Kawasaki’s moment of magic continues, having returned to glory on the track and on the streets. In the Superbike World Championship, the Akashi-based manufacturer took the highest place on the podium 18 out of 24 races, confirming itself as the leading World Superbike Manufacturer in history. Credit also goes to the Brembo braking systems that equip the two Kawasaki ZX 10-R bikes in the hands of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes.
The collaboration between Kawasaki and Brembo has produced excellent results for the production series as well. The incredibly powerful Ninja H2R and its sibling H2 use a M50 caliper that was tested on the track and a powerful 16/21 radial master cylinder with a brake lever designed specifically for this machine.
At the rear, stopping is provided by a fixed caliper with twin 32mm diameter pistons, a 15/19 radial master cylinder and a 28mm diameter, gravity die cast clutch slave cylinder body which is painted in black. The brake pads, on the other hand, are made with a new sintered material, BRM 11G, that was developed in collaboration with Kawasaki.
The new Kawasaki ZX-10R, which is also equipped with Brembo brakes, had its world preview a few days ago in Barcelona. Besides the aesthetic developments, like a more aerodynamic windshield and a wider tail section, it represents a step forward on the technical side. The new four-cylinder engine with Euro 4 compliance ensures better acceleration coming out of a curve and more power at lower RPM ranges.
To hold off the 200-hp, the new ZX-10R opts for Italian brakes with Brembo M50 monobloc calipers, Brembo 330mm brake discs and the Brembo radial master cylinder with high precision tolerances. A small but significant evolution is the BRM11H compound for the brake pads, which were co-developed expressly by Brembo and Kawasaki to equip the ZX-10R.
The Kawasaki ZZR 1400 Performance Sport 300 km/h sport-tourer also received an upgrade that will be shown at EICMA: the engine is now Euro 4-compliant and was made without compromising power or torque. The mono shock is also a novelty, as well as the discharge system, but most importantly this machine uses Brembo M50 monobloc calipers combined with a Brembo radial master cylinder and 310mm brake discs.
The Brembo M50 caliper, which outfits the best sport bikes in the world, was designed and built with particular attention to the hydraulics and the shape of the caliper body, both objects of detailed technical development work. The caliper contains four 30mm pistons and derives from a typical racing design. The careful detail work conducted on the compact body guarantees excellence in the characteristics of power and the highly modular design, which are typical of Brembo calipers.
These calipers are a result of sophisticated calculation programmes of topology optimization, which removed useless material from the caliper area through iterative procedures. This allowed them to get as near as possible to an ideal structure, combining the highest level of rigidity with exceptional lightweightness.
Kawasaki and Brembo: when green is perfectly matched with red.
