ZZR 1200

Kawasaki ZZR 1200 (2003)
Schoharie Valley - Bear Ladder Road Columbus Day 2006
Sept. 9, 2006 - Slide Show
The '93 ZX11 was sold at the end of summer 2005 with the intention of buying a newer, high performance sport bike. My first choice was a Suzuki Hayabusa, the king of performance bikes. However, searching eBay, MonkeyAds.com and the Atlanta Journal online ads turned up a parade of bogus listings - ridiculous prices for imaginary bikes.
I did find a 2005 Hayabusa nearby, but the price was too close to that of a new bike (asking price was $9,500). A short test ride in Rotterdam on a cool fall morning showed that the bike was very similar to the ZX11 in ergonomics. But it felt stronger.
When I couldn't find the next bike of my dreams, I had made up for it by buying the Kawasaki Ninja 500. This would have to suffice until I could find a big-bore performance bike. I got the opportunity to sit on a blue ZZR 1200 in Jumpin Jacks parking lot in July 2006. This gave me a first hand feel of the bike. The owner gave it a good review which got me considering this as my next bike. It seemed tall yet similar to the my ZX11.
Soon after this, I missed out by $100 on a solid ZZR on eBay . Then a listing in the Want Ad Digest led me to a look at a bike on Labor Day Weekend, on the way back from the Vintage Car Races at Limerock Park in Conn. I called back and negotiated the price down to $6,400 from the $7k asking price. The bike had just 3,200 miles and was in perfect condition. Exactly what I was looking for. I picked it up the next weekend, Sept 9th. Steve and I rode down the Taconic Parkway on his 1600 Road Star the 70 miles to Milan NY [right off the Taconic]. I brought a license plate from one of my other registered bikes and rode away, not realizing that the inspection on the bike had expired in 2004.
Columbus Day 2006 - 200 mile ride, Schoharie Valley to Rt. 42 at Shandaken NY
HP (red) and Torque (blue) Note dip at 4,500 rpm
A little research has shown me that there is a performance glitch at around 4,500 rpm, though it feels lower than that on my bike, closer to 3600. A fix is explained step by step at ZZRBikes.com This is a next step for me to improve performance and feel at low throttle settings..