The MCN Test: Retro rocket four-cylinder fighters

Whether you’re a new rider jumping up in capacity or a superbike veteran looking for something a little calmer for a Sunday afternoon blast, the new era of middleweight supersport machines offer something for every taste.

Yet they haven’t always been the most exciting, adrenaline-pumping machines, mainly due to the fact that the days of screaming, inline fours were seemingly in the past.

It appeared as if we were just too deep in a new era of sensible, more road-biased parallel twins, with Honda’s CBR650R being the one machine to fly a (relatively modest ) four-cylinder flag.

But that has all changed, ladies and gents – not only are Kawasaki bringing back their ZX-6R (more in line with the classic capacity and performance of supersport bikes) but they’ve also fronted something pretty special in the sub-100bhp supersport category, with the new ZX-4RR.

Alright, it may only be 399cc but don’t let that put you off, as it’s no underpowered, small capacity, parallel twin, but is almost a resurrection of the sort of performance that made the ZXR400 so legendary in the 90s…