{"id":616632,"date":"2026-09-30T18:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/616632\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T18:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:56:15","slug":"kawasaki-add-upside-forks-and-radial-brakes-to-ninja-650","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/616632\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawasaki add upside forks and radial brakes to Ninja 650"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t\tPrevious Slide\u25c0<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tNext Slide\u25b6\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t1 of 9\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorcyclenews.com\/kawasaki\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kawasaki<\/a> have updated their long-standing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorcyclenews.com\/bike-reviews\/kawasaki\/ninja-650\/2020\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ninja 650<\/a> soft <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorcyclenews.com\/advice\/best\/sportsbikes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sportsbike<\/a> for 2027, adding upside down front forks for the first time, plus uprated brakes, and a redesigned colour TFT dash.<\/p>\n<p>Although retaining its signature road-biased upright riding position, the previous 41mm telescopic forks have now been replaced by 37mm Showa separate function big-piston alternatives \u2013 remaining non-adjustable and providing the same 125mm of travel as before.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kawasaki a larger piston now reduces damping pressure for a claimed greater stability on corner entry \u2013 plus a more planted feel under braking.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2027-kawasaki-ninja-650-2.jpg\" alt=\"2027 Kawasaki Ninja 650 ridden near woodland\" class=\"wp-image-440528\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The rear shock spring rate has also been uprated to work with the new front end, with the brand claiming the bike remains rider-friendly and natural in feel \u2013 rather than stiff and focussed like a more traditional supersport machine.<\/p>\n<p>Away from the springs, braking has been upgraded too. The previous axial-mounted front calipers have been swapped for radial-mounted items \u2013 growing from two-pistons to four in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Sitting alongside this is a redesigned front mudguard, which is now wider at the sides and longer at the base to cover more of the fork tubes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2027-kawasaki-ninja-650-8.jpg\" alt=\"2027 Kawasaki Ninja 650 cornering right\" class=\"wp-image-440534\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Tucked away behind the front fairing is a new 4.3in TFT colour instrument display with smartphone connectivity via the Kawasaki Rideology App, which now includes navigation and voice command functions.<\/p>\n<p>The bike continues with its rumbling 649cc parallel-twin engine, housed in a trellis chassis \u2013 with a 785mm seat height and a claimed wet weight of 194kg with 90% of its 15-litre fuel tank filled.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a modest 67bhp at 8000rpm, and 47.2lb.ft of torque at 6700rpm, you\u2019ll also find traction control and two rider-selectable modes. A quickshifter is available as an accessory.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"999\" height=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2027-kawasaki-ninja-650-4.jpg\" alt=\"2027 Kawasaki Ninja 650 cornering\" class=\"wp-image-440530\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The 2027 Ninja 650 will be available from December, priced at the same \u00a37499 as the outgoing 2026 model.<\/p>\n<p>The MCN take <\/p>\n<p>Although a relatively minor change compared to some others we\u2019ve seen in the soft sportsbike class in recent years, this is the biggest update to the Ninja 650 for quite some time. Whether it\u2019s enough to snatch sales from the likes of the more premium <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorcyclenews.com\/bike-reviews\/yamaha\/r7\/2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Yamaha R7<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorcyclenews.com\/bike-reviews\/aprilia\/rs660\/2020\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aprilia RS660<\/a> remains to be seen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Previous Slide\u25c0 Next Slide\u25b6 1 of 9 Kawasaki have updated their long-standing Ninja 650 soft sportsbike for 2027,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-616632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}