Highs and Sighs: 2025 Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX SE
As the old African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Well, why settle for one of those things when you can do both with a good ol’ fashioned sport-tourer? Ah, friends, a well-rounded sport-tourer scratches all kinds of itches, blending performance-minded engines and athletic handling attributes into a machine equipped with creature comforts such as wind protection, heated grips, and luggage options. Such is the case with the 2025 Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX SE ($15,399), the latest top-tier addition to Team Green’s long-standing sport-touring Ninja-branded line of motorcycles.
What’s new for 2025? A short, but potent list of upgrades that includes a bigger 1,099cc Inline-Four cylinder engine, refined electronics, and SX SE-specific upgrades that make it seem that much more SX SE — ooh lala, boyos. We’re talking Brembo M4.32 calipers hooked up to steel-braided lines, a fully adjustable Öhlins S46 shock, heated grips, and an exclusive colorway. You’ve read the review, but enough jibber jabber! It’s time to feast your eyes on the Highs and Sighs.
Photos by Nic de Sena
High: That midrange slaps, son!
Motorcyclists are always asked to make compromises: performance comes at the cost of comfort and vice versa. As luck would have it, the Ninja 1100SX SE is smart with its compromises, trading a bit of its peak horsepower for even more potent low-to-midrange punch out of its silky smooth 1,099cc Inline-Four-cylinder powerplant. Engineers lengthened the stroke, which explains the increase in displacement from 1,043cc to 1,099cc, while deploying lower-lift cams and narrow intake ports, all in the glorious name of providing additional low-end slap and accentuating its magnificent midrange that’ll help you catapult off any apex or when asserting your freeway passing dominance. The big Ninja put down a healthy 124.6 horsepower at 9,200 rpm and 77.4 lb-ft of torque at 7,600 rpm to the rear wheel, and while it seems like it could be working with a little more given its size, trust us, it knows how to use it.
High: A mighty fine chassis
Kawasaki figured out its answer to the sport-touring question way back in 2011 when it launched the original Ninja 1000, and those core tenets still ring true. A twin-spar aluminum frame dolled up with fully adjustable suspension and conventional sport geometry will undoubtedly let you work the tire’s edge nicely. The 2025 Ninja 1100SX SE maintains that fine tradition, utilizing the same supportive 41mm Showa as before, but it enjoys a nice upgrade with its Öhlins S46 shock, complete with a remote preload adjuster. There’s no rolling the dice when attacking a fine canyon road because this hustler knows how to roll a precision line, showing its Ninja lineage, which is impressive when considering its 527-pound wet weight (with bags installed).
High: Simple, direct, sport-touring machine
A lot can be said for simplicity, and in a motorcycle market that grows increasingly technologically laden, it’s welcoming to see a sensible sport-touring machine that leans into that philosophy as well as it does a well-paved curve. Mechanical suspension, conventional cruise control, and a manually adjustable windscreen mean that it’s still quite mechanical. That holds a lot of appeal for buyers who may not be interested in absorbing the additional cost for features like semi-active suspension or radar-assisted Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) found on luxury sport-tourers such as the BMW R 1300 RS ($23,190), Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak ($32,995), or the supercharged Kawasaki H2 SX SE ($29,100).
Sigh: Luggage is an accessory
A sport-touring machine that doesn’t include luggage as standard is a tough pill to swallow, leading to an unenviable sigh, groan, or hearty boo, depending on your disposition. Let’s not mince words here, ladies and gentlemen: who in their right mind buys a sport-tourer and does not want bags to go with it? That hypothetical buyer is a pure work of fiction! The Kawasaki is hardly the only guilty party in that crime, with the Honda NT1100 DCT also recently committing the same sin, and it’s a trend we don’t enjoy seeing. When equipped with the key-and-color-matched 28-liter GIVI-manufactured panniers seen in our review, you’ll have to shell out an extra $1,128.96. As to the question of them being worth it, that’s a resounding yes: the integrated mounting hardware is easy to use, and the panniers can hold a medium full-face road helmet on each side.
Sigh: Brakes have improved, but not as much as we’d like
Credit where credit is due: Kawasaki engineers tossed a set of Brembo M4.32 calipers onto the new Ninja 1100SX SE, which are hooked up to sturdy steel-braided lines. There’s stopping power aplenty found at the front end, though the recycled Nissin master cylinder doesn’t offer quite the feel we’d like out of a machine of this caliber.
Sigh: Confounding User Interface
The 4.3-inch full-color TFT instrument panel aboard the Ninja 1100 has returned for another update cycle, as does the nicely designed switchgear. Visually, the TFT display is without fault, yet exploring it is another story. The User Interface is not intuitive, resulting in some curious pokes at the switchgear. Thankfully, we have a handful of parameters to adjust, such as ride modes, traction control settings, and power modes, which keep things to a minimum and tie it all back to simplicity (in a modern context, at least). Being able to confirm your choice when switching ride modes and avoid the series of confusing long-presses followed by short taps to switch settings would be beneficial.
Conclusion
The Kawasaki Ninja 1100SX SE delivers on several fronts, providing nearly everything you’d want (save for bags…) and nothing you wouldn’t need. Above all else, with an introductory price of $15,399, the latest sport-touring Ninja platform keep Kawasaki’s offering in fighting shape, allowing its updated I-4 mill to produce even more useable power and works with its commendable chassis to help underscore the sport aspects of sport-touring.
