With recognition to the great Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, I guess I should confess that I feel like I am starting to feel a bit old. Maybe this is because it seems like every few years or so a story is published titled something like “20 things young people dont know about” which covers everything from cassette tapes to when MTV actually played music. I think if they did one of these articles for sportbike fans, they would remark on how young people don’t how big sportbikes didnt start out like the narrowly focused, specialized, hyperspeed cycles we have today. Perhaps the article would then explain how most of the 1st generation sportbikes were actually designed to offer a balanced approach between performance, comfort and even some touring capabilities, how seating positions were more upright and pillion pads were actually comfortable, how fairing gaps were filled in with plastic to reduce air buffeting against the rider, etc, etc.
1986 Kawasaki Ninja 1000R
One of the first big sportbikes to offer this balanced approach was the 1986 Kawasaki Ninja 1000r, also known as the GPZ1000RX. The GPZ1000RX was launched in 1986 and was actually supposed to be a replacement for the original big Ninja, the GPZ900R. But the GPZ900R (which was made famous by Tom Cruise in Top Gun) was so popular that it was continued on after the introduction of the 1000R and eventually outlived it. In fact, the 1000 was only produced for 3 years, which is probably why we have never had one posted before here on RSBFS.com.
This particular 1000R looks to be in very good but not perfect shape. According to the seller it has a very low 5100 miles but there is some evidence of fairing scrape and upper fairing damage which make me think it may have gone down a bit at one time and was then parked. This wouldn’t be a surprise because one consequence of the balanced bike philosophy tended to be heavy weight.
The asking price for this one is about $500 above suggest KBB retail but the low mileage and generally good overall condition makes me think the price is about right. While its not a hyperbike or piece of italian exotica, it is a very early generation big ninja that would probably be able to provide good service for a more experienced rider/someone looking for a more balanced experience.
-Marty
Looks like a great example and in pristine condition. Might be a little over priced though
what is the asking price of this bike in AUD please ?
I bought this bike…nearly every front body panel had to repaired or replaced (except for the tailpiece) Seat had a tear in it, and the windshield was stress cracked at every mounting screw. This bike was priced at 3000.00 but should have been priced around 1000.00. If there is anything to be said about online shopping is this…when making a purchase this big, make sure you are patient and wait to see what you are looking for in person. even the most detailed pictures hide a lot of flaws. On an up note, she will look and run like she rolled out of the showroom when I’m finished with her…
It would be good to keep in touch with you, what is your FB, if you have one, my email is lesliebirch@yahoo.com.au. Stay in touch. I ended up buying the same model from a younger brother of a friend who imports old bikes n cars from Japan to AUST. It was in fairly good nic, a repair on the seat, no big deal, a cpl tiny marks again no biggie. I paid $2600 and was quite happy, all up high 3k’s as I had to spend a bit getting the bike to run as it had been sitting around for quite some time.