We've gotten information that Kawasaki has issued a mass recall for all Ninja 300 motorcycles built using locally sourced components from 2018 onward. The Japanese bike manufacturer says that there is an issue with the front-brake master cylinder made by Endurance, and it could potentially lead to brake failure. Kawasaki dealers across India have begun to contact owners to replace the faulty master cylinder with a new unit, free of cost. As of now, Kawasaki is yet to tell us the exact number of units that have been recalled.
In 2018, Kawasaki India decided to localise a few components – including the brakes, wheels, tyres and plastics – of the Ninja 300 in order to reduce the production costs and consequently reposition the bike at a lower price point. Priced at Rs 2.98 lakh (ex-showroom) the localised Ninja 300 is cheaper than the CKD model by 62,000. This makes it the most affordable twin-cylinder sportsbike currently on sale in India, although we do feel that the Ninja 300 could’ve been priced around Rs 2.5-Rs 2.7 lakh mark after localisation.
The bike is powered by a 296cc, liquid-cooled, twin-cylinder engine that produces 39hp and 27Nm of torque. The motor is quite refined, and our road test of the Kawasaki Ninja 300 also revealed that it is a very easy motorcycle to live with.
While Kawasaki has replaced the Ninja 300 in international market with the new Ninja 400, there is no news about Kawasaki discontinuing the Ninja 300 anytime soon. That being said, we hope Kawasaki India decides to localise the Ninja 400 in order to price it competitively in the Indian market.
At present, the Ninja 400's Rs 5.7 lakh (On the road, Mumbai) price tag is quite high and tantalisingly close to the Kawasaki Z650. It certainly is the proverbial chink in the armour of what is a really good motorcycle.
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
