Project Kawasaki ZXR750J Classic TT racer part 1 Vac-packed!

CMM welcomes Mike Booth from our sister title Fast Bikes. Boothy wants to go to the classic TT with a ‘Hoover-pipe’ Kawasaki ZXR from 1991…

- Mike Booth

It seems to me that the constant urge to buy more and more motorbikes is like an incurable disease, and it doesn’t get any better with age. And I’m too poor to have a garage so every time I buy a new bike they end up in my old man’s workshop, which is getting more and more bunged up with bikes as we speak. Between him and I, there is a bike in there for every occasion (he is just as adept as me as far as motorcycle acquisition goes), all in varying states of repair (or disrepair, as the case may be), so it was much to my father’s disapproval when I turned up with my latest project. The Kawasaki anoraks amongst you will note that it is a circa 1991 ZXR750J – the non-Kawasaki anoraks will note that it is rather a turn-off of a motorcycle. Both would be accurate. It is a particularly poor example of a ZXR750J track bike.

I know what you are thinking: why on earth would anyone buy that? Well, I’ll tell you – it was because it was cheap. Or at least I thought it was cheap, anyway. It cost me £600 off eBay, and yes, I had had a beer when I was throwing bids at it, willy-nilly. It was actually advertised as an H1, but after a bit of research I discovered it was in fact a J1: the upside-down forks were the most obvious giveaway.

The reason I was looking at ZXR750s in the first place was because I fancy a go at the Classic TT. I’ve raced a few classic bikes in the past and had a right blast, and my absolute favourite event of the whole, entire year is the Isle of Man TT, so the Classic TT seemed the natural thing to aim for.