Got a chance to ride a Ninja 400 last weekend. I guess the best bet by way of review would be for me to compare it to my beloved Ninja 300. First and even before I rode it it’s a great looking machine. Except for the smaller rear tire absolutely nothing about this bike looks “entry level”. It’s (at least in my opinion) a really good looking bike and the color schemes are great as well. The blue looks great! The orange looks great and I think we all know what the green looks like. By a pretty big margin looks go to the 400 over the 300.
Weight: It’s substantially lighter in actual weight. 20 pounds or so. That said the bike feels even lighter than the 20 pound shed. Weight feel victory goes undeniably to the 400. It’s easily and noticeably a lighter bike. The seat is about the same height if not identical. It’s a more contemporary looking seat but probably as comfortable as my 300. The 400 wins the seat battle only on looks.
Tires: The stock tires on the 400 are Dunlop’s and are miles and miles and miles better than the stock pieces of crud that came on my 300. Tire battle in a complete landslide goes to the 400. Almost comical.
Dash display: Another landslide in the 400’s favor. First it has a gear select display. It’s very easy to “gather” information as it’s just very easy and plain to see. Just a great simple easy to see info center. Here’s the sleeper however. The 300 buried it’s turn signal indicators in a weird place and even when looking DIRECTLY at them they seemed to be so faded that noticing the signals were still on often was difficult if not impossible. The 400’s turn signals are bright, articulate and easily seen. BIG big plus.
Suspension: Kawasaki claims a complete re-work of the suspension. I don’t see it. I don’t mind the stock 300 suspension (as long as you’re aware of what you’re working with) but I didn’t notice a ton of difference here. Tie.
Handling: The 400 handled better than my 300 especially in hotter corners. Some of that seemed to be the lighter feel of the bike, I think the rake might be shorter, but some of it was the front brake. (more on that next). The 400 handles better but not an earth shattering difference.
Brakes: The 400 has better front brakes. Period. They’re not unworldly good as one simply wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) expect from an entry level bike but still...noticeably better than the 300 and I’m comfortable calling them really good. Back brake identical to the 300.
Slipper Clutch: same great slipper clutch that allows one to wind things out a bit (and by a bit a mean wring it’s neck) and not worry so much that the wrong gear is gonna be big trouble. I don’t have ABS on the 300 but I did notice the ABS kicking in some when getting a bit aggressive with downshifting in aggressive corners. I don’t think the bike has traction control but the ABS tended to sit me up straight a bit.. Still the slipper clutch apoears to be a tie.
Engine: The 400 is more to be sure. Especially lower down. No one is gonna mistake it for Ducati torque but it pulls low better than the 300. It’s seems however similar to the 300 once you get way up in the rev range. I dunno here. One of the things I love about the 300 is the enticement to thrash the heck out of it. The 400 is a better plant but not a feature I’d worry about between the two.
As most know I love these little bikes. Sometimes I honestly think (for my style of riding) I could live happily ever after with one of these machines. I could easily envision getting a Ninja 400, improving the brakes and maybe the shock. Putting on Rosso’s or better and just letting the thing rip to heck and back. They’re just that good![]()
Bookmarks