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2000 Suda Kawasaki ZRX1100 |
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Friday, 08 September 2000 |
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| SUDA Kawasaki ZRX1100 |
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| We haven’t yet had a chance to throw a leg over Kawasaki’s, new to the States, ZRX1100, but we thought it might be fun to give you a taste of dessert before dinner and let you see a ZRX1100 that was modified by a shop in Japan. This naked bike has been available in Japan for two years now, so we thought you might appreciate learning about how others have had some fun hopping-up the thing. Here’s the scoop from our Japanese correspondent, Rick Williams. You might be surprised to see from where some of the hot parts came. |
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This year marks the American market release of Kawasaki's ZRX1100 retro rocket, that brings back an aura of three-time 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle champion Eddie Lawson's superbike heydays. But some of the world’s riders have been enjoying the ZRX for the past couple of years. And you know what that means. . . modified, beast bikes have already been born. Why leave things stock when you can change them?
In Japan, the ZRX takes its place in competition with the Honda CB1300, Yamaha XJR1300 and Suzuki GSF1200 (that’s Bandit to you gaijin) in the "there’s no such thing as too many ccs" naked-bike category. Thanks to the fact that the ZRX uses what's basically a ZX-11 engine (called ZZR1100 in some parts of the world), saying that the ZRX has tremendous hop-up potential would be an understatement.
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Takahisa stands proudly with
his creation
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But don’t take my word for it...the pudding proof is this breathed-on ZRX1100 built by Japanese tuner/bike dealer, Suda Motorcycle Doctor. They’re sort of the "Muzzy of Japan" so Suda is quite famous in its own country. Suda is located in Machida, a little burg on the outskirts of Tokyo. The shop manager is a dude named Takahisa Suda, and he digs Kawasakis. Especially those of the breathed-on type.
After the Suda guys breathed on this ZRX1100 it achieved a 10,000 rpm reading of 158 horsepower at the rear wheel. Though Suda’s engine output looks radical on paper, that kind of power potential can be found in every ZRX, thanks to the plethora of ZX-11/ZZR1100 parts that have been available for many years. This bike’s heritage gives it an added bonus that the Yamaha XJR1300 and Honda CB1300 can’t brag about because their powerplants don’t have a long sportbike history. Only the Suzuki Bandit 1200, whose engine is derived from the bulletproof GSXR1100, can boast a range of proven performance parts equal to the ZRX1100.
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