Baby Ninja Is Back In Its BS6 Avatar After A Long Hiatus

After almost a year of absence, the Kawasaki Ninja 300 has been relaunched in the Indian market. The baby Ninja was discontinued after the BS6 emission norms came into effect. Since India is among the few countries where the Ninja 300 is still sold globally, Kawasaki would have to make special efforts to make the motor comply with the new emission norms. The Ninja 300 has been the highest-selling model for Kawasaki ever since it parted ways with Bajaj and the bike received a massive drop owing to localisation a few years back. Let’s see what all is new in the 2021 Ninja 300.

What’s The Price? Who Are Its Rivals?

The 2021 Kawasaki Ninja 300 has been priced at Rs 3.18 lakh (ex-showroom). Kawasaki hasn’t confirmed this but this could be the starting price for the Ninja 300 Candy Lime and Ebony shade. The KRT-livery inspired Ninja 300 Lime Green might cost a couple of thousand rupees more. In terms of rivals, the Ninja 300 BS6 competes with the KTM RC 390 and the soon to be launched Benelli 302R.

What’s New?

Well, hardly anything. Apart from the introduction of new colours, the BS6 Ninja 300 remains unchanged visually. Despite being in production for almost a decade, we must say the baby Ninja still stands out and is a handsome-looking motorcycle. Helping with its visual appeal is the new common Ninja-face that has been polarising.

On the mechanical end, Kawasaki engineers have maintained the displacement of the motor but have made it more cleaner and BS6-compliant. The 296cc, parallel-twin and liquid-cooled motor churns out 39PS, identical to the BS4 motor. However, torque is down to 26.1Nm from 27Nm. It continues to sport a 6-speed transmission with slip and assist clutch.

• 2021 Kawasaki Ninja 300 Colours
• New Suzuki Hayabusa Coming Soon To India
• Here Are Top 5 Electric Two-Wheelers On Sale In India

What’s Unchanged?

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

Since the focus was just to ensure that the Ninja 300 meets the BS6 emission norms nothing much has been changed. It continues to employ the same frame that has been suspended on telescopic fork and a monoshock. The Endurance-sourced braking hardware has been carried forward and it features dual-channel ABS. It continues to run on MRF Nylogrip Zappers and we will advise Ninja 300 owners to upgrade to a better pair of rubber to relish the handling dynamics of the motorcycle. Even the instrument console is the same semi-digital unit as seen on the older bike.

What Should Have Been Changed? 

For starters, the baby Ninja 300 should have been equipped with LED headlights that would have made the BS6 bike stand apart from its predecessors. Also, the instrument console should have been replaced with a TFT unit and baby Ninja 300 could have done with smartphone connectivity as seen on the TVS Apache RR 310.

ZigSays

Despite its age, the 2021 Kawasaki Ninja 300 still remains a formidable supersport offering. The baby Ninja has the dynamics of a comfortable tourer with its parallel-twin heart and with a few updates is loads of fun around the twisties or on a track. However, we feel Kawasaki has played it safe by not giving any additional features, which is a bit disappointing given the Rs 20,000 price hike.