Need For Speed
NEED FOR Speed
The latest spin on Kawasaki’s ZX-12
DON'T WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW about Kawasaki's ZX-12R? Weren't we here at Cycle World provided with a testbike when one was finally released after much delay, and hadn't we discovered in our June issue that despite being one extremely fast motorcycle, the big, bad 12R didn't live up to its fastest-production-bike-ever hype?
Um, yes.
And yet, here we are again, holding it pinned and looking pretty for the radar gun. But who turns down another chance at crowding the magic 200-mph mark? Not us. That’s why we tried again, only this time the bike got a little extra pre-test love in the form of a serious once-over by Muzzys, in Bend, Oregon, and the bolt-on addition of a stainless-steel exhaust system with carbon-fiber canister. Why the Muzzys massage? Well, they wanted to be sure the bike was absolutely without a doubt set up to factory spec. (What? They don’t come out of the factory set to factory spec?!?) Cam timing was checked, oil level was set to perfection and break-in was meticulously performed on the Muzzys dyno. Muzzys insists there was no extracurricular hocus-pocus.
They were even so kind as to pre-run our bike at an airport in Maxton, North Carolina, using the East Coast Timing Association for verification of speeds. What’d it do for them? Stock best was 192.3 mph, and with the exhaust system 199.1 was recorded. Following that test, the bike was “sealed,” crated and shipped to us.
We first ran the bike all stock on our dyno, at which point it produced 161.6 horsepower, 4.9 bhp more than our original testbike, a gain easily attributable to optimized cam timing. With the Muzzys exhaust system, output rose to 168.9. Our top-speed test site is considerably higher than where Muzzys tested, some 2200 feet closer to outer space than Maxton’s 256 feet above sea level.
So what’s an absolutely optimized ZX-12R with an aftermarket pipe do on our high-desert test ground? With an approximately 10-mph tailwind, the pictured motorcycle passed the gun at a remarkable 197.3 mph, then immediately hit the rev-limiter. Averaged with an against-the-wind best of 183.5, you get 190.4 mph, 3.4 mph more than our original stock testbike.
Remarkable speeds, yes, but still not the fastest ever. But none of this will matter next year, anyway, with manufacturers having agreed to voluntarily limit production-bike top speeds to 185 mph starting in 2001 (see “Speed Bleed,” June). The war for all-out top speed supremacy is over, Suzuki’s GSX1300R Hayabusa the victor by 7 mph in front of our radar gun.
If you value that 7 mph, buy a Hayabusa. If you want a slightly more sporting chassis, with nearly there straightline capability, buy a ZX-12R. Whatever you do, get an unrestricted bike while you can. They’re destined to be classics, the highwater marks in a battle of excess we aren’t likely to ever see the likes of again.
Mark Hoyer
