2008 Kawasaki ZX6 vs ZX10 - Does Size Matter?

Another important factor is your personal stature. If you're 160 pounds soaking wet, a 600 will likely be able to keep pace with a larger rider on a 1000 relatively easily while giving you more thrill per pound than the heavier pilot would experience.

Though we ultimately found the 1000 to be faster overall, the 600 can shine with a few basic mods and a heavy right hand. Which is more thrilling to ride? That's subjective and comes down to riding style preference. One thing is for certain though-don't underestimate a 600 or you might be sniffing its fumes before you realize what happened!

2008 Kawasaki ZX-6 vs. 2008 Kawasaki ZX-10
Gear Ratios
The energy that propels a motorcycle is the amount of force at the rear wheel or thrust. By changing the gearing on a bike we can change the multiplication of the torque produced by the engine. In an effort to help the ZX-6R compete with a larger bike on the street we decided to re-gear it by dropping one tooth on the front sprocket and adding two on the rear-this results in a 15-45 combination (a 3.0 gear ratio vs. the stock setup of 16-43) yielding a taller final gear ratio of 2.6875.

In this case we are increasing the torque multiplier by 11.63 percent. This means that at a given road speed the engine will also be turning 11.63 percent more rpms as compared to stock. The drawback, of course, is a reduction in top speed to about 140 mph. This change has made enough difference to make the new 5th gear accelerate almost as hard as the stock bike's 4th gear (reference the chart below).

Even though the revised gearing on the ZX-6R makes it a lot quicker than it was stock, it still falls short of the ZX-10R due to the engine's larger displacement and higher overall torque curve.

Nothing But The Facts:
The cold hard numbers speak for themselves. Though the ZX-6 actually was quicker through the tightest section of road, it was heavily due to the aftermarket gearing. The -1/+2 sprockets really helped the ZX-6 pull below 35 mph, where the ZX-10 was still chugging in first gear trying to come into its midrange. As the road opened up the ZX-10 was able to stretch its legs and gain some momentum to take the lead.

Where the ZX-6 struggled the most was on the ascent because fighting the laws of gravity didn't help its horsepower deficit much. Coming down the hill it was a closer battle, and had the road been tighter the final times may have been closer.

The heart rate monitor shows an average beat per minute slightly higher on the ZX-6, and this could be explained with several reasons. The bike needed to be ridden harder to hold pace and required deeper charges into corners and heavier braking maneuvers. Nearly double the amount of gear changes were necessary on the smaller bike, making the actual physical exertion slightly greater. Finally, the very nature of high revs and an aftermarket exhaust system literally do get the blood pumping.