For many years Kawasaki were known as the manufacturer that created ballistic bikes – the Z1, the GPZ900R, the GPZ1000RX, the ZX-10 and then 1990’s ZZ-R1100…
Thunder was stolen from the long-standing king of speed – the ZZ-R – by the Honda Blackbird in 1996 whose own time at the top was barely a year before Suzuki’s Hayabusa (another bird name) pecked at it, removed some feathers and went faster still… then came Kawasaki’s fightback in Y2K…
The looks… well, the looks of the thing were as if an F-16 jet fighter had flown down, landed on an authobahn and humped the hell out of a ZZ-R1100… The result was this: a huge air-scoop dominated the front of the bike and (way before MotoGP and Ducati) you’d see wings sprouting out of the fairing lowers to move turbulent air from the front wheel and to stop it disturbing the air flow along the bike. Even the mirrors had sharp, bullet-style fairings on them. Little wonder really, as the aerodynamics came from the aviation division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Yes, Kwak make aeroplanes too…
When the first A1 model appeared early in 2000, it was rumoured that the bike could top around 190mph – maybe more – but (of course) pretty soon in came a manufacturer’s top speed limit of 186mph on the litre sportsbikes and hyperbikes that could get to such a speed. But could the Ninja get to such a speed?
Well, not immediately as you had a long, drawn-out running-in procedure where during the first 500 miles you couldn’t exceed 4000rpm, (then the bike needed a service) followed by the next 500 miles at 6000rpm and another 1000 miles at 9000rpm. It was akin to sleeping with Kylie and barely being allowed to put the tip in…
The motor itself was a peach of a power unit – but then this was a Kawasaki. The fuel-injected 1199cc motor pumped out a claimed (and cool) 177bhp. Holding it in check was a monococque chassis, allegedly inspired by the firm’s KR500 GP bike from the late 1970s/early 1980s, the one once raced by Kork Ballington. Today, a number of bikes use such a system, so the 12R was ahead of its time.
If the bike had any issues at launch it was the fuel economy/fuel range, which was pretty poor – some riders would see barely 110 miles on the trip before the reserve light came on. Also, that injection system could be a little jerky – but then many FI bikes were back then – even Hondas. Those first bikes did have a couple of recalls too: one for the overflow pipe in the fuel tank and one on the securing nuts on the tyre valves which could crack… Blimey! The brakes were OK, but were later improved with the 2004-on version which came with powerful radial jobbies instead of the much-maligned six-pot Tokicos… What was good was both build quality and overall reliability.
If there’s a model to go for we’d plump for either the first or the last. First as they looked amazing in green (or red) and – well – they’re the first of the breed. The last as, coming with all the refinements and the better brakes, they’re just better all-round.
Price-wise we haven’t seen the jump up in value as we have on other machines from the era, so you can still find a half-decent one for around £2500, with later, better machines rising to around £3.5/£4k. The saltiest price we’ve seen has been around £7000 for an early machine with less than 5000 miles on the digital dash…
For: Even today, not much looks more dramatic – or faster – than a Kawasaki ZX-12R…
Against: Fuel economy (snigger) looks…
SPECIFICATION
| Make | Kawasaki |
| Model | ZX-12R Ninja |
| Years available | 2000-2006 |
| Major changes | 2002-on, heavier crank, smaller flywheel, altered ignition to eliminate snatch. 2004- radial brake calipers |
| Price new | £9380 in 2000 |
| Values now | £2500-£7000 |
VERDICT
We reckon time will smile on the ZX-12R – so buy one…
