In fact, the bike was a real change from anything else I’d owned previously: drop bars, rear-sets, large tacho, tiny speedo and idiot lights galore with a rather weird tank mounted console that looked like some relic left over from a NASA project when the ignition was turned on. Beyond this, actually riding the thing I was immediately aware that the combination of riding position and frame mounted fairing actually made high speed blasts a comfortable proposition. As mileage clocked up this became more apparent as higher revs allowed increased cruising speeds and I began to wonder how I suffered at the hands of the ST.
These higher speeds. also illustrated that even given the build quality of a big Kawasaki, by the time 1100cc are reached the pistons are indeed quite hefty and the secondary vibes can’t so easily be dismissed as in a smaller four - the right-hand mirror dropped off on one occasion and the clocks started leaping up and down when the mounting screws went AWOL. To be fair, this vibration was slight but noticeable; had Kawasaki’s engineers admitted fallibility and employed the Japanese equivalent of Loctite then I probably wouldn’t be daring to criticise them. More disturbing still, some miles later, the fairing began to slowly resonate, which increased to a wobble until the whole thing started flapping about and all but fell off but for the intervention of my left hand. On checking the thing at home I found that the main fairing stay had broken - replaced under warranty the following week and apparently a common fault on early bikes.
Early in 1984 I was travelling through Collingham near Leeds when a crazed cock pheasant came flying over a low wall and careered straight into my handlebars - the damn thing nearly unsaddled me, and if you ever come into bodily contact with such a creature be warned, it’s just like somebody hitting you with a house brick. Even worse than that was the way the bike reacted once the original tyres were slightly worn. Mild bumps had the bars shaking to and fro, but one day I went over a sunken manhole cover whilst adjusting my visor. The front end began wobbling then suddenly went into a massive tank- slapper at 40mph. I managed to grab hold of the bars with both hands and hold on tight. How I didn’t fall off I don’t know but of all the hairy moments I’ve had (and I’ve had a few) this had to be rated as the worst. A new pair of tyres and steering damper were quickly purchased.
At about this time I saw some fairing lowers for sale at £69. They arrived very quickly and the red colour match was spot on. That Saturday the brother-in-law and I spent all day trying to fit the things only to find the mounting brackets were no good. Monday at work consisted of about four hours production and the same amount when the foreman’s back was turned fixing the brackets.
On trying the bike out it was a great improvement as I now had what was in effect a full fairing. The new tyres, Pirelli Phantoms, gripped superbly and made the bike feel much safer. On the motorway the protection afforded by the GRP meant you could really tram on with hardly a care in the world and arrive as fresh as a new born lamp. On one journey a mate on an unfaired CBX1000 arrived quite shattered but I was ready to do it again right then. The only compromise I had to make with this newly acquired masterpiece was a grade cooler set of plugs just to keep things from getting too hot and bothered inside the fairing.
I really began to like the bike a lot. It was big and flash, a real head turner but one with an insatiable appetite for consumables - the Phantoms were well worn by 3000 miles and the brake pads needed replacing after a mere 5000 miles on the back and 3000 miles on the front. This may have had something to do with the fact that I frequently pulled 130mph and once took it to 145mph without any real cause for concern, and reckon that 150mph should be possible.
On decent tyres the bike handled well, but only in the context of a heavyweight, air cooled multi and not the latest hyperbikes which would run rings around the old dear. As the suspension got older the propensity for high speed weaves became greater, but that nasty kind of tank slapper never made a reappearance.
After 20 months of reliable and enjoyable ownership, the bike began to fart and pop when the throttle was closed after cruising at a steady speed. Also the engine revved more when the throttle was closed than opened after blipping the throttle. This was diagnosed as fuel injectors out of synchronisation. This was fixed but I decided it was about time I’d traded in for a new bike - with 23000 miles on the clock the bike was part ex’d for a GPz900.
The ZX was certainly the ultimate air cooled four, the end of a line of fours that had proved themselves as incredibly tough and reliable. I would not have been surprised if one of these bikes made it to 100000 miles. But, the sorry fact is - that. the technology that made the ZX such a great bike in its days has been superseded by lighter, more compact and equally powerful bikes that are easier to ride and cheaper to run. If the ZX is an expensive beast to run, it’s also an exhilarating one to ride and prices of used ones are not extortionate, if you don’t like or trust the new water-cooled fours, the ZX is there for the taking.
A week after I bought the GPz there was a knock at my door and a policeman asking me if I was Andy Wood. I admitted this and was accused of doing 70mph in a 40mph zone and refusing to stop when asked. Luckily, this was merely because the guy who bought the ZX had not informed Swansea of the change in ownership and once I showed him the bill of sale he accepted this. Turned out the guy who bought the ZX used to work in the same place as myself - the following year he wrote it off when some drongo pulled out of a junction right in front of him - a tragic end to a magic motorcycle.
Andy Wood