Trying to stamp out bugs such as Honda and Yamaha in the mid-eighties, Kawasaki resorted to enlarging the bore and stroke of the popular GPZ900R, and built a bike that set new straight-line speed records but could be a challenge to control.
1986 Kawasaki Ninja 1000R for sale on eBay
Evolved from the 900 cc model, the GPZ1000RX displaced 997 cc’s and laid down 125 hp. Cycle World tested it as the fastest bike they had ever pointed their radar gun at, going by at 159 mph. The strength of the engine was matched by the new perimeter frame and seriously built steering head holding 40mm forks and swingarm supported by Kawasaki’s Uni-Track monoshock. Brakes were dual 280mm front discs and 260mm rear. Weighing in the light-heavyweight area of a little over 500 lbs., handling is helped by 16-inch wheels.
Listed by a motorbike museum and repair shop, this is a nice stock Ninja with recent maintenance. Fairings appear complete and undamaged. From the eBay auction:
This model has 125 horsepower and is one hell of a ride.
This bike in particular is a great example of a well preserved Ninja 1000R.
She runs great and everything works as it should!
We took this bike in to our shop and completely went through it:
Compression checks Perfect: 175 psi on all four cylinders
Complete carburetor cleaning, adjustment, and synchronization
Fuel lines replaced
Brand new Yuasa Battery installed
Throttle cable lubed and adjusted
100 Point Inspection and test ride.
A couple of not unexpected details like a fork seal leak and run-down original (!) rear brake pads will require attention, but at least the owner is upfront with them.
Hard to say where this auction will end, the 1000R reviewed as too much in most regards, but the handling acquitted the big red machine and allowed a 1/4 mile in under 11 seconds. A quick trip down memory lane for the new owner…
-donn
I had one of these back in 1988 not for long though .It was a black one . I liked it , just not a Kawasaki guy at heart . It sounded great , handled well for a big bike and was fast. This one looks quite clean . Fork seal and brake pads to replace are no big deal . My only comment is the scratches in the muffler skins/wraps . For $500 give or take you could have them redone and they would look new instead of having 30 years of scratches in there . Yeah , so you might not have the Kawasaki part number stamped in there but it will look brand new or better ! I have done this to more than 1/2 dozen VF1000R mufflers and they look great . Not looking for a job , just making a nice suggestion . Good luck to the seller .
I was racing AMA/CCS in the late eighties and there were a couple of brothers that had matching black 86’s. I would make a point to leave the pits and watch every race they were in. They were both big guys but it took all they had to hustle that tank around our short road course. The bikes would fight, flex and shudder through every corner. Pure entertainment.
I think that this one bike has probably killed more noobs than any other. Living down in San Diego back then a bunch of Marines would buy these as their first bike because, well, I guess the 600s were for wimps. All the time you’d hear about these guys folding these bikes into trees opening up 1000cc of craziness for a beginner. These bikes were known killers of the newbie bike owner.
every big bore sport bike when it first came out in the inline four, liquid cooled full fairing era is remembered as a widow maker… we get it… the brainiacs in washington even had hearings and discussed banning them, hooray for beltway lethargy in this case!
Yeah, this isn’t the first (or most certainty last) of the widow-maker classic bikes, or the modern for that. Bikes have only gained in performance whilst rider skill has in general only plateaued… I’ve stalked this site for years but David above motivated me to post a comment re the military guys. People that laugh at 7.62 rounds screaming at their heads, then survive and rotate home and get bikes afterwards- only to get smoked going up to Palomar or wherever. Even a relatively new 600 makes more hp.
There are Marine units that have suffered more casualties on sportbikes at home than in combat whilst deployed. To quote Earnest Hemingway : “There are only three sports: bull fighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”
We are most certainly involved in a sport Gentlemen. If you are, or know a “noob”, get them into a school like California Sportbike etc, or get to know how your former Bro smells like from the inside, hanging from the trees…
Shad, The first “widow maker” that I know of was an air cooled, 3 cylinder, 2-stroke, the Kawasaki H-2 750. I’m sure that a number of fast motorcycles before that were also called widow makers by the non-motorcycling safety crowd. The term I really hate that is used by these “do-gooders” is “crotch rocket”. To me, it implies all motorcyclists that ride a sport bike, rely on their “balls” rather than brains.
I remember back in 1985 when the 600’s came out, the sticker price was $3,299, I said to the sales person “no one is going to pay $3,299 for a motorcycle!” that Sunday easily 25 of them could be counted at the Rock Store, who knew…….
Let’s be honest… How many people did you actually know who owned kawi 2 stroke. No more than 1.
Count me in. I very nearly died on one of these monsters on Friday, November 13 1992. It was a miracle that I survived…