3-25-16 Update: Initially, this listing did not get any action at the opening bid of $7,500. 4 months later, this Ninja is back up for sale with a realistic opening bid, which is why bidding is now up to $4,550 and the reserve not yet met
If you’ve been looking for a Ninja ZX-12R, I’m not sure how you could do much better than this Japanese import (silver wasn’t available in the US when the bike was first released so the owner had to bring his color choice across the Pacific).
The ZX-12R produced 178 horsepower, good for the title of most powerful production bike when it was introduced in 2000. Kawi planned on having a big release to counter the then-current top speed king, the Hayabusa. Team Green was hinting that they’d be able to top 200mph, and that was enough to scare some regulators into calling for an import ban on these top speed monsters. So in 2000, the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that capped top speed at 300 km/h (186 mph) was instituted by manufacturers to avoid political issues. The ZX-12 thus never got the glory it probably should have because it had to be capped even before it was released.
This example (VIN: JKAZX9A19YA007298) is a one owner bike in great shape with 8,806 miles (though of course the odo shows kilometers). The seller has ‘treated it like it was made of gold’, and made a few upgrades: upgraded intake boots on the throttle bodies to cancel Kawi’s mechanical top speed limiter, Power Commander 3, Two Brothers titanium exhaust, stiffer clutch springs, and even a disappearing license plate cover. The seller says this bike has hit 200 multiple times.
I’ve never cared for how this bike looks, but it’s hard to deny how quick the model is – and how nice this particular example is. Find this ZX-12R for sale in London, Ohio with an unmet opening bid of $7,500