‘I’m betting on Team Green…’
I was going to keep the GPz750 for a while but my neighbour, a fan of old air-cooled Kawasakis (he had a Z900 and his wife a GT750) saw it, drooled, and waved money. I reckoned it could fetch £1700-£1900, depending on the wind. Mates’ rates meant it changed hands at the lower figure, ensuring him of a profit should he want to sell it. I’m happy, as it stood me in at £1235. I’m trying to pinpoint the next class to start shooting up in price. Small twostrokes: already happening. I saw a Yamaha RD125 twin make over £2500 recently.
I think Kawasakis are still worth a look. They have a loyal (some would say fanatical) following and as the sports 600 market is not one the Japanese are really building for these days, that’s where I’m going. From the 1990s through to about 2010, this is where the development was. You had utterly bonkers models (R6, GSX-R600), more sensible all-rounders (CBR600) and Kawasaki somehow managed to combine Honda’s practicality with performance, and the bikes weren’t small-dimensioned either. Plus it fielded two: the ZX-6R and the ZZR600. The 6R was a stormer; the latter a cruelly overlooked sports-tourer.
So I’m looking at ZX-6Rs. The ZZR might be a bargain but ‘cruelly overlooked’ bikes are less of a cast-iron sales proposition than a popular bike. And they’re undervalued. I’ve seen a decent-looking one go for under a grand as an easy-to-fix MoT failure. Just don’t buy any until I’ve got mine, please.