A Dream come true!!

Today I rode Doug's 1984 Kawasaki GPz 900R!! My hands are still shaking as my adrenaline pump got berserk and ran into overdrive because of sheer awesomeness of experience ..... Yeah, EXPERIENCE!!! an experience I only dreamt of and never imagined that it would come true.

Doug showing the "Throttle"!!

When launched in 1984, and subsequently featured in Tom Cruise's Top Gun, the GPz 900R started the era of liquid-cooled, 16-valve, 4 cylinders of Kawasaki and the dynasty still continues. It was the street king a couple of decades and I can tell why!!!

The distinct look of the bike made it's presence absolutely clear. The looks though retro but were astounding.

Compact yet a beast

The bike is equipped with a water cooled in-line 4 16-valve engine, which allowed Kawasaki to make the GPz 900R Ninja feel as light and compact as the 750s but the power output could make 1100cc think when you open up the "Throttle"

The in-line 4, 16 valve liquid cooled engine

The superior aerodynamics of the bike proved to be an edge over it's GPz 1100 predecessor, providing mind boggling acceleration above 6000 rpm and blinding speeds from 5000 rpm to the 10.500 rpm red line. With a kerb weight of around 227kg, the 900 is surely a heavy bike, but the weight is very evenly balanced and gives the bike an awesome solidarity.

Well.... I couldn't find any better angle to capture me with the bike ;)

Technical Specs

So, finally it was time for a test ride around the parking lot of our Lincolnshire office (again the "special" licence comes in way!!)

The adrenaline rush is clearly visible on my face

• As soon as I switched on the ignition, the 908cc made it presence felt, and the adrenaline pump of my body acknowledge the power open heartedly!!!
• The bike already had it's first gear engaged so I slowly let the clutch loose, opening up the throttle by a little bit, and the bike instantly sprang into motion. As can be seen in the video, I was a bit cautious because I had never rode any Ninja before (rode Chris's bike before, but that was a different scenario!!!).
• Truly speaking, for the entire ride around the parking, I really didn't require to engage the 2nd gear, because in it's 1st gear, the bike easily crossed 25mph. But being habituated to my bike and to let my left arm loose, I engaged the 2nd gear at around 20mph. At low speeds, the bike felt a bit heavy and that's understandable (the sheer power number of the bike made it's presence felt). But at the same time it was as smooth as butter.
• At low speeds, making a tight turn felt like a matter of getting habituated to managing the weight of the bike. But still it was balanced and bike tilted confidently and came back from the tilt.
• The engine had a rich and crisp grunt and the one down and 5 up gear shift was an absolute bliss. The rear disc made a negligible skweek if you press it hard, but then again, the twin disc front encouraged confidence and also warned me that at high speed you got to have control over your nerves.
• Above all the throttle response of the bike as nothing like I've seen till date. Now I can easily see why some guys find the front wheel in a desperate attempt to kiss the sky when they open up the throttle recklessly. The one word which can define the beast best is "Throttle".
• One thing which I noticed was as I parked the bike after taking the test ride, I could hear a faint engine knock because the engine was heated up. Generally I hear such a sound from my bike after I spin it for about 5-6 km. But again, this is a complete different genre of bike and at completely different level. I really don't think it would like to be ridden at such low speeds as I did today!!! (again.......special licence came in way!!)

All in all I'm proud of myself and feel very privileged, that I got a chance to ride this bike!!

Last minute queries!!

The smile of eternal satisfaction

Last but not the least........ Thank you Doug for allowing me ride your bike!! Thanks a lot buddy!!