MODERN CLASSICS ZX-12R

KAWASAKI'S KING NINJA AIMED TO BE A HAYABUSA-BEATER

- GUY ALLEN

BACK AT the turn of the century, which to some might seem when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, Kawasaki launched what it expected to be the king hit in the hyper sports tourer class. Up to then, there had been a couple of clear leaders.

First came the Honda Blackbird, launched in 1996, which just edged out Kawasaki’s ZZ-R1100 as the reigning max speed champ in production motorcycles, with a top end nudging 290km/h. Next to say hello to Suzuki and its Hayabusa, which took the number over 300km/h, months before the motorcycle industry as a whole adopted an agreed 299km/h top speed limit. Exactly how this was going to save anyone or the reputation of the industry as a whole is up for debate – it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.