Waiting in the Wings: Kawasaki ZX-12R
The term Sports Tourer can sometimes read like a back-handed compliment.
It’s almost as if the bike in question isn’t really good enough to be at the top of the pecking order or that the manufacturer has somehow missed its target market. Kawasaki’s ZX-12R might be pigeonholed as a sports tourer but someone forgot to tell the bike. It really is a sharp piece of kit.
Going back a bit in time, Kawasaki had held the ‘fastest production motorcycle’ title for some while with the ZZR-1100… well, until first Honda’s Blackbird and then Suzuki’s Hayabusa rocked up to spoil the party. With the gauntlet hurled down and the challenge accepted it was game on and Kawasaki was out to reclaim the honours. The resultant ZX-12R was an all-new design that took the class to new levels. The chassis had strong elements of monocoque design about and by dispensing with the traditional twin spar it was possible to significantly reduce the frame’s width. This in turn enhanced the bike’s aerodynamics and allowed Kawasaki to maximise the potential of the 190bhp motor, which was the most powerful engine of its class at launch.
To prove the point that Kawasaki took air penetration just as seriously as its competitors; the fairing sported canard winglets low down and a pair of aerodynamic large mirrors along with a substantial ram air snout.
Kawasaki had endowed the bike with a fairly sharp steering angle of 23.5 degrees which enabled it to feel a lot more nimble than others in the class, making the sports tourer label seem a little wrong-headed.
The bike had true 180mph capabilities allied to a good level of comfort. The only real issue anyone could pin to the ZX12R was the frankly ludicrous omission of a passenger grab rail.
The bike ran from 2000 through to 2006 and received some 140 considered upgrades with the introduction of the 2002 model. Softer springing at both ends aided comfort and, surprisingly, mass was actually added to the crank to smooth out the power delivery. Yet despite this and a remapping of the fuel injection the later models remain easier to fire off the line. The brakes were changed to radial calipers in 2004 and other than this and subtly tweaked panelling little else changed. At the end of the 2006 model year Kawasaki announced the bike’s replacement in the guise of the ZX-14 which ran a very similar chassis arrangement to the outgoing model, vindicating the use of monocoque set up.
Twelve years after the last ZX-12R was sold reports suggest there really aren’t any serious issues with the bike.
And now the even better news… ZX12Rs are still cheap and in some cases stupidly so. Well used but tidy examples start from as little as £1500 and sometimes even cheaper. Lower mileage examples are hitting £2000£2500 with really clean ones topping out at £3000-£3500. Simply put, there has never been a better time, ever, to buy one the best motorcycle from the Noughties bar none.
“The home of the Japanese classic”