Kawasaki, the Last Holdout Against Replicas, Enters the Game With the Radical ZXR400 and Its First Inverted Forks

Was the ZXR400 a contemporary rival of bikes like the NSR250?

Bugs me the article doesn't give the ZXR400's period specs or price, makes it hard to compare against other bikes.

First time hearing the ZX-4 raced as a factory entry in F3, didn't know it was basically a replica.

Being last to market they seem to have studied everyone else's weak points thoroughly before releasing it, which you could also call kind of cheating.

First adoption of upside-down forks with this level of aggression, really conveys how serious Kawasaki was back then.

Kawasaki, who'd been dismissing replicas, coming in last with the ZXR400, that total about-face was actually kind of satisfying.