The Buyer: ‘Forgotten heroes still pack a punch’

It’s an interesting exercise, this: racking one’s brain for the sort of ‘forgotten hero’ type of bike. Something that was a pretty good machine in its own right, but was aced by the opposition.

ake Kawasaki’s ZX-9R. Launched a couple of years after the seminal FireBlade, and a sort of cross between the ZXR750 and the ZZ-R1100, it didn’t really cut it. If you wanted a sportsbike, you bought the Blade, and if you wanted a searingly fast road bike you bought the ZZR.

Kawasaki realised they had something that was neither fish nor fowl and the bike was revamped in 1996, 1998, and 2000, and then Kawasaki gave up on it and produced the ZX-10R.

A used ZX-9R now represents astonishing value. It really is a brilliant sports-tourer: as near as dammit as fast as the ZZR, just as comfy, and handles better. The C models had gearbox issues (second used to pop) so go for an E-version and don’t pay more than £1700. The last F ones fetch another couple of hundred. A good ZX-9R will now fetch more than an equivalent year ZZ-R1100/1200. Word has got about.

A few years previously, Suzuki were in the position they are now: “Oh, hell, all our bikes are looking dated compared to the opposition. Tell you what, let’s do a parts-bin special and flog it cheap…” The result was the RF900, which married a smaller version of the oil-cooled GSX-R1100 engine to a basic chassis and a full fairing with odd Ferrari F40-style louvres in it. And it was about the best bike they made. It did 165mph, was very solid, and only a limited tank range held it back. Buy one now for under a grand. Fabulous value.

Words: Neil Murray