Road test on a 2001 Spec Kawasaki ZX12R
Ninja were spies during the age of the Samurai. They were exponents of grace, elegance, balance, the ways of invisibility, and employers of the art of stealth. They were called upon by their masters, to gather information, plunder the enemy's food or weapon supplies, and lead night attacks. Some say they were like the American CIA of ancient Japan. Hmm, that last bit’s not very glamorous a description is it, well then, what about something a little more attractive then? The Kawasaki ZX12R Ninja, now that’s glamorous!
I was hanging around the bike shops one Saturday morning (are you really surprised?) and annoying Kawasaki Newcastle’s Chris Hirst into loaning me something exotic to play with. Eventually he got sick of telling me to go away and threw me the keys to a new 2001 model ZX12R. Apparently the 2002 model goes out the door as quick as they come in and there is a distinct case of under supply, but, there were (at time of test at least) a number of 2001 models ready to roll for $16,990 on road. Hell, I don’t mind if it’s a runout model, and it’s hard to believe they can build em any better than the one I was loaned. The model has been around since 2000 so if there were any bugs, they’d have been exterminated by now.
The 210kg (dry) 4 cylinder big bore sports bike has something under 130kW (170hp) at 10,500rpm which is good for a tad over 300kph. Of course, there is little chance you’ll ever get the opportunity to use all that mumbo on the ‘pristine’ (ha ha) tarmac found throughout NSW. However, what it equates to in real life, is a bike that can be ridden easily around the countryside, or city, with little need to shift any of it’s 6 gears. The brakes were awesome and very much in keeping with the power of the bike, I mean, what's the point of being able to do 300kph if you end up taking three football fields to stop from 60ks?
The suspension setup on the bike was a bit hard for Hunter roads, and I found myself ‘bumped’ out of the seat a couple of times. I hadn’t changed anything for my test ride but front and rear suspension are fully adjustable, so the setup can certainly be tailored to suit the individual. I’ve ridden bikes where the fairing seems to move about under speed or windy conditions, due in part to efforts in keeping weight down but compromising on rigidity. The big Ninja however has a metal under frame to resist this flimsy ‘effect’ and it also keeps the mirrors more steady than most. I guess the other advantage to this attention to detail is that the bike won’t suffer dramatically from minor bumps or even the odd drop in the driveway.
There are easy to read white on black gauges with twin trip meters and an LED display for fuel etc. Exhaust on the demo bike was the alternative 4 into one style and a very powerful growl it gave I can tell you. The fuel tank is set back under the ‘fake’ tank, curving around to under the seat, thus keeping the centre of gravity low in the frame. For those who frequent the ride days at Eastern Creek Raceway and such, this means better handling on corners, while for those of you who don’t, it means the thing won’t fall over on top of you while negotiating the Woolies car park. As with many powerful machines on the market today, fuel injection is used to extract as much power as possible while keeping the use of our precious fossil fuels to a minimum. At normal 100kph highway speeds the tacho reads 3,500rpm so there is always going to be plenty on tap to overtake in a quick and safe manner.
The pillion seat isn’t anywhere near the same class as a GoldWing, but then its not supposed to be for this style of bike, and it gets a neat cover that will add to it’s ‘SuperBike’ look.
The big fat rear Dunlop Sportmax tyre will set you back around $300 and its durability will depend on how hard you use the throttle. One owner I spoke to at The Road Warriors Cafe, is going through them at 5,000 kilometres while one of our new Ulysses members, Guy Wernhard, looks like getting 10,000ks and that’s with quite a bit of two up touring. Fuel economy was the same, the first owner getting 250 kilometres to reserve, while the more conservative Guy can get close to 400. No centre stand means difficulty in lubeing the drive chain, although, I have no doubt that there is a garage accessary readily available.
I don’t know how good the photos will turn out in black & white, but the colour ones are superb and I have Chris & Jo Jones to thank for them.
Test bike courtesy of Kawasaki Newcastle 49524955
May your lid never skid....