.
Honda does have CBR250RR, while many of you might prefer that, I think the Ninja 400 will beat the CBR250RR around the track simply because of lightweight and more power.

The CBR250RR sure is nice, but for thousands of $ more? I don't know...

It's a bit of a mute comparison because the CBR is frustratingly only available in Indonesia (where they are made) and Japan at this point in time. I looked into importing one from Japan but it got expensive and complicated, long story.
But yes, with the HP advantage of the Kwaka you would expect it to be quicker around a track.

Have you seen this colour option? best yet IMO.

 

[Kiwi rider]

Exhaust sound

Spotted this on U tube. The poster seems to be based in Vietnam and the bike does appear to be a new 400 but it's a color scheme I haven't seen before. Any thoughts?

Edit: The poster tells me this clip was shot in Japan and this option is for Japan and Thailand only at this stage

 

[xorbe]

That red scheme is pretty snazzy, and manages to not have a paragraph of text on the side.

 

[kvnwynswll]

Sorry if this is a repost

Kawasaki's USA webpage updated

Ninja 400 non-abs starts at 4999
Ninja 400 abs 5299
Ninja 400 KRT 5499

 

[MAL]

So, how much of a hit do you think one would take to swap a 2017 300 for a 2018 400?

 

[Gables_Ninja]

I'm a bit surprised we didn't end up seeing a 250 to replace the 300, and that the 400 will really be the successor. But in retrospect for the american market it makes perfect sense. Pricing is awesome considering it maintains the 300's price. These will certainly sell, and gives the other manufacturers a run for their money. But to be honest what I most liked about the bike with a yuuuge margin is the LED headlight which (finally!!!) drops the cyclops look. I don't see the bike as a worthwhile upgrade for a perfectly running 300, but it's definitely the bike I'd get as a first bike we're I in the market for one.

 

[Brion B]

Good thing I got such a good deal on my new 2017 Ninja 300 or it would be a slap in the face seeing the pricing on the new Ninja 400.I would not be surprised to see me getting one (Ninja 400) a bit down the road though.I never keep any bike too long.I guess there will always be the next "better bike" to come along.We just need to see what bugs and gremlins need to be worked out of the new Ninja 400's now.

 

[xorbe]

Ninja 400 Eligible for Supersport 300 Class
https://rideapart.com/articles/ninja-400-eligible-supersport-300-class

 

[Kiwi rider]

It's arrived

Bikes started hitting the showrooms on the West Coast States of the US late last week. Should see some English speaking reviews shortly hopefully.

 

[xorbe]

 

[Yoermane]

Thank for sharing this information.
So this means that the crank-hp from the US-Model is 48 hp and from what we can see on another dyno-chart from the 400 is that the torque is measured with 25 ft-lb and this means that the torque is not the claimed 38 Nm @ 8000 rpm, but more likely 33.9 Nm @ 8200 rpm.

 

[Kiwi rider]

What I take from this graph is that I will be going from owning the least powerful bike measured (CBR300R) to the most powerful (ninja 400). Gotta be a good thing! :goodjob:

 

[Topaz]

^^ Oh, you sound like american now, more power is better!!! LOL

Just kidding. It's look like an awesome bike so far.

 

[xorbe]

So in the "light weight dept", now we've got N400 for the type that likes high rev, and Honda 500 / Ninja 650 (both 425 lbs) for the torquey commuter.

CBR300 / GSX250R will be regarded as the ideal beginner's bikes. Also used N300 and used R3.

New RC390 and R3 sales will be murdered by the N400.

 

[Yoermane]

What I take from this graph is that I will be going from owning the least powerful bike measured (CBR300R) to the most powerful (ninja 400). Gotta be a good thing! :goodjob:

I don't want to stop your enthusiasm and optimism about the EX400, but before you become to hilarious I only want to remind you that it's always good to take a look into the technical data.
So please remember what happened to those guys who thought that the EX300 would be able to rev into the top range from the EX250, where the result was just too many broken conrods.
With this in mind it might be a good recommendation with the engine of the 400 not reving it to high and better keep it in more moderate ranges (not above 11000 would be my guess).
It's also important to say, that these bikes are far away from where you can call them high-quality bikes, they are more cheap mass production starter bikes (this can be said with the pricing in US).
Maybe you want to take a look at the mean piston speed to see what I talk about.
The EX250 @ 12500 rpm = 17.17 m/s and @ 14000 = 19.23 m/s.
The EX300 @ 11000 rpm = 17.97 m/s and @ 12000 = 19.60 m/s.
The EX400 @ 10000 rpm = 17.27 m/s and @ 12000 = 20.72 m/s.
The best preparated EX250 race-bike (45.44 hp @ crank) had a rev-limit @ 12750 rpm, just as side-note.

 

[xorbe]

I would like to hope that Kawasaki addressed the persistent low rate of N300 conrod failures with the updated N400 design. iirc cap bolts prone to backing out is the main culprit. There's nothing particularly exotic about the N300 specs, just a straight forward design deficiency, imho.

 

[Topaz]

I had never heard about con rods failing. Any year make? Or any particular lot? At any given mileage?
My 2013 has 8k miles, track and street, many of them very close to the limiter.

When I searched for problems on the N300, I only found a stalling issue on 2013's that was solved with an ECU flash and some people complaining about gaps in fairings.

 

[Yoermane]

On websites from European dealer we can find now the information of the top speed and the claimed fuel-usage of the N400.
Top speed is claimed at 188 km/h (~117 mph) which gives us a engine speed of 11300 rpm and the fuel usage is claimed at 4.1 ltr/100 km which can be transferred to 57 - 58 mpg.