Motorcycle Forum / General / Sportbikes / December 2005

Ummm.....I'm guessing here, but close to 600cc perhaps? Again guessing, but
considering the odds of any Japanese motorcycle being anything else, perhaps
it has 2 cams? 16 valves? A transmission? Couple of tires?

Better than a Vespa but hardly an R1?

So-so, not a porker like the 750 and 1000cc sizes of the era, but probably
nothing to write home about compared to modern machines.

Crappy and weird bias ply something or anothers. Don't count on using modern
rubber on it for sure.

Couple of gallons all together?

Carbs? CARBS!? Oh....this IS an old bike, isn't it?

Its way outta date, but wasn't a terrible bike in its day.

Yeah...its an old bike and wasn't terrible but compared to modern hardware
its pretty pathetic. Not that someone who lacks the basic skills to even
google any of this stuff up for themselves would notice though.

$1000

Any reason someone who "has had lots of bikes" doesn't know most of the info
on this already without having to ask for things as silly as the
displacement on a 600CC machine?

It's 600cc and a sportbike?

The fifth model year and second (or third) evolutionary advancement on
a ground-breaking design (original Ninja 600 re-wrote the middleweight
rules on introduction in 1985).  I recall a major upgrade for c. 1987
and suspect there was another between then and '89.

Any color you want as long as it's black or white, right?  I can't
think of much wrong with a known-good design other than woeful
obsolescence compared to more-modern 600s.  Must admit I'm spoiled by
radial calipers, fuel-injection, and suspension that's worth a sh.t,
none of which existed (or were commonly available, as applicable) in
1989.

I don't remember if the Ninja 600 stayed on after the ZX600 came out
about '89 or '90.  Like the later Yamaha FZR600 and Honda F2/F3/F4
series, they were workhorse models and fundamentally very strong.  

e.g., Peckhammer and I noticed Suzuki's still selling the Katana 750,
seen at the Intl Moto Show the other week: yet another example of a
mid-to-late '80s design that still sells, due to unbeatable combo of
low price and overall competence.

I had two '85s, one for parts.  

"Good" is always Kawasaki's strong engines.  To this day their
sportbikes are usually horsepower-monsters.  "Bad" includes
occasionally-questionable quality control and rough details.  That
hasn't changed from '85 to my '03.  My '85(s) took serious abuse
before blowing up, however.  I have no regrets buying an '03.

Again, as an all-around 600 from that era, Ninja 600s are
tough-to-beat in terms of bang-for-buck.

Amazing it's stock.  600s are often squidded-out, being the favored
weapon of the light-in-pocketbook, heavy-on-stunting crowd.  Every
punk-a.s bitch in town had a Ninja 600 when they came out in '85, with
an MSRP of less than four K if memory serves (I remember the Ninja 900
was about $5,099).

That it still runs at 30K miles is another minor miracle.  If the
bike's stock with that kind of mileage, someone's probably a
conscientious and conservative owner.  OR it's changed hands numerous
times and refuses to blow up.  

I'd probably have a compression check and (possibly) leak-down test
before buying, to check ring condition and valve seats, respectively.
If either one's dodgy, reduce offer price accordingly or walk away.

If however the bike's immaculate cosmetically and internally, they
might ask more than two grand.  A basket case, I'd pass anyway but
probably one to two thou.  

Couple years ago I spotted an immaculate '84 Yamaha FJ1100, all-stock,
with roughly 7.5K miles at a dealer (consignment bike).  The guy
wanted more than five grand for it.  Note that's more than it went for
new.  Still, as a rolling museum piece, there are worse options and I
seriously considered buying.   Point being, value's in the eye of the
beholder, to a certain extent.

Parts availability is a good question.

For other details, again: Kawi forums.  Few-to-no one here will know
these kind of specifics in the detail you want.  Kawiforums is loaded
with data-junkies, though, like any other bike or
manufacturer-specific venue.

You bet.

'-----------------------------------------------------
' Daniel Bannon
' NW WA State, U.S.A.
' 2003 ZX636B Hercusaki, 1999 CBR1100XX
'-----------------------------------------------------