Make or Break? Kawasaki ZX9R E.
“It’s the 90’s sportsbike that history forgot”
The Kawasaki ZX9R, never really got the attention it might have deserved. The first B models were big heavy brutes, they had the poke alright, but struggled to dance, though some ZXR750 owners did chuck time and effort into shoehorning the B motor into late ZXR750 frames.
The C model was a much better offering, but it was never a match for the CBR900 Fireblade of the era, let alone the R1 that it went
up against down at your local Carnell store in 1998. Kawasaki licked their wounds and the C model morphed into the E model, which was basically nothing more than a fancy top fairing and a big headlight.
“This one looks a bit sad”
This one is a mixed bag, despite the tarnished looks it was a well looked after bike. The previous owner had spent time and money on rebuilding the pesky Tokico six pot calipers and he’d also rebuilt the carbs. However, the original fuel tank was full of crap and within minutes it fucked up all of his good work. He bought a replacement tank from a C model and although it looked the same, the fuel cap was different. He then lost all interest and left it in his garden under a cover for 2 years. Obviously, now it is going to need work to get it running again.
“Are you going to tart it up?”
No. I was going to break it. The good thing about non runners is the chassis parts are often decent. The whole frontend is good and other than a few scratches, the bodywork isn’t too shabby. These are all desirable parts when offered for sale. A trader, that was collecting some right pieces of shit, saw the ZX9R and took a fancy to it. So he’s bought it and plans to get the old girl up and running again.
Article provided by Scottie Redmond
