Bike-2002 F1 Believe me when I say the F1 and F2 are faultless...in every respect...even with stock pipes, stock rear shock and forks and yes, they can be a sports tourer and a VERY competent one at that. This bike will slay many other machines (even big red v twins) in the hands of a competent rider and will have you dragging knees and looking for the apex. The key....you must spend time...a lot of time getting the suspension and ride height set up CORRECTLY, when you do you will be amazed at how competent this machine really is. A correctly set up F1/F2 will never shake its head or get out of shape and they simply do not need a steering damper, they really are that stable. I am 48yo, 6'1" and 86kg nude. I feel no need what so ever to replace the stock screen with a double bubble etc. The stock screen is perfect. My shoulders and helmet are in clean air and at 120kmh the 9 is the most comfortable sports machine I've ridden. At 220kmh it is pure rock solid bliss and just humming nicely. I live in the mountains of South East Australia and regularly do 400km 'loop days' around my favourite roads. Does my back hurt?...nope, shoulders?...nope, knees?...nope, neck, wrist? no. Now the critical question...does my butt hurt?... No, that seat is pure bliss, wide and supportive with plenty of room to slide forward and back. Good solid tank range of around the 300km mark depending on your wrist and the headlight is nothing short of excellent (the rocker can be positioned half way between the high and low beams, with a bit of dexterity, to have both on at once). In summary, don't think twice...just buy one. Everyone whose sold theirs now wants them back!

Owned my C1 for 5 years now, recently prices have dipped to below £1800 for clean low mileage examples so it's time to review a forgotten sportsbike that cost nearly twice as much as a 1200 Bandit when new but now can be bought 20% cheaper for a similar year model.
You gotta feel sorry for Kawasaki...after the successes of the original Z1 and the GPZ900 they thought they had the big sportsbike niche sewn up, but the B model was aced out by the smaller and nimbler Fireblade and this forced them back to the drawing board. Come '98 and they unveiled the C model...entirely new from the ground up, lighter than the 'blade and with a good dose more power...surely success beckoned...what's that on the Yamaha stand?...the R1. No-one even looked at the ZX9r. However that was an error on behalf of the buying public...it took Yamaha another 3 years to get the R1 to the sort of speeds the 9 would acheive and though a little nimbler it was nowhere near as comfortable.
What you get for your pittance is at least 130hp at the rear wheel, with more on tap at silly speeds from the effective "ram air" sytem, sub 400lb weight, incredibly bomb proof engine and strong Tokico six pot brakes (more on these later)you also get a chassis that will accomodate six footers with ease and (relatively..for a sportsbike) high clip ons.
Engine performance is fantastic, smooth power right across the rev range with a real sting from 8000rpm, there is a slight flat spot around 3000rpm that can be entirely banished by advancing the ignition (acheivable on the 'C' by just modifying the pick up coil mounting), the suspension both ends is adjustable for preload and comp/rebound damping.
Top Tip Time,....replace the 10w fork oil with 15ml of 15w oil for every stone of weight over 12st and dump the rear shock for a ZX10r item as quickly as you can...it bolts straight in and is much more sophisticated than the standard unit and...if short of leg, drop the fork 5mm through the yokes, it quickens the steering nicely and the 9R has stability to spare..if lanky the same can be acheived by using jack up dogbones for the rear.
The Tokico brakes, though used on a plethora of Kwaks and Suzy's...for some reason cause a bit of a headache on the 9 and most owners find themselves battling lever travel, various...mostly ineffective methods are employed including Brembo cylinders, braided lines and various methods of bleeding, the only tip I can give is keep the (12!) caliper pistons clean and fit a bleed nipple to the master cylinder banjo bolt, when you've done with the bleeding do this one last...seems to work for me. You can't knock the overall power of them mind, Ferodo platinums suit better than EBC HH's which take a hell of a time to warm up and are pretty poor until they do.
The headlamp on the C is frankly, rubbish...though this has been adressed on the E model onwards with twin lamps, putting brighter bulbs in partially helps...but the pattern always seems a bit wrong to me.
It's all nitpicking though really, for wobbly 600 bandit money you get a bike that can easily keep up with the gixxer thou's and 10r's on the road (though you'll be putting a touch more work in)is spacious enough for a decent tour without seeing an Osteopath, is monumentally reliable and even a bad one will touch a genuine 170mph.
What's there not to like?.

Bought a zx9f2p and its been fantastic , but would never class any of the zx9`s as sports tourers lol, who the hell said that anyway your lucky to get a tank bag on it ,its not a zzr mate . Anyway it handles fantstic and storms out of corners like you would never beleive, its exactly what you want from a middle of the road sports bike it ticks all the boxes and more. wanted a C model but due to the 3 gear problem gave that model the elbow and then this f came my way , still cant beleive how much faster than my k3 gixxer 750 it is and it handles better. A very very underated bike .

I got a 99 reg Kawasaki ZX9R ZX900 F2P and have been happy since, I have not changed anything on her and despite a scare with some random noises all has been great (the noises turned out to be from when a mechanic had put the tyre on so it rubbed against my hugger afetr a service)

I love my Kawasaki ZX-9R. Great bike for six footers or taller.