ZX9R First Impressions

It's bloody good on fuel.

It could do with a bigger screen when saddled with a heffalump like
me.

Second gear mingers are feasible... and for the first time in my life,
I feel comfortable with the concept that 'getting your knee down',
might be .

Speaking of gears... really lovely gearbox - silky smooth and light to
the touch as well.

The sooner I get the carbs balanced, the better - bit jerky on the
over-run round town at present.

Not as pokey in the upper gears as I expected at motorway speeds and
beyond, but then that's something the VFR excels at - hopefully a
decent can and dyno session will improve this (Bear?)

All in all, very happy with it so far.

 

The manual says you have to remove the carbs to put the adaptors into
the block, then refit to do the balancing, remove again to remove the
adaptors and plug the vacuum lines back up and then finally replace
again, but if you have the dexterity and proper adaptors it can be done
with the carbs in place, thereby saving about an hour's extra work.
You'll need a 1/4 drive 6mm socket to remove one of the original
plugs[1] from the block IIRC. A 3/8 extension shaft is too fat to fit
between the float bowls.

The same procedure applies to the ZX7R, and you don't have to remove
those carbs either.

[1] Cyl 3 or 4, I can't remember

 

I found that if you want a 9R to turn in fast then you've got to lift
the back end and **** about with tyre profiles but if you want to get
through corners quickly then you've got to accept that it'll shake
like a bastard as you exit them.

Ditch the 190 back tyre and go to a 180 and you'll notice a massive
difference. Bear's already suggested an Ohlins rear shock and I'll
second that idea but you can use a shock designed for earlier models
if you want to and the only difference is that the E1 has ride height
adjustment as standard and if you go for a shock designed for an
earlier model the Ohlins gives you this and you end up able to adjust
it twice - this isn't a bad thing. The Ohlins on Adies 9R was designed
for a Z1000 and it was better than the suggested one because you can
**** with the suspension even more than you'd normally be able to.

If the brakes give you problems you should consider changing to EBC
Pro-Lite discs and EBC HH pads because they work well even with the
standard 6 pots and they last longer than Kawasaki discs. We changed
the calipers to 4 pots on Adies bike because the standard ones had
done a shit load of miles and needed new seals but the 6 pots worked
well enough for the majority of riders.

I fitted a full Akro exhaust on the bike with no re-jetting and just
changed to a K&N air filter and though I never dynoed the bike it felt
faster and above all else it felt sounded better.

Get a double bubble screen if you ever want to use a tankbag and
you'll have a bike capable of touring at stupidly high speeds without
the aches you'll get with a newer litre bike. The tank range will vary
between 100 miles and 160 miles depending on how you ride it and the
only real problem you'll encounter will be carb icing.

My only really serious warning is to not use a jet wash on the back
end because if you wash the grease out of the wheel bearing and in
particular the bearing in the sprocket carrier you'll end up with a
foad hole in your swinging arm and a big dose of brown trousers when
you realise how close you came to lobbing it in a terminal manner.

 

Fair enough.

Aye, well once I got off the motorway and on to some decent fast A
roads, I started having a proper play with it... at which point I
discovered just where it really is stonking compared to the VFR - flat
out at higher revs in third and fourth. :-D

Bloody lovely.

And the handling... the bloke who sold it to me reckoned it was too
flighty for his liking - didn't feel twitchy or anything to me.

Might help that I'm a lot heavier than the previous owner though.

He's replaced it with a totally mint ZX7R btw

Smoothest gearbox I've ever had on a bike, and I have had the odd
Yamaha, Suzuki and a, (spit), Triumph thrown into the mix.

Absolutely.

 

Suzuki make the sweetest gearboxes, followed by Yamaha (but their
clutches are shite), Kawasaki and then Honda. I had no problem with my
Triumph gearbox, it changed up with no clutch as smoothly as a Yamaha
one, but when it needed an oil change the gearbox let you know first.
It was a good service indicator.

 

Valve clearances are a piece of piss for anyone with a modicum of
intelligence and some decent tools. So is carb balancing.

