Another ZRX

Hi all,

Haven't been on here in a good 5 or 6 years!

Spotted a 2006 ZRX1200 on gumtree a few weeks back for a price I couldn't really ignore. Previous owner had not only dropped it once or twice previously, they had also left it outside for the last couple of years when they lived just half a km from the beach... Not really good bike storing conditions as you can imagine.

While she is a bit cosmetically challenged it ran like a peach on the test ride and only had 24,500km on the clock, so one seriously low ball offer later and I was riding it home. My old faithful ZX9R C1 that I've had forever and a day (viewtopic.php?f=13&t=12395) went up for sale shortly after and has since gone to a new home early last week. The old girl was still running as strong as ever with 126 thou on the clock.

Budget for decent mods is bordering on non-existant at the moment, so just doing little things to help clean it up a bit for the time being. Had a new pilot road 3 front tyre fitted straight away as the old one was quite simply dangerous. Also got new mirrors and new levers fitted, plus a whole heap of new stainless bolts to fit. Have also fitted one of the kwick +4 advancers and unplugged the ktric which seemed to give a decent boost down low. Couldn't help myself so managed to sneak a set of pods and a dynojet kit order past the better half, hopefully they rock up in the next few days. No money for a full exhaust system atm so have somewhat gutted and shortened the standard muffler to remove the dented in section from where it had kissed the tarmac previously. Came up alright but it is definitely a temporary solution until I can get a megaphone system for it.

Here she is after a decent wash. Photo is somewhat deceiving as this is her best angle (the LHS of the tail and RHS of the bikini fairing both need paint) and far enough away that you can't see the corrosion on all the fasteners etc


And a pic from a decent ride out through the hills the other day


Has a hell of a long way to go before it reaches the level of some of the other rexes on this site (I will now be dreaming about ohlins for the next few months), but looking forward to seeing it evolve and just riding the damn thing as much as I can. She is like a big cosy lounge chair in comparison to the ZX9!

cheers,
Kris

Last edited by NinjaMoses on Wed Aug 14, 2013 10:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

Me likey. Bought a cosmetically challenged ZRX recently too. Should be a law against ZRX abuse.

Same colour as mine, it will look great with a clean up

Nice one

Bewdee!

Shout if you want to tag along with some old farts on the occasional ride.

(-8

Cheers fellas.

I really shouldn't browse ebay - it isn't good for the wallet. The brakes on the big girl are more than a little lacking compared to the radial USD front end I had on the old 9. Hence I couldn't help myself when I came across some radial nissin callipers off a 2011 ZX6R for a steal. Only problem was I then needed to buy the brackets to suit... not such a cheap exercise in the end.

Anyone want to buy some the standard 6 pots? Just fitted new stainless bolts to the bloody things also haha

Bewdee!

Shout if you want to tag along with some old farts on the occasional ride.

(-8

I work weekends mate, but if you guys ever do weekday rides I'd definitely be up for a spin.

Expecting the jet kit to rock up in a few days so took the opportunity to start stripping the bike down this afternoon. Frame needs a bit of touch-up paint here and there due to surface corrosion so figured it would be a good idea to do it now while I've got it in pieces.

Things I've learnt this afternooon...
1) The plugs for the air/fuel screws on the carbs were already drilled out, so it has obviously been played with by the previous owner at some point
2) I never, ever, ever want to see that airbox again. What a bastard of a thing to remove. I can see why I've read about some people resorting to a sawzall.

Removed the octopus setup while I was at it and fitted the blanking plates I got off greg couch. Sooo much more room above the motor now.

Will go research the topic now myself, but just in case anyone wants to chip in - is the carb icing set up really necessary here in Australia or do most people remove it?If so - whats the best option for removing it? Seems to be a lot of un-necessary potential failure points for no real benefit I'd imagine?

Aussie ZRXes don't have plugs over the mixture screws - US ones do. Icing gear is needed in places like Canberra, Removed mine off my ZZR12- when in cold old Canberra the bugger didn't run well and used mega fuel. Check your coolant filter too. They clog up real easy.

Ahh good to know about the plugs - thanks mate.

Heater circuit is destined for the bin I think. Weather very rarely drops below 10 degrees here in Perth anyway, and when it does I sure as hell have other things I'd rather be doing than riding the bike.

Nice work mate, great to see another rider find the allure of the mighty ZRX. Best blank canvas for making your own motorcycle

Good to see you have also found the place to get good parts and advise on the ZRX, Kwick and Greg Couch, along with Jason7019 make brilliant bits for the ZRX.

Nice work mate, great to see another rider find the allure of the mighty ZRX. Best blank canvas for making your own motorcycle

Good to see you have also found the place to get good parts and advise on the ZRX, Kwick and Greg Couch, along with Jason7019 make brilliant bits for the ZRX.

Very nice mate. If you want a Greg Couch fork brace let me know. I've got one sitting here for $50 if you want it. Nice piece of kit but I've got the Ohlins now.

Dibs on the fork brace Glen...if NM doesn't want it...

No prolemo. Its a black one too.

Couple of progress photos... stripped her down so I could give the frame a coat of gloss black. Still needs another coat but looks a million bucks already compared to before.



My ebay special coil spring compressors rocked up also so took the shocks apart to clean them up. Amazing what a bit of Autosol, steel wool & elbow grease will achieve. Shocks looked particularly crap before and had a fair bit of surface on the bodies, so pretty bloody happy with how well they've cleaned up. Springs got a coat of gloss black while I was at it, will hopefully look okay once they are back on the bike (they were white previously).



Had one casualty during disassembly - the bastard of a guard that sits behind the radiator (attached to the valve cover) wasn't quite as flexible as I thought so is now in 2 pieces Have been reading a few threads on ZRXOA and seems like it is pretty common to just leave the guard off anyway. Anyone on here had any negative experiences from doing so?