I was looking for a well priced ninja to turn into a trackbike albeit to stay road legal for the occasional Sunday blast.
I saw the advert by user Shaunicous and a few texts later I was collecting the bike and enjoying a short ride home from London.
I’d like to say at this point, it was made very clear what I was buying and nothing in this post is of any disrespect to the previous owner.
How the bike looked when I got it home
It didn’t stay like this for long, the scottoiler was removed and sold and the strip down began.
The list of things I was going to refurb/rebuild is as follows;
Replace front fork internals
Rebuild rear shock
Clean and rebalance carbs
Refurbish wheels including bearings
Replace downpipes and end can
Full service- oil,filters,plugs
Refurb and rebuild all calipers
Replace brake lines
New tyres
“Deep clean” of all fairings and bike
Before and after of calipers, all going gold.
Before and after of rear shock including a new spring.
Horrible progressive springs replaced with Ohlins springs
Rebuilt fuel tap and replaced fuel lines, previous owner said it only going 100 miles to a tank and reserve didn’t work, found out fuel lines been attached wrong way on the fuel tap, so when “on” it was draining from reserve and when on reserve it would have used the main line.
Ongoing cosmetic improvements
For now it’s resting on a pallet on wheels and resting in the garage waiting for me to refit the front forks and rear shock.
Will keep this updated when I do more, it will be finished by end of this month and ready for a trackday in July.
I’ve got hundreds of pictures but they aren’t really that interesting.
Here is the finished article bar new tyres which are going on this week, I’m also going to get the wheels refurbished after a track day or two as well.
Road fairing is staying on as I will most likely sell the bike soon to fund another project, I like taking bikes apart and upgrading them as a hobby, it’s amazing how well older bikes can shame the newer bikes on track with a few cheap modifications.
What have I done then;
Ohlins front fork springs including new oil and seals
Ktech rear sprung shock including new oil and re-gassed
Refurbished and sprayed brake calipers, new seals, brake fluid and EBC HH pads
Braided brake lines all round in carbon look
G model Stainless downpipes and Standard G model can including new gaskets
DID chain and sprockets
Carbs ultrasonically cleaned, floats and mixture screws set to factory standard
NGK spark plugs, new air filter, Oil & filter
New fuel hoses including fuel filter
Dunlop sportmax qualifier tyres
I’ve set preload, sag, etc for my weight and riding style too
A bloomin good clean.
The July trackday didn’t happen as I had a few other things going on so the project fell a bit behind. Trackday booked for this month so will see what the bike can do and iron out any problems on the day. The bike runs and rides on the road very nicely but there’s only so far you can push it on the road.
If anyone is after a well sorted 1997 ZX6R with brand new suspension, brakes, fully serviced etc then let me know
