KAWASAKI ZX-12R

The year 2000 was a simpler, happier time, when speed cameras were much rarer than they are now, smart motorways didn’t exist, and average speed checks were a dystopian fantasy. And the bike firms could, with a straight face, sell bikes purely designed to tickle 200mph. The Honda Blackbird and Suzuki’s Hayabusa were both built to take this top-speed crown off Kawasaki’s ZZ-R1100, with aerodynamic fairings, megapower big-bore engines and comfy accommodation for two.

So far so good. But Kawasaki wasn’t too chuffed, and came back with another rocket ship – the ZX-12R Ninja. But Team Green took things in a slightly different direction – the biggest Ninja actually had a go at giving the class a degree of proper sportsbike capability. The fairing was sleeker, the riding position more committed, and it was the first bike with a 200-section rear tyre as standard. It was still pretty hefty, despite an innovative monocoque aluminium frame, at 210kg dry, but you could see it had more sporting pretentions as opposed to the touring-biased Hayabusa and Blackbirds.

The big story was the 1,199cc engine, though. Despite having fewer cc than the 1,299cc Hayabusa, it claimed five more bhp, meaning it was a bit revvier. When the mighty lump came on song, it hit like Tyson Fury, and if you were brave enough to take one on track, it killed allcomers on the straights, while giving a white-knuckle ride in the bends.

Now the ZX-12R is becoming a little rarer, and standard ones even more so. Many have gone into the drag racing or land-speed record worlds, where the slippery fairing and narrow profile go well with a GT42 turbo and a 750bhp engine tune… It’s a real landmark in high speed biking, with little touches like the aero-wings on the fork bottoms and mirrors, plus the massive ram air intake showing how serious Kawasaki was about it. You’ll struggle to find anything with a much better pound-per-mph ratio, too.