When the IPM team headed down to the San Mateo Motorcycle Show this weekend, we headed down early, expecting a bit of a crowd. Still, the lines for the demo rides stretched into the parking lot by 9:45am. When I say I got the last spot for the Kawasaki ZX-10R, I got the last spot. Far more deserving fans of the Ninja line gave an audible groan as the plasma screen above the sign-in desk registered that the last of the sportbike demo rides was now full.

The Kawasaki guys gave us a quick run-down on the kinds of behavior that’d get us kicked off the ride – wheelies, endos, etc. – and then took us over to get acquainted with our machines. ZX-6Rs, ZX-10Rs and ZX-14s stood there in a neat line; only the big “demo ride” windshield sticker and the copies of our drivers licenses back at the booth stood between us and Arizona. Pushing away any thought of making a break for it on my ebony ZX-10R, I began a quick run-through of the bike’s controls. Clip-on handles with plenty of room, an Ohlin’s steering damper up top, a nicely visble HUD that was nonetheless a bit hard to read, hidden as it was up in the front end.

Despite being 386 lbs (dry) and fairly compact, the ZX-10R is not the kind of machine you automatically gel with. All I could think was, How far am I going to need to lean over in order to turn the damn thing?

As it turns out, not very far. In the initial low speeds of our test drive (leading up to a 90mph takeoff up a nearby on-ramp) she handled absolutely agreeably. Smooth clutch, a beautiful purr thrumming forth from the altogeter-too-silenced exhaust, very responsive all around.

It was when we hit that on-ramp five minutes later, when the machine subtly launched me up to speed so effortlessly, that I realized the allure of this overgrown, 998cc Ninja. This is the sort of motorcycle that’ll shove your stomach into your spine and your face through the back of that tractor-trailer, 500 yards up, before you can say “Holy Tokico brake calipers!” The ZX-10R accelerates beautifully.

Her powerband is fat and happy, too, owing to the bike’s quartet of top-end-optimized cylinder heads. She’s also set up to give the rider a plenty of feedback, with lots of contact areas to help you corner with precision. I’m not a huge fan of the Ninja’s styling (“uninspired” is a nice way of putting it), but for an easy $12,000 MSRP, who cares? Your friends will only see a blur (an ebony, lime green, or candy burnt orange blur). If you could open the exhaust up a bit, they might even hear you, too.

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