Information
Australian Motorcycle News
Scans of pages relating to the first public look at the GPz900R at the 1983 Paris motorshow. As these mags only had 8 pages of colour print I’ve included all of these, the ads would have cost a pretty penny. Although it’s pretty clear the Kawasaki advertising budget didn’t include any graphic design compared to the other Japanese manufacturers….lol!
It’s interesting that the articles definitely don’t rate the GPz900R as ‘belle of the ball‘, no matter how good they considered the visual design. It’s sits below the expectations of the Honda VF1000R, Yamaha RD500 & Yamaha FJ1100 so I’m guessing Kawasaki were pretty nervous at this point.
Click thumbs for 1280px image optimised for web browsing, some pages also have links to hi-resolution 300dpi scans (+3MB).
GPz900R (ZX900) Database
Number of owner contacted & confirmed bikes.
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A5A
A6
A7
A8
A9
A10
A11
A12
A13
A14
A15
A16
Top Gun
About the Site
My family loves older vehicles, the newest one we own is 2003! But I am acutely aware of the ownership complexities especially:
- they often need more 'hands-on' mechanical work &;
- there often isn't any local expertise from the service centres;
- there is often no new parts available from the manufacturer;
- parts often have to be sourced 2nd-hand or from overseas.
So we often end up doing a lot of the research & work ourselves and this information gets stored either locally with the bike or online forums - although finding the useful parts in these forums isn't always simple.
The original goal of the site was simply somewhere for me to record service work & contacts on my GPz900r so that my kids (the one that likes bikes anyway!) could easily access it - it doesn't concern me if it was publicly available.
I then realised that with this online structure in place I could also offer it to other owners, and the site could potentially expand to record other owners experiences and expertise , meaning we can learn from others but also pass on this knowledge to subsequent owners of these wonderful motorcycles.
At least Covid-19 has given me plenty of spare time to pursue my passion for the motorcycle!
Location
Adelaide
South Australia
gpz900r@motoshoot.com.au
Timeline
1983 - Honda XR200
1984 - wanted a GPz
1985-2013 - cars+family
2014 - finally got one!
Disclaimer
The information provided on this site (or links) is personal experiences from non-professional home-mechanics, so neither it's accuracy nor it's validity can be confirmed. If you need professional advise please visit your local Kawasaki dealership or a qualified industry professional.
Like riding any motorcycle, at the end of the day the only opinion that really counts is your own!