Kawasaki’s ZX-7 Ninja was known in other markets as the ZXR750, although I’m really not clear on why. Calling your “Fireblade” a “CBR900” makes plenty of sense if your target audience is more excited by technical names than by evocative ones. But shuffling a couple letters and numbers around doesn’t send a very different message……
Well here’s a real curiosity, another bike from the era of experimental engine configurations. Prior to the introduction of the KR-1 featured earlier this week, Kawasaki’s quarter-liter two-stroke sportbike reputation was upheld by this bike, the KR250. Although it’s powered by what is technically a parallel twin, the Kawasaki KR250’s engine is configured more like…
Well this one’s pretty exciting: the recent influx of two-stroke sportbikes has been notably lacking in Team Green Kawasakis like this KR-1, thought by some to be one of the best, or at least the craziest, of the breed. Considered by the press to be a significantly better performer than the RGV, the KR-1 was…
Update 7.28.2016: The seller has informed me this bike is now sold. Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc Update 7.18.2016: This KB3 has been relisted and now has a buy-it-now of $14,995. Links updated. Good luck to buyers and seller. -dc Several years after its original 1984 build, Motorcyclist and SportRider magazine writer Nick Ienatsch…
Although the 750cc class is basically dead today, there was a time when middleweight sportbikes were the bikes to have, and competition between the Japanese Big Four was fierce in showrooms and on track. Kawasaki’s ZX-7, known elsewhere as the ZXR750 was perhaps The People’s Middleweight Sportbike of the era, a far more accessible and…
Other manufacturers had to scramble a bit when Suzuki pulled the rug out from under them with their thoroughly modern GSX-R750. But they recovered quickly, and the Seven-Fifty Wars of the late 1980’s and 1990’s produced some terrific motorcycles like this Kawasaki ZX-7 that have been neglected for a long time. They weren’t particularly rare…
Kawasaki’s new H2 is the polar opposite of the original H2 in every way except one: while both bikes can lay claim to being the maddest, fastest widowmakers of their respective eras, the new machine’s premium price is a far-cry from the affordable mayhem offered by the original. Both of course offered terrifying powerplants: while…
It’s not incredibly difficult to find a ZX-11 for sale and Kawasaki did make plenty of them at the time. But it is hard to find one that looks this nice, and nearly impossible to find one with the mere 7,700 miles on the clock this one has: dead-reliable and capable of massive speed all…
