GPz1100 or GPZ9

[sadlonelygit]

never owned either and fancy a modern-ish classic.
apart from the early FI or the carb coolant issues, anything to look out for with either bike, and are they too young to be classics?

[silentwalker]

GPZ9 = GPz900r? as Kawasaki also made the sportier GPz9 ‘ninja’ in the early 90’s.

If so then aye the A 1 to 6 with the anti dive is certainly regarded as a classic by the media, vintage owners clubs and ebayers wanting to add £££ to the prices, I’m not sure about the A 7 to 8 which I have because they had a couple of 1990’s mods but they will follow the prior bikes to the classic status.

Faults and upgrades.
Rear suspension unit on the A1-2 had a 10mm top holding bolt, this was changed to a 12mm from A2 onwards.
Oil circulation to pot 3 not so good A1 to 2, result trashed engine, hole made bigger on A3 onwards.
All models can be prone to overhead cam pitting. Bit of a combination of oil circulation and crappy metal Kawasaki used I gather. GPzone refuse to sell them because of the quality they say.
Removed side stand kill switches can really mess up the CDI.
Front top fairing mount to indicator, plastic snaps in huge chunks very easy it seems when indicators are hit.
Fuel sender, you should see the rust on the spares I got off ebay, really really bad. The sender is only a rough guide to tank status anyhow.
Starter motor clutch is internal which means splitting the engine gearbox to replace parts when they wear out.

I can think of anything else really that isn’t just a matter of normal wear and tear coupled with a lack of regular maintenance. Like the uni trak having too much play or the anti dive playing up. The only other ‘fault’ is because the GPz900r is getting so much ‘classic’ status written about it prices seem to be going up this year. It seemed you could get a few for a couple of hundred earlier this year, now E bay has them at a couple of grand, one dealer even has one out of the crate listed at 12k!!!!

Excellent and active support from the GPz900r owners club.

[sadlonelygit]

cheers, but i'm sure little z is a/c and big Z is w/c, as in

or

[silentwalker]

It’s actually a ZX900, but UK marketing called it the whole era range GPz (both air and liquid cooled), whilst the American marketing called the era brand the ‘Ninja’.

There were also exceptions like the ZX1100 which was brand sold as the ZZR1100. Quite a few GPz900r owners use internal and external parts off the early ZZR’s as upgrades and the same Haynes covers these bikes.

But you are correct, at some point UK marketing did try to make it the GP(capital)Z at one late stage. But mine, an A8 still has the small z on the decals.

But I did make an error querying the GPz9-R it was actually the ZX9-R. Kawasaki branding is kind of odd so I hope you can see how I fell into that trap. The ZX9-R is a different breed of bike, more evolved but under rated I gather by the buying market when released. A future classic in another 10 years?

ZX900/GPz900r/Ninja


ZX9-R/Ninja

[silentwalker]

Just when I was confused enough, there was a remarketing attempt of the GPZ brand in 1995 using the capital, but they were using the water cooled ZZR's, ZX10's and ZX9-R's engines but not the 1984 ZX900 (GPz900r) engine.

[Bigjawa]

GPz1100 was my first "really big" bike, it was distinctly average below 5k then went like a missile above it, FI fecked up so a nice man wired in a Z1100 wiring loom and put some carbs on, it meant I lost the 3 wee idiot lights and the LCD fuel gauge. Mine had horrible 16 inch wheels, most will be dead by now or in a poor state or repair.

GPz900 is a nice bike, although you can still get a few unmolested examples, usually US imports, last one I saw was in a dealers and a resonable £1200.

I was quite tempted myself.

[maccecht]

Just to muddy the waters it's worth looking at the GPZ750 Unitrack as well. I had 2 and they were not bad bikes. Same paint scheme as the 1100. You could always look out for the Turbo version but they seem to fetch silly money these days. I also had the 1100 but at 140 it blew a big hole in the cylinder head. I left it in a field and never went back for it. Might still be there.

[Vitesse]

If you are looking at GPZ900Rs (and why wouldn't you - I had one back in the day and it was brilliant) just make sure you don't get caught out with the sleeved down GPZ750R with different badges. At one point I seem to recall that Kawasaki had something like 5 x 750s in the range (GPz (a/c), GPZ (w/c), GPX (w/c and updated), ZXR (like GPX w/new clothes), GT (a/c shafty) so the internal competition and the 900 to contend with meant the GPZ750R was never a big hit over here. some have been imported since and as no-one remembers them it's easy to just rebadge as there's little other than engine numbers to distincuish.

[Bigyin]

If you are looking at GPZ900Rs (and why wouldn't you - I had one back in the day and it was brilliant) just make sure you don't get caught out with the sleeved down GPZ750R with different badges. At one point I seem to recall that Kawasaki had something like 5 x 750s in the range (GPz (a/c), GPZ (w/c), GPX (w/c and updated), ZXR (like GPX w/new clothes), GT (a/c shafty) so the internal competition and the 900 to contend with meant the GPZ750R was never a big hit over here. some have been imported since and as no-one remembers them it's easy to just rebadge as there's little other than engine numbers to distincuish.

I had GPZ750R in about 2001 and actually really liked it as it was a good workhorse and all rounder till the gearbox shat itself. I used it for everything from commuting to Euro trips however once i moved to a G2 ZX6 i realised the complete limitations of the old 750 in power, handling, brakes etc