Launch Date November 2000
Actual Cost 7,895 List Price
Claimed Power 150bhp

KAWASAKI ARE SAYING they've changed so much the bike can be described as all new. Well from some angles it might look that way, but from others it looks like nothing's changed. So what's going on?

A general mid-life overhaul, that's what. Not very glamorous, but much closer to the truth. And no bad idea. The chassis remains much the same with revised linkage ratios to help sort the bikes notorious (a bit of an exageration) rear. The frame's received a bit of strengthening and the suspension has been recalibrated, interesting if predictable improvements, but nothing like all-new.

The motor has a new closed-deck cylinder block, higher compression ratio, a new set of carbs and different cam timing. Sounds like a recipe for more speed from the fastest bike in the class already, but then you have to factor in those huge new air intakes and figure it's a meaty forced air addition to top end, high speed power. Still the fastest bike and now with tauter handling, it should pose a more serious threat to the R1's dominance.

MCN recently featured a 8 bike shoot-out at Italy's 1.24 mile Nardo speed bowl. Facts are given below with all bikes perorming very close. Once again, the ZX9 is the speed King - but by only 0.2mph. How fast do you really want to go?

Bike RSV-R 996 SPS SP-1 'Blade ZX9-R MV S4S GSXR-750 R1
Power bhp 112 114 119 127 127 110 123 135
Torque ftlb 71.4 73.4 72.7 70.5 70.6 52.2 58.7 76.8
Top Speed 174 172 173 176 177.1 176 176.9 175
0-62mph 2.74 2.65 2.78 2.33 2.32 2.76 2.72 2.28
0-400m 10.66 10.38 10.61 10.20 10.34 10.60 10.40 10.04
0-1000m 19.60 19.29 19.52 19.82 19.20 19.69 19.06 18.60
62-0mph 36.77 36.66 36.42 34.88 37.32 35.38 36.62 35.78
Lean Angle 61.8 59.4 58.4 55.8 54.6 58.6 57.1 56.1

Now that Summer is under way, we should start seeing a few more of these bike on the road.  I know of one person who traded up from a C2 and reckons (on the road) that it is more than just the sum of a few changes here and there. So if anyone out there has one, let me know your impressions.

Other tests worth looking at:

2WF.COM do a full test on the 2000 ZX9

Back to Specifications Goto 99 v 00 Shootout