RIDING IMPRESSION
'997Kawasaki ZX7R
Kawasaki went title-hunting
when it introduced its
thoroughly redesigned ZX7R in
late 1995. It got one, thanks to
the efforts of Doug Chandler
and the MuzzY team; It's proved
its mettle on the track, but can it
handle life on the street?
(Above) ZX heaven : Rock-so lid hand ling and strong midrange power makes '
roads like th is a blast.
(Left) To help make the ZX7 competitive on the track, the chassis is
equipped with many adjustments. including spring preload and compression"
and rebound dampIng. The rear ride height also adjustable.
Is
(Below) Once turned In, the ZX will hold your chosen line with neutral
pres sure on the hand lebars .
By Mark Hoye r
Ph otos by Kit Palmer and Hoyer
m a g in e, for a mom en t, you are
Kawasaki . Imagine your once-dominant ?Xl, with a cou ple of Daytona
wins and a World Cham pionship to
its credit, is becoming a little bit long in
tooth. You need some thing new, something to try to recaptu re the racing successes a nd all th e presti ge that comes .
with them.
You need a ne w motorcycle. 50 you
mak e one, cha nging jus t about ev erything on the machine in the process: a
new, stiffer frame; a redesign ed engine
that follows the latest sh ort-stroke, high-
II
rpm trend; add a second ram-air snorkel
to the wind - tunnel-tested fairing to
38
squeeze just a little bit more air into the
airbox so you can wring out just a little
bit m OTC power ou t of yo u r new m otor;
tak e you r good gea rbox, cha nge a few
things to make it shift even better. Since
you'll prob ab ly be goin g th at much
fas ter with all of th ese other cha nges ,
put six-piston brakes at the front and a
fat 190/ S0ZR17 radi al at the rear. Make
just a bo u t e ve ry t h ing a d ju s ta b le :
sw in garm pivot, ride hei ght, a nd, of
course, every w hich way the suspension
moves .
Then watch in horror wh en Suzuki
releases its new GSXR750.
Hey, at least you've got Doug Cha ndler . What about the 750cc Su persport
class? Well, let' s just say they could n' t
bear the weight of the competition anymore.
Yeah , one day everything's cool, the
next it's total mayhem and chaos. But if
losing in the 750ccSupersport class is the
pri ce of ha ving a good roadable sportbike. that's jus t fine with us . Becau se
while the ZX7R was certainly design ed
with racing in mind, Kawasaki has still
managed to keep the machine a reasonably civil street bike, its grea test credit
being its ultrashort-stroke engine that,
while it does rev up there with the best of
