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My intention was to get a Kawasaki ZZR1100 and I duly went out and looked at some. A lot of what I saw was rubbish and gave up. A couple of days later I was in a local dealership enquiring about some cleaning products for the my XJR1300 when I noticed something interesting in the showroom. The bike was a Kawasaki GPZ1000RX but it was on a 'V' plate (2000), I looked at the mileage and it read 4600 miles. After looking at the price tag and realising that if I were to to a deal on it, I would get the bike and a cheque, I did some research on the bike.
The bike was built in 1986 and was still crated and unused until it was registered in 2000. So here we had a 14 year old bike that had done less than 5000 miles. I bought and have now had it re-registered with an age-related plate so it now sits on a 'C' (1986) plate. For those of you who don't know what it is, here's a quick lesson:

1986 - Kawasaki launch what was at the time 'The Worlds Fastest Production Bike' - otherwise known as the GPZ1000RX (model designation - ZX1000A). In America the bike was called the Ninja 1000R. - 'Who can catch a Kawasaki?'

By todays standards it isn't that special; 17 years ago it was. With 125bhp on tap from the 997cc four cylinder, 16 valve, twin-cam motor it would propel the bike to a then unbelievable 167mph, nuff said.

1998 - Kawasaki launch its successor, the ZX10. Again to claim the crown of 'The Worlds Fastest Production Bike'.

1990 - Kawasaki launch the ZX10's successor, the ZZR1100. We all know how good that was and again they managed to produce the 'The Worlds Fastest Production Bike'. (I can see a trend starting here!).

All this adds up to is the fact that the GPZ1000RX is the grandad of the ZZR1100.