The Forgotten Kawasaki Superbike With Up To 17 More HP Than The FireBlade
With the release of the FireBlade in 1992, Honda had effectively shifted the goalposts for performance motorcycles. It was both lighter and faster than any of the contemporary 750cc bikes it was competing with, and that is because it was a 900, not a 750. This wasn’t a bike that needed to adhere to any displacement for racing purposes. This was a sport bike designed purely for the street, and everyone loved it.
No Replacement For Displacement
Generally speaking, there is a lot more to a high-performance motorcycle than its displacement figure, but for the original FireBlade it made all the difference. It was initially supposed to be a 750cc motorcycle, as was the established convention back then. However, in an effort to differentiate it from Honda’s V4 superbike (and the simple fact that Honda had no intention of racing an inline-four), the decision was made to increase the displacement of the model.
Suffice to say, it worked a treat. Its power-to-weight ratio was quite simply unbeatable, and it quickly became the bike to have. The FireBlade forced answers out of the other manufacturers, and for the most part, those answers were not forthcoming, at least not immediately. Everything on the market was either heavier, or slower. A couple of years later, Kawasaki had come up with some form of answer, even if it was more of a stop-gap.
The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-9R Has More To Offer Than Most People Remember
Price Range: $3,000 – $7,000
To say the Ninja ZX-9R flattered to deceive back when it arrived in 1994, would be something of an understatement. While Honda offered a proper superbike engine in a lightweight supersport chassis, the ZX-9R simply offered us an opportunity to buy a slightly cheaper, slightly slower ZX-11. Back in the 90s, this confined the Ninja to the role of an also-ran, but today that matters little.
Most of those lovely CBR900RRs were crashed, and finding one in respectable shape is not easy, or cheap, whereas the Ninja is something of a performance bargain. It was rather obviously never much of a canyon carver, but even by modern standards it is a wicked fast motorcycle. It got a significant update in 1998, then again in 2000, but the prices remain similar no matter the model year. Around $5k will get you a good runner, and that is a steal for a bike as quick as this.
Power Was Never The Problem
Power: 139 – 143 Horsepower
Kawasaki didn’t exactly have time to reinvent the wheel with this model, so it will come as no surprise that this lump is based on the old ZX-7 engine. It wasn’t a case of simply increasing the bore and lengthening the stroke, though. To achieve the desired stroke length, a taller block was required, so it is a taller, heavier engine. The upshot was an engine that delivered 139 smooth, reliable horsepower. Crucially, 17 horsepower more than the FireBlade. The model was thoroughly revised in 1998, and with that update came several changes to the engine. Although the overall power increase was only incremental, 143 horsepower was still substantial back in the late 90s, and this was never really the problem with these bikes.
The 1994 Ninja ZX-9R Was Overweight
Dry Weight: 477 Pounds
No matter which way you slice it, the ZX-9R was just far too heavy to be an effective sport bike. The FireBlade was around 70 pounds lighter, so even though it made less power, it was still substantially faster through the corners. To further compound issues, the Ninja’s suspension wasn’t quite up to the task, either. Anyone who bought the Ninja thinking it would be an ideal canyon carver, and a like-for-like alternative to the FireBlade would have been left bitterly disappointed.
Today, the bike is a known quantity, and we know that it just isn’t that kind of sport bike. It is still tremendously fast, and like most bikes from this era, relatively comfortable. Using it as a fun weekend sport tourer these days makes a lot of sense, and upgrading the rear shock with something modern will make a discernible difference to the ride and handling.
The Ninja ZX-9R Went On A Diet, But It Was Too Late
Kawasaki engineers knew exactly what needed to be done if they wanted their bike to be competitive, and weight was shaved in every possible area. As a result, the bike lost a genuinely impressive 74 pounds. Which is no coincidence, because that is more or less how much weight they needed the Ninja to lose for it to compete with the Honda.
It was now the bike that it was supposed to be in 1994, but it was too little, too late. Unfortunately for Kawasaki, another bike arrived in 1998: the Yamaha YZF-R1. It was lighter, and even more powerful than anything else on the market, including the contemporary Honda. It was the bike to have, the next game-changer, and the new benchmark. It also made Kawasaki’s update seem rather irrelevant at the time.
Pricing is similar across all model years on the used market, but the bikes made after 1998 are lighter, faster, and more powerful. With a quarter-mile time of around 10 seconds, these bikes are incredibly fast, even by modern standards. While relatively reliable, they still use four carbs, and you will eventually need to learn how to balance them.
Source: Cycle World Magazine (January 1998)
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