How Much Horsepower Does The Kawasaki ZX-4R Have & How Fast Can It Go?

Kawasaki has long been revered as one of the world's best manufacturers of high-performance motorcycles. Since the mid-1980s, bikes bearing the Ninja emblem have pretty much been the crown jewel of Kawasaki's lineup. In fact, the Ninja is one of the most famous motorcycles ever made, with a Hollywood close-up for the GPZ 900 R Ninja in the 1985 classic "Top Gun." 

Celebrity status aside, not every Ninja is the same, with Kawasaki manufacturing single-cylinder, two-cylinder, and four-cylinder models of the bestseller over the years. Making its debut in 2023, the four-cylinder Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R is touted as a middle-of-the-road offering in both price and power, meaning it's far from the speediest in the vaunted Ninja lineup. But that doesn't mean the ZX-4R and its variants — including the SlashGear-approved ZX-4RR — aren't packing a little punch on the power front. 

While Kawasaki generally does not publish the top speed of its bikes, some reviews claim the ZX-4R is capable of hitting 130 mph in the right conditions. That may not be enough to take a checkered flag on race day, but it makes the ZX-4R suitable for low-key speed seekers while remaining approachable for newer sport-bike riders. 

To be clear, the reviewer who noted that the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R could hit 130 mph didn't actually touch that speed — he topped out at 120 mph on a 600-meter straightaway. Our ZX-4RR reviewer didn't claim a specific top speed, but noted that he pushed the bike past 100 mph on the straights with relative ease. 

So the ZX-4R's top speed numbers aren't entirely eye-popping, particularly in the context of those achievable in some higher-end Ninjas. But they're still nothing to sniff at for a relatively small bike, powered by a robust 399-cc inline four-cylinder dual overhead camshaft engine that revs up around 16,000 rpm. Kawasaki says the bike delivers 56 horsepower at 11,500 rpm, with torque at 26.5 pound-feet at 11,000 rpm.

Those numbers seem a little modest, with our reviewer noting the bike's output closer to 79 hp with 29 lb-ft of torque when revved to 13,000 rpm. Apart from the obvious rpm disparity, the rather dramatic difference in horsepower may be explainable by the presence of an available ram air intake system. It is, however, also not uncommon for bikes sold in the U.S. to boast less power output than those sold in Europe and Asia. But even with the potential downtick in power output, the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-4R should still provide a suitably punchy ride.     

[Featured image by via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]