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Kawasaki ZX-6R

There wasn’t another 600, or hardly a 750 for that matter, that could run with that bike down the straits. However, everyone agreed that the bike’s handling left a lot to be desired. Slow guys like me just found the front to be numb, unwilling and somewhat uncommunicative. Fast guys like Barney (Mike Barnes), would actually flex, chatter and even bend the front forks under hard racing conditions. It’s still hard for me to imagine braking so hard that you bend the front forks, but that’s why I get paid to type, not ride.

 Kawasaki made strides in 1996 increasing the fork tube diameter to 33mm, which helped the chattering problem, but the overall cornering was still behind the curve. So the 6R became the ultimate point and shoot machine, drive it in hard, square off the corner and rip on the throttle. With the new Suzuki GSX-R 600 steadily moving to the front of 600cc supersport class, and Honda and Yamaha waiting with their all-new 600s, Kawasaki decided to make the preemptive strike.

The hard part about throwing the first punch is making sure it’s hard enough. How hard was it? Our little green machine gave us the following numbers to ponder, 96 rear wheel horsepower, 11.05 @124 mph., and …, well thanks to a broken clutch that’s all we got to do. We didn’t get to make our top speed run or take advantage of the track time we arranged, all thanks to back ordered clutch parts. More on that later.

We knew our new ZX6-R would be fast, it’s a Kawi, but does it handle and stop. When I asked our friend, and recent Daytona EBC champion, Mike Luke, what he thought about the bike, he had this to say, "This bike is just awesome, it’s so perfect. The old 6R, unlike a Honda where you can ride the front wheel, was hard to get to turn, so you had to back it into the corners. The new 6R is so balanced you just take it in and ride both tires, even sliding both together."

And what was everyone else in the race on? GSX-R 600s with 750 motors limited to the class limit 102 horsepower. By the way, this was Mike’s first professional win, and he wasn’t exactly riding a race-prepped bike. Mike had 60 miles on the odometer, tape over the headlight, and still had the rear seat on. The way he was speeding through the field, he probably should have kept the signals lights attached to be polite.

After spending just a few minutes with Luke, we were really chomping at the bit to get our new test bike, so we went shopping. Of course we heard all about how "hot" the new bikes are, and anything under sticker was a steal. However, we found prices from $7,700 to $7,100, and like idiots we opted to pay the 77 (don’t ask).

As with our last '95 6R, Kawasaki does a good job of satisfying the polishing freak in all of us. The new six is packed with all sorts of cool and nifty parts to feast your eyes upon. Polished clamps and brackets, anodized fork caps, digital readouts, and really bizarre looking ignition and clutch covers. Our standard green and purple bike even has very cool gold metal flake in the purple paint. These extra touches make you feel like you are on something much more expensive and exotic than a 600.

The very first impression everyone had upon sitting on the bike is, "This thing's a lot wider than before". The frame bows around a definitely fatter tank with a minor resemblance to a Honda 900 RR. In addition the clips-ons are wider apart than last years by 5mm. In fact the entire handle bar expanse is wider by 25mm. A great deal of effort went into increasing the stability of the motorcycle. The fork diameter increased by 5 mm, the Rake decreased .5mm, and the trail also decreased 1mm.

Source by Robert Mealey