1999 Kawasaki ZRX1100, personal salvage restoration
I found this wrecked ZRX leaning against a pole in the downstairs "graveyard" at Joe Gregory's bike shop in Laredo in 2004, when I was on a treasure hunt for some needed parts for some other ongoing project; Joe has the best salvage operation within 150 miles of my shop, so I'm there pretty often.
I had it running inside 4 hours, with a new battery and a tank bra to cover the caved-in rear section. Fairing and fender were still trashed (photo shows the god side), and humongous heavy OEM muffler still neded to be addressed.
Joe connected me with Universal City Kawasaki to pick up a tank, fairing and front fender quite reasonably priced, he also sold me a nice carbon fiber muffler and a new clutch lever. The rest, I found online, mostly through ZRXOA.
The engine was in great shape, the forks, radiator and fairing/headlight mount were all tweaked and needed significant re-work. The meter cluster was trashed (as were the tank, front fender, lever, muffler, and fairing already mentioned). I bought a set of nice low mile tires from Joe and had him install them, as well as re-balancing the wheels. I flushed and rebuilt the forks, carbs, clutch and brake systems. A bit of Rust-O-Leum spray paint touchups, and the bike was ready for some of the most amazing throttle-only wheelies, and 130+MPH speeds I had ever experienced up until that point.
I gave the bike to my oldest son who rode it hard quite a lot, then one of his "friends" wrecked it and basically rashed it from top to bottom on both sides. After refurbishing it again (nothing too serious or expensive, thankfully), I rode it a year or so then gave it to my younger son who then traded it back to my older son, who then sold it. "Musical bikes" or something like that...
I found this wrecked ZRX leaning against a pole in the downstairs "graveyard" at Joe Gregory's bike shop in Laredo in 2004, when I was on a treasure hunt for some needed parts for some other ongoing project; Joe has the best salvage operation within 150 miles of my shop, so I'm there pretty often.
I had it running inside 4 hours, with a new battery and a tank bra to cover the caved-in rear section. Fairing and fender were still trashed (photo shows the god side), and humongous heavy OEM muffler still neded to be addressed.
Joe connected me with Universal City Kawasaki to pick up a tank, fairing and front fender quite reasonably priced, he also sold me a nice carbon fiber muffler and a new clutch lever. The rest, I found online, mostly through ZRXOA.
The engine was in great shape, the forks, radiator and fairing/headlight mount were all tweaked and needed significant re-work. The meter cluster was trashed (as were the tank, front fender, lever, muffler, and fairing already mentioned). I bought a set of nice low mile tires from Joe and had him install them, as well as re-balancing the wheels. I flushed and rebuilt the forks, carbs, clutch and brake systems. A bit of Rust-O-Leum spray paint touchups, and the bike was ready for some of the most amazing throttle-only wheelies, and 130+MPH speeds I had ever experienced up until that point.
I gave the bike to my oldest son who rode it hard quite a lot, then one of his "friends" wrecked it and basically rashed it from top to bottom on both sides. After refurbishing it again (nothing too serious or expensive, thankfully), I rode it a year or so then gave it to my younger son who then traded it back to my older son, who then sold it. "Musical bikes" or something like that...