Intelligent Riders Only - Not The Idiots Dream Bike (Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R)

Member Name: hosford

Product:	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R
Date:	06/08/02 (5818 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Handling, Stability, Looks

Disadvantages: Weight, Not Cool, Passenger

I'm not sure if you'll respect an old Yankee opinion here, but I'll qualify myself by mentioning I've been riding sportbikes for 20 years now, and I've seen them all.

I knew the old Honda cbr600 I was riding had just too much spunk coming out of the corners to weigh in at 360lbs (I build the heck outta my bikes as they mature) It last Dyno'd at 138bhp.

I carefully considered which bike to purchase, I really liked the reputation of the GSXR's so I first looked at the Movistar replica. Once again I was put off by it's lightweight, thinking of bounding out of the corners like a jackrabbit with a bottle rocket up it's arse. At the huge shop I was in i noticed a glaring, ominous looking green as a Kawasasaki can be front end, I sat on it complaining to my 12 year old daughter about how HUGE it was, grabbe the bars, stood it up and fell instantly in love.

I read a million reviews and they all said the same thing, a bit heavy, not as fast as the gixxers blah blah, man it handles good. I even read one that said a great "Beginners Bike."

By now you may have guessed that I like to carve the canyons, and i don't want to give you the same old review that everyone else has, so, I'm gonna give it to you like this:

I live in Southern California, and here we have more twisty miles of road than anywhere I can think of. One day my 21 year old nothing-to-loose brother in law and I decide to trip up to SH2 (The Angeles Crest Highway) which is 53 miles of road racer heaven. My zx7r was just past the break in period, so I was al geared up to roll. We took off at 5am to avoid traffic, headed to the infamous Cafe, the reason the cafe bike is called the cafe. Untwisted 32 Miles of canyon at a mellow pace and got all warmed up. Kicken at the cafe, some idiot bails into the eastbound corner doing about 90, drags his knee and impresses the heck out of, noone but the guy who sells his tires to
him. I hop on and take off after him, followed by my bro, and several other sportbikes who thought they'd get a piece of that idiot.

I follow him about a 1/2 mile (1k) and he turns around and heads back to the cafe (just showing off I guess) So I decide to rail on and head to Wrightwood. I've picked up the pace, but did not feel as if I was Screaming the road, or being dangerous in any way. I was not aware of my brother or any of the other bikes location, I just know they were all lined up to go when I left.

When I arrived at Wrightwood, I had enough time to light a smoke when my bro pulls up, howling about hauling too much ass, cuz all the other guys were right on his tail.

It's 30+ miles on that road from the cafe down. I didn't have the heart to tell him I wasn't pushing my bike, but you figure what happened there.

Maybe weight and HP's aren't all we need to consider, and I applaud Kawasaki for keeping the zx7r the way it is for so long, they are definitely doing it right, Mine is a 2002, I don't know if they will make tem next year, But I definitely recooment one to those non trendy riders.

Summary: