Kawasaki ZX - 9R Review

And, strange as it may seem to sports bike fans (like the Ed) some people don't like anorexic race replicas - they prefer a bit more meat on the bones, as it were - so for them the "old" model may actually be preferable to the new scaled down version.

Whichever way you look at it, the 9's been a popular model for some years (admittedly maligned in earlier times for it's handling) which is now a mature, fast, reliable motorcycle which has got to be on any big bike buyers shortlist - worth a spin up the road we thought.

Whole Lotta Bike
A quick walk around the ZX-9R shows you get a whole lotta bike for your money. From a distance the family styling makes it look pretty much like a ZX-6R, and then you get closer and realise that it's a ZX-6R from "Land of the Giants". Everything about the bike is just bigger than the smaller model in all directions - the tank is wider, the frame beams thicker, the forks bigger in diameter; in fact it was probably psychological, but even the handlebar grips felt fatter than normal.

Finish is typically Kawasaki - nice paintjob (not so sure about the laser effect decals on the sidepanels, but they changed colour prettily in the sun!) and plenty of nice detail touches, including span-adjustable levers for both clutch and brake, multi-adjustable suspension and unremarkable but clear and functional clocks and switchgear.

Low speed weight loss
Despite the initially quite daunting size, the 9 actually hides its weight pretty well - at least for those who can handle the seat height. It's a tad higher and wider than many, and shorties or less experienced riders may find moving the bike around in a car park a bit tricky to start with. Nevertheless once on board you find that the bars are only a short reach away and the footrests fall naturally under your feet, giving a riding position which is a comfortable compromise between sports and touring. The big tank tends to splay your legs apart, which is a little strange initially, but isn't uncomfortable and may even be quite pleasurable for some (owners of old Moto Martins, for instance.)

Fire her up, and like all other Kwack fours, the first word that springs to mind is "solid". The engine feels like it's been hewn from a solid chunk, with a deep bass beat and rumbling bottom end (sounds a bit like someone else we know actually). It's not particularly slow to respond to the throttle, but you certainly feel there are some big bits of metal thrashing about in there - in fact there's a fairly strong vibration at tickover which threatens to blur the mirrors at a standstill.

Pulling from nothing at all, the 9 is supremely easy to ride at low speed. In fact if you keep the revs low and change up early you can enjoy the massive bottom end and mid-range and use the elastic band effect (copyright Bandit 1200) to out accelerate pretty much anything around anyway!

Gimme speed
Nail the throttle and this bike really rocks - and then some. It's what the ZX-9R is all about - power. Great gobs of thumping power which thrust you forward with such force that even experienced riders are taken aback the first time it happens. Just a twist of the right wrist in any gear at any speed will have the bike lunging forward, daring you to hold it open just that bit longer each time. Things get blurred very quickly on a ZX-9R - and your license may well get a bit frayed too.

170mph on the clock was quite fast enough during our limited time with the bike on public roads, thanks! The great thing about the 9 was that it was effortless to get there any time you liked - the limit was the roads and the traffic, not the bike's. Even the acknowledged king of top speed, the Honda Blackbird, doesn't have the mid range of the ZX-9R, which we guess would stomp the Blackbird in top-gear roll-ons from 80-140 mph.

All good things must come to an end
Of course, the trouble is that no matter how wonderful the engine is, you have to stop and go round corners from time to time - and this is where the 9's weight really makes itself felt. It's definitely not a bad handling bike, and in fact it's a very good handling bike considering the size and power that's available. But the sheer mass makes all the braking and suspension components work just that bit harder than they would like to, and it shows.

A bike this big is never going to be fast to change direction, but the 9 does pretty well. But the suspension has to work hard and is a touch harsh, spoiling the ride over bumpy roads and adding a slight nervousness on such occasions. Take the bike to a smooth road and it'll track perfectly, hold a line and is completely stable at any speed - but hit a few bumps on a small backroad and you feel every kilo of weight, making you back off to avoid running wide on corners and give yourself an easier time.

Similarly the brakes are excellent - they need to be for such a fast bike - but they pump up your arms as the weight forces you forward each time you bring the speed down.

Somehow though these features (I hesitate to call them problems) can actually enhance the ZX-9 riding experience. Riding a 9 fast through a winding road is hard work - but strangely satisfying when you've done it. Yes, other bikes (notably the big bike's 600 brother) may do it easier and perhaps with a greater margin of safety, but they may actually trick you into running just that little bit harder than you can really handle - the ZX-9 on the other hand demands respect right from the off.

The Outer Limits
Finding the limits of a bike like the ZX-9R can take a lot of road - things happen very quickly at 170mph; things like disappearing driving licenses, magically appearing cars in the outside lane of the motorway doing less than half your speed, hairpin bends appearing where steady sweepers once were. Call us wimps, but we never did get the thing redlined in top.

