2002 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-9R Motorcycle reviews

I bought my 9R new in the spring of '02 and have never looked back. I have over 19,000 miles on my baby and have to honestly say that it is the BEST all around bike. It has enough power to hang with the big boys on the 1/4 mile, can hang on the twisties yet has the comfort of a Gold Wing. I have a 125 mile round trip commute to work. I have been on rides of 550 miles in one day and still ride the next! All the guys that sit on my nine don't want to but have to admit that the comfort and wind protection makes sense for an everyday rider. I have had no mechanical problems and most of the service you can do yourself. Show less

I think this is the best looking bike made in 2002, everyone loves the color of the bike I traded my ZRX-1100 for the 900 you can feel the torque difference but maybe thats because of the 4000 rpm rule for the first 500 miles. I need some help my 900 developed a chatting sound coming from the engine. Customer relations stated the 02 ZX-9 are noisier than the 01 the only problem with that answer my bike started making the chatting sound at 240 mile so far they haven't stood by their warranty. I have done everything they ask, compared my bike to another 02 900, and got three different mechanics to listen to the bike all three say they never heard that sound. Show less

I have only had this bike for a couple of weeks. I had a really tough time chosing between it and the GSXR 1000. In fact I am still wondering if I made the right choice. Partly because the GSXR reminded me of my 91 GSXR 1100 that I have always regretted selling. I have been without a bike for about 5 years since selling that GSXR. I looked at all the reviews and I thought the 9R was the best all around bike in the open class. My buddy is riding a 2001 R1 and I am not having any trouble staying with him. This bike has a really nice feel to it. I have an 80 mile round trip commute to work and I have found the bike to be a lot more comfortable than my old GSXR. The bike handles corners better than I will ever be able to, so I don't feel like I am limited by the machine I am riding. Since I am still breaking the bike in, I haven't pushed the tach to the limits I would like to. I have been impressed with the powerband (it is very smooth and the speed will creep up faster than you would believe). I give it 4 stars, because it is lacking in a couple of areas. The first is that it doesn't have a fuel light. I know that may seem trivial, but one more light and a float couldn't have added enough weight to make that much difference in the performance. At least if I had a light I wouldn't have been running through the gears passing a line of cars when the bike started to stutter. It is pretty tough to find the reserve switch at high speed in the face of an oncoming Peterbuilt. The other thing is that it does have a little hesitation/stutter at low rpm. All the reviews mentioned this, but I never thought it would bother me. Those first 500 miles when you have to keep it under 4000 rpm make it very frustrating. If the bike was fuel injected I think it would be a lot tougher. All in all, I think I made the right choice. The only thing that really bothers me is that I know the GSXR has more power. Even though I can't handle the power of the 9R, the desire to have more power is tough to deny. Show less