2011 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R – Faster and Faster
As would be evident from a lot of posts here on Faster and Faster, we quite love Kawasaki – especially some of their older machines. 
Of the more recent lot, we loved the 2004 ZX-10R, which was raw and raucous and hugely exciting. But from 2006 onwards, the big Ninja seemed to have lost the plot.
After four straight years of getting thrashed in the litre-class superbike segment, Kawasaki have finally decided to do something about it. Enter the 2011 Ninja ZX-10R, which isn’t afraid of machines like the BMW S1000RR or the Aprilia RSV4 Factory. With ram-air assistance, the new ZX-10R’s heavily revised inline-four produces a mighty 207 horsepower (and a still respectable 197bhp without ram-air…!), and since the bike weighs in at 198kg those numbers make a very impressive power-to-weight ratio.
Apart from the 207bhp engine, the 2011 ZX-10R gets an all-new aluminium beam chassis, Showa Big Piston USD forks, horizontally mounted rear shock, Ohlins steering damper, slipper clutch, radial-mount calipers for the front brakes, adjustable foot pegs and wild, manga comic book styling.
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2011 KTM 1190 RC8R Track First Look – Ready to Race
KTM is bringing a track-specific RC8 sportbike to market in 2011 with the intent of bolstering the Austrian firm’s presence on closed circuits. 
Our testers found that the 2010 RC8R model was well worth the extra money during our 2010 Superbike Smackdown VII Track testing. However, even that bike was still a street machine, but the ’11 RC8R Track cuts right to the chase. Based on the RC8R that finished sixth in our shootout last year, this new full-fairing racer comes without any of the street hardware such as headlights, blinkers, mirrors, plate holder and DOT tires – lessening the amount of effort that riders will have to invest in converting a standard KTM RC8.
It isn’t street legal, but the stripped-out, hopped-up KTM 1190 RC8R Track sure makes us wish it was. With sharp, angular styling, the RC8 sure looks good but the first superbike from Austria hasn’t really been able to keep up with its competition from Germany, Italy and Japan.