Kawasaki ZXR750 H1

What was I thinking selling this bike for £750 in 2012? I should’ve hung on to this one that’s for sure. The days of any ZXR750 for less than a grand are pretty much a distant memory. If it was a green one I could’ve sold it for more, it’s always been the way with ZXRS – a green one will command a premium: it was like that from day one when the H1 first arrived in 1989. This bike was pretty straight: it was just an average used bike that was looking for a new home. The bike had a few problems though, but these weren’t obvious when I bought it. I noticed an oil leak on the garage floor after a few weeks I investigated, it was leaking from the sump, how it had picked up this wound was a mystery to me, there was no damage to the fairing so having run over something was easy to rule out. It wasn’t even the result of an over-tightened sump nut. The puddle kept appearing and my affection for the stick of rock coloured ZXR waned. I couldn’t even be bothered to put the fairing lowers back on and sold them to a friend who had been pestering me to break it for parts. ZXR parts weren’t in demand in 2012 so I didn’t bother breaking it. Bodywork would’ve sold easy enough but things like the frame and even the engine would’ve got in my way for months. At last people are paying this model and other 750s from the ZXR range some attention, prices have rallied in response to the demand, good if you own one, bad if you want one! This one was last seen being loaded onto a trailer in 2012. The guy wanted to street fighter it, I was just pleased to sell the thing and stop it leaking its guts all over my garage floor. With hindsight I feel a little sad about how I treated this one. It was a good honest bike that deserved some TLC; perhaps if it was green I might have got more emotionally involved with it.