Finding the cornering limits were somewhat easier - the Dunlop Sportmax II's fitted offered plenty enough grip to get the footrests grinding, but it's not a habit we'd recommend - when the bike digs in it really wants to run wide, and there's very little you can do to stop it - that weight again. Still, it's unlikely to be too much of a problem for most people. The other tyre fitment we've heard works well are Bridgestone Battlax's, so they're worth a try if you get a 9.

In terms of long distance limits, riding the bike with a gentle wrist and changing up early will get you at least 40mpg, which gives a tank range of 130-140 miles, probably more at a sedate touring pace. Thrash it and we've heard reports of low 30s with a full to empty distance of 90-100 miles. But the seat is surprisingly comfortable, protection from the fairing good, and the riding position relaxed - this bike makes a great long distance tool. The only downside is a touch of engine vibration at 80mph in top, which makes it particularly uncomfortable to cruise at that speed. In fact the engine is nowhere near the top of the list in the smoothness stakes - though one person's vibration is another's "character".

The "old" ZX-9R (as it will forever now be known) is a serious piece of kit - any bike capable of the sort of speeds this bike can achieve has to be taken seriously. Ok so it can't really cut it in the super- sports category against the Fireblade and others (it's just too lardy) - but that's surely where the new model is aimed.

What the 1997 ZX-9R is good at is super-fast touring, or the odd sports thrash now and then. It's blisteringly fast, yet civilised and easy to ride moderately, with monster mid-range and a definite character which makes it fun to ride and probably fun to own. It's the sort of bike which encourages long-term ownership; if it suits you there's probably little else that'll have the same sort of qualities, and we can imagine it growing on you as time goes by. And you can bet prices are going to be pretty competitive in the next few months.

Engine:Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke,DOHC, in-line 4 cylinder
Bore x Stroke:73.0 x 53.7mm
Displacement:899cm3
Compression ratio:11.5:1
Fuel Delivery:Keihin CVKD40 x 4
Ignition:Digital
Starter:Electric
Transmission:6-speed
Final Drive:'O'-ring sealed chain
Dimensions (LxWxH):2,085 x 725 x 1,165mm
Wheelbase: 1,440mm
Seat Height:800mm
Wheels:Alloy 3 Spoke

Tyres:

Front - 120/70 ZR 17
Rear - 180/55 ZR 17
Suspension:
Front - 41mm USD forks adjustable pre-load, compression & rebound damping
Rear - Uni-track with adjustable pre-load, rebound & compression damping
Brakes:
Front - 2 x 320mm discs with six-piston calipers
Rear - Disc with single-piston caliper
Dry Weight:215kg

Then Yamaha announce the R1. It's lighter, more powerful, and more radically engineered and styled! The early road tests are glowing, and it's beginning to look like the ZX-9R is dead before it's born.

Of course it's not as cut and dried as that - the big K has a legion of fans who value the unique Kawasaki qualities of solidity, that howling induction roar and the long history of musclebikes. To them, perhaps the ZX-9R is the ultimate - 600-small, but with more welly than the old version. The best ZX-R yet?

Initial view
First glances at the ZX-9R certainly don't reveal anything radical to start with - the new 9 is certainly a member of the family in terms of styling. A sort of evolution rather than revolution has lead to a slimmed down rear end, and slightly widened front, along with larger air vents.

But look a bit closer and you can see why the bike weighs so little - there are big gaps of space where parts used to be on the old bike. The seat is jacked up a bit and narrower, and there are what seems like huge holes underneath - not that anything needs to be in there, it just seems incredibly easy to get a the rear shock, for example. The frame is all new, as are a great deal of the engine parts - and everything has been downsized; where the old ZX-9R was definitely on the chunky side, the new bike is much more Firebladey.

Equipment-wise, everything is standard Kwacker - functional without being exceptional - with span-adjustable levers for both clutch and brake. All new for this year are the clocks, which include a digital clock, trip and odometers, and an LCD bar-type temperature gauge. (So it's a tourer then - as it's got a clock...).

Further weight-saving includes the gold-coloured magnesium engine cases and the titanium exhaust (which has a big TITANIUM stamped on it in case your mates don't believe it).

Sitting on the thinner and firmer seat, you feel quite high, and pitched towards the front end. It's quite a stretch to the bars, which are quite a bit lower than the older bike. The seat is also narrower, which means you have the choice of sitting forward and getting a sore backside, or sitting back and having to stretch further for the bars. However there's plenty of room to move around, which obviously helps on longer journeys. The footrests seemed a bit high for long journeys, but it's not the worst we've had.

Firing the motor up shows it to be a noisy beast. There are lots of rattles, grumbles and rumbles, probably because of the weight-saving on the engine cases. But it's definitely a Kawasaki - the deep throaty roar is there, even blipping the throttle at a standstill.

Flying tonight...
Click it into gear (standard pretty good gearbox) and feed in the clutch and the bike flies. Sorry - FLIES! The engine is very free-revving, and the surge of power is simply e n o r m o u s - we had a Fireblade on test at the same time and it felt like the ZX-9R had at least double the power, if not more.

