Celebrating Kawasaki's Ninja 25th anniversary

When Kawasaki’s first Ninja production motorcycle, the Ninja GPz900R, hit the market in 1984 it marked a new era in motorcycling.

Initially branded as "Ninja" in the American market only, the evocative name that conjures up an image of cutting edge performance, soon spread across the globe. The iconic GPz900R was the predecessor of today’s fast, big-capacity sport bikes, adding technology from the race track to a street bike in a way that hadn't been witnessed before.

The compact design was years ahead of rival manufacturers' efforts, and the Ninja GPz900R dominated over its bigger capacity liter class competitors; even winning the 1984 Production TT at its very first attempt in the hands of Geoff Johnson. In the 25 years of the Ninja’s existence, many successful models were created, like the 1985 GPz600R, the 1994 Ninja ZX-9R, the 1995 Ninja ZX-6R and the 1996 Ninja ZX-7RR.

Also in the new millennium the Ninja has continued to turn heads, for example the highly revered Ninja ZX-12R that saw the light in 2000, the class-winning 2003 Ninja ZX-6R series with 636cc engine capacity and the legendary hard edged 2004 Ninja ZX-10R.

In 2008, the Ninja series was reborn once more. Making the Ninja brand attainable to a younger audience, the Ninja 250R was launched to an enthusiastic, Ninja eager public.

In the many years since the first production model, the name Ninja has become synonymous with Kawasaki and its strong engineering credentials. Kawasaki will continue will proudly expand the Ninja series still further in the years ahead. The strong performance image associated with the name “Ninja” was not created overnight. It was fostered by multitudes of Kawasaki fans for whom the Ninja brand holds a special meaning, as it does for Kawasaki.

This year the Ninja has delivered success again, claiming victory (Ninja ZX-10R) and a close 2nd position (Ninja ZX-6R) in the internationally acclaimed Supertest; a prestigious appraisal of machines from all the main manufacturers by highly skilled professional racers and journalists from across the world.

Kawasaki Thailand celebrates the Ninja's 25th Anniversary with the introduction of a special edition of the Kawasaki Ninja 250R.