Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127648
...... : JEST'. 1994 Kawasaki ZX·9R .. " " ~ " . THREE GENERATIONS OF 900 (Left) The new Kawasaki ZX-9R Is a cross between the race-replica ZXR750 and the sports-touring ZX11; it's more comfortable and user-friendly for road use tha n the ZXR , but more nimble and responsive to sports riding than the'ZX-ll. (Below) Kawasaki Introduced the new ZX-9R at the Shah Alam race circuit In Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. The ZX9R is more at home on the streets than on the track - at least in stock trim. By Ken Wooten 'v e always thought Kawasaki's four-piston Tokico calipers to be a mong th e be s t brakes in th e bu siness, Recentl y, I got to find out just how good they really are. I was only two laps into my second sessio n ab oard Kaw asaki's bran d-new ZX-9R Ninja at the Shah Alarn race circuit in Kuala Lampur. With the Ninja's tach need le nudging toward s the 12,000 rpm red line zone, and turn thre e' s brakin g marker ap proachi ng a t warp velocity, '<:l' something suddenly cau ght my eye 150 ~ feet ahead. It was sitting on top of the r l guardrail - and then it moved. Shiiitttt... It was a monkey, with a suicide wis h tha t wo uld have done David Koresh proud; It ' took off across the track, aiming straight for the patch of bitumen where my red and silver ZX-9R's front wheel would be a split-seco nd la ter . Th e oblivious prim ate' s three-foot long tail dragg ing behind across the tarmac didn't look like . it was going to help much, either. I Tortured brake pads, smoking ru bber (a t both e n ds) , sweaty pa lms, poached-egg-size eyeba lls an d a sq uirr e ll y N inj a w o n' t be forg otten in a hurry, while th e am ateu r vi deo bu ff who captured the whole thing on tape stands to make a fortune if he sells it to one of those home vi deo sh ows. Th e Japan ese journalist who was 150 fee t behind me at the time still can 't believe h ow I m isse d the banana-munchin g beast. Wandering wildlife is just one of the hazards to be expected when you ride a mot or cycle in Malaysia - even on the country's Grand Prix race track. The occasion was the world p ress laun ch of Kawasaki's ZX-9R Ninja, and 72 mo torcycle journalists from 19 countries were in attendance (along with 25 m embers o f the local pres s) to put Kawasa ki' s ne w b.aby throug h tw o demanding days at the Shah Alam circuit, followed by a two-day ride through some of Malaysia's tropical countryside. There was no missing the importance Kawasaki was placing on this launch, with the very fir s t production ZI (engine numbe r ססOO1) on hand to emphasize Kawasaki's lon g- tim e posit ion at the head of the 900cc category. And if a pristine 2D-yearold ZI wasn't enough, Kawasaki also had a lO-year-old GPZ900 Ninja on hand to further emp hasize their 900cc class dominance. But whe n questions a t the opening night p ress conference ' brought up th e specte r o f H onda ' s aw a rd -wi n n ing CBR900RRas the logical 900cccompetitor for the new Ninja, the argument put forward by th e Ka wasa ki engin ee r s , switched to one of gap-filling in the current Kawasaki line-up. ' Kawasaki sees the ZX-9R as a model which fits neatly into the space between the race-repli ca ZXR750 and the spo rtstouring ZX-ll; it's more comfortable and user-friendl y for road use than the ZXR, but more nimble and responsive to spo rts riding than the ZX-11. Having just spent four days sampling the Ninja, I'd have to say that Kawasa ki has ac hieved its ai m of n iche filli ng, although a Honda CBR900RR-beater the ZX-9R is no t. Well, not as a pu re spo rtsbike at least. My sessions at the track showed up some "deficiencies" in the ZX-9R which will limit it from taking Honda head-on < in the sportsbike stakes, bu t that doesn't necessarily mean the ZX-9R won 't win out in other more road-oriented areas. A two-day re turn road ride to the coastal town of Port Dickson, and then on to Malacca was a far more suitable environmen t for the bike; it began to make up for its rather less-than-auspicious debu t at the circuit. , A BIT OF A HANDFUL The two-day track session certainly got the laun ch 'off to shakey start, which was more the pity as the Ninja turned out to be one hell of a road weapon - having a pow erhouse engine, grea t riding position, superb brakes and oodles of stability. But with a claimed dry weight of 473 pounds, soft and poorly calibrated standard rea r suspension se ttings, a tr ack temperat ure in the mid 40's and "overinflated" Bridges tone Battlax rubber, the N in ja proved to be qui te a ha ndful aro und Shah Alam' s twists and turns. I'm quite partial to a wide safety margin at press launches, but even my mellow self came on to the fron t straigh t in my first session with the back wheel wa y out of line and a tell-tale black mark left behind on the bitumen. If British testers Kevi n Ash (Motor Cycle News) and J ustin Evans (Motor Cycle International) hadn 't be en watching open-mouthed from behi nd the fence, I wouldn't have believed it myself. (Of course, all this paled into insignificance beside the,black marks left by a certain Mr. Russell...) In fact, black lines were being left on every corner aroun d the circuit by journalists un accustomed to such an obvio us lack of trac tion - something wa s amiss with Kawasaki's new prid e and joy, and it was overshadowing the positives. I'd attended the ZXR750release at the same circuit back in early 1991 and was th er efore in a good position to make back-to-back comparison s. Back at that