It takes a very brave person to rev the bike out in each gear on anything other than a motorway - it's simply too powerful, and you are going way too fast! Tucking behind the fairing is easy due to the space available, and then you can just watch as the speedo drifts easily up to an indicated 180mph, with more to come. Yes, 180mph indicated - the fastest bike we've had under normal road conditions (in Germany of course, officer). Not only that, but it would do it easily and whenever you wanted, and you didn't need a run up to get there either. This is one very powerful motorbike.

All this action was accompanied by the usual Kawasaki howl - a great sound which just enhances the experience. The engine was a little vibey in patches, but again that's really part of the Kawasaki deal; you need to feel the engine is working away below you.

Fortunately the brakes are also up to the enormous performance. Strong and progressive, with great feel, you can brake pretty much as hard as you like (so long as you don't mind stoppies) and we didn't find any fade even after a mega 200-mile seriously hard ride back to back with the Fireblade. There's perhaps a little initial feel missing, but they're very powerful all the same.

At very high speeds the handling is also very good - it's stable, the front end doesn't wander too much (with a bit of weight towards the front of the bike) and the suspension works well. But at lower speeds the suspension lets the side down a bit - it's too stiff, and the damping is too hard. After a lot of playing we found a few clicks off compression on the forks, plus a couple off the rear shock certainly helped matters, but it was still a firm ride overall.

Quick Steerer
At lower speeds the bike steers very quickly - almost too quickly, in fact. There was a definite tendency to drop into low-speed corners, which made it more difficult to corner smoothly at very low speeds - it was easier to turn quickly and then stand the bike upright again to get back on the power. Definitely a point-and-squirt bike, and very quick at it too! However it was not unstable - long sweepers could be tackled with confidence - but the sheer power available meant that under hard acceleration the front end was so light that a steering damper would be an advantage.

That's not to say the bike handled badly; far from it. But where some bikes seem very neutral, the Kawasaki has definite "characteristics" that take some getting used to before you feel confident to really push it. And push it we did - a couple of rides in particular were, well, let's just say " extremely naughty". But the bike seems to encourage that sort of behaviour - certainly a license-risker if ever there was one!

Fuel gets a hammering under all this pressure - a couple of times we ran onto reserve at 110 miles, giving 32mpg, while the best we ever got was 149 miles before reserve, giving 40mpg. It's a big tank, and with the roomy seating and good wind protection from the fairing, high-speed, long-distance touring is certainly possible - and the bike has fold-out bungy hooks and a pillion seat, which make it easier to strap stuff on, though I'd pity any pillion who was stuck on the back for a long distance ride - the footrests are very high indeed.

The quality of finish was typically Kawasaki; very high, with plenty of nice detail touches. It's easy to see how Kawasaki owners tend to stay with the brand; there is a definite "Kawasaki feel" which permeates all the ZX range.

The Verdict
The ZX-9R is the fastest bike we've tested. Not just for absolute speed, but also in the way it gets there - no hesitation, glitches, twitches or moans - just straight up to the max. It is very, very powerful. The brakes can handle it, the chassis can handle it, the suspension is too hard. But overall it's the power that dominates the bike, and will be the abiding memory.

There is an argument that bike performance is getting too high - particularly as the accident statistics indicate an increase in the "born again biker" who is exactly the sort of rider likely to buy a bike like the ZX-9R. There is also an argument which says that we need to have bikes which can give the ultimate performance and that any legislation against such machinery is a invasion of personal liberty.

Sticking my neck out a bit here, I reckon the ZX-9R is just too much for many riders. Talking to people at Kawasaki, I was told that their British Superbike championship rider Chris Walker has been given one, and even he has diffculty using all the performance available! It will take a very experienced, or a very stupid, rider to use the maximum performance available on public roads. But is that a reason not to make them? Of course not - the more the merrier! But inexperienced riders need not apply...

Engine:Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke,DOHC, in-line 4 cylinder
Bore x Stroke:75.0 x 50.9mm
Displacement:899cm3
Compression ratio:11.5:1
Carbs:Keihin CVKD40 x 4
Max. Power:143PS
Ignition:Digital
Starter:Electric
Transmission: 6-speed
Final Drive:'O'-ring sealed chain
Dimensions (LxWxH):2,050 x 720 x 1,155mm
Wheelbase: 1,415mm
Seat Height:810mm
Wheels:Alloy 3 Spoke

Tyres:

Front - 120/70 ZR 17
Rear - 180/55 ZR 17
Suspension:
Front - 46mm conventional forks adjustable pre-load, compression & rebound damping
Rear - Uni-track with adjustable pre-load, rebound & compression damping
Brakes:
Front - 2 x 269mm discs with six-piston calipers
Rear - 184mm disc with single-piston caliper
Dry Weight:183kg