2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R

While most of Japan’s motorcycle manufacturers have taken the cautious approach to riding out the global recession—making minimal updates to existing models, building low-buck econobikes or otherwise hitting the snooze button—Kawasaki is wide awake with the throttle pinned. In the last three years we’ve seen a recession-defying number of new models. They include the ZX-10R, which remains the only open-class Japanese bike to have been completely reworked in the past 36 months, and was the first to come with traction control; the 2011 Ninja 1000, a reasonably priced sportbike for the real world; the 2012 ZX-14R, which simultaneously rehashed and squashed the decade-old horsepower feud with Suzuki’s Hayabusa; the totally reworked 2012 Ninja 650; and the all-new, fuel-injected 2013 Ninja 300.