 

Yup... but I personally loathe working on cars / bikes beyond changing
bulbs / adjusting things like the chain / head races, hence why I'd
rather pay someone else to do it for me.

 

The story so far is... he wanted something more robust to commute on
than the 916 he had, so this was when he bought the 9R but couldn't
get on with how easy it dropped into bends, apparently.

So that's the main reason for getting a 7R, so he says - it needs to
be muscled more into bends than the 9R.

That, and he found it too easy to go too fast on the 9R. Personally,
I think it's quite mild mannered and docile when you've not got the
revs up and pleasant to pootle about on from what I've seen of it so
far.

And did ok with it by comparison?

Should our paths ever cross, feel free to have a go on it.

Be nice to know if it's as good as a good one is, IYSWIM.

Excellent.

Not that I'd ever do such a thing...

 

eh? I have no recollection of that at all.

I've had a bang on the head, you know.

 

Kawasaki's almost always are, ime. Check any magazine group test, and
the Honda is usually the worst, and the Kwack usually the best.

They certainly are...

That sort of depends by what you mean by 'motorway speeds'. As Bear
says, at 70 in top the engine is hardly turning. It should pull
pretty well from 100mph in top, tho.

 

<waves CBX in a threatening manner>

 

Allow me to step in with a similar story then. First year of the MV
1000, Jorg Teuchert was due to race one in the German Superbike
championship. He turned up at the first round, but was barred from
riding it as they hadn't finished the homologation run. So rather than
give up & go home, he borrowed a totally stock MV 750, fitted slick
tyres, & went racing. Bear in mind this was a standard 750 road bike
versus full superbike spec R1s, Gixer Thous, Fireblades etc.

He came sixth.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

The CBRs I've had have always been pretty good on fuel, and this
particular VFR has been a pleasant surprise as well given how shit the
750s I've had could be on fuel if ragged enough.

All power to the 'Fi', I guess.

Indeed... I now want to do a wheelie school at some stage.

I guess I'm used to the more linear power curve of the VFR - might get
my mate to ride that at some stage before it gets sold, with me on the
9R for some real world comparisons.

 

No, that's ok - low to mid 40s was what I always got out of mine.

 

How did you find your Daytona compared to your 9R in terms of power?

I beginning to wonder if my Daytona was a bit fecked given even the
VFR has more go than that had.

Horrid bike!

 

You'll do yourself a mischief.

 

The 9R was far more mental, but ultimately not really much faster. In
old bike terms it's like comparing a 350LC with a VF400F. Both have
similar performance figures for acceleration and top speed, but the LC
just felt wild and far more visceral, where the Honda just got on with
it and put in times that were just as good on acceleration, but a touch
faster at the top end.

The Triumph was more composed but still topped out at 170 on the clock,
acceleration was certainly better than the 9R, but it just didn't
accelerate like a bastard in a 9R manner, it gathered speed incredibly
quickly. The Triumph droned its way to top speed, where the 9R growled
and barked everywhere. I loved the triple engine, it made really good
power all the way through the rev range and you could stick it in 5th
and go scratching everywhere knowing it had the grunt to pull any gear
at any speed out of a corner, but the 9R needed you to do the gearbox
dance if you wanted to make good progress.

Sounds like you had a dog. Mine was a fully dealer serviced 10K mile
2004 model when I bought it, with one careful lady owner to its name.
I'd love another 955i triple, probably a Sprint ST if I can find a nice
low mileage post 2003 one. Even a Tiger if I could touch the floor
properly.

 

lol...never got anywhere near that on the one I had.

Now I know for sure mine had problems.

I like that though, within reason... hence why me and CBR600s are no
longer friends, but then to be fair, the newest 600 I've ridden was my
S plate Fazer.

The newer stuff must be a lot better.

Indeed.

Bought it off a 'mate' in the trade as well.

Still, it was cheap, and I lost nothing on it when I sold it on, bar
maybe any faith I did have in Triumphs.

I do like the Speed Triple... and I was well impressed with the torque
the Tiger I went on the back of, had.

 

This did happen for one race I went to at that place in wales.

IIRC he was riding a (close to) stock 9R that belonged to a mate... and
dropped it. Whoops.