TURBO REX tweak it up
MANY OF YOU READING this would have modified your own motorcycle in some way, often every motorcycle you’ve ever owned has got your personal touch, so to speak. But how many would have the internal fortitude to put a turbo on a motorcycle? Some have tried, more often than not failing, because the road to turbo heaven is littered with melted pistons and melted minds. Derek Henderson decided to have a go and came out the other end with a great bike and his mind intact. Here’s Derek’s own take on his Turbo ZRX1200R Kawasaki. CP
I GREW UP IN THE late ’70s and ’80s, let’s say 77 to 87 being my formative years in motorcycling, when aged 15 to 25. That’s my period and the models I lusted after then, but could never afford, have a special place on my want list. KH750, CBX1000, RD350LC, Z1000R, RZ500, GSXR750 RG - there are many, some I have. Don’t get me wrong, I love all bikes, modern stuff too, OK maybe not cruisers - and scooters don’t count, but other than that… I fully understand how much better bikes are now and how good we as motorcyclists have it today. Someone once told me, these old bikes you lust over from your youth, don’t ever ride them, just look and admire, for they are like that girlfriend you wanted back then – not the same as you remember anymore, they will disappoint you today. Too true! Keep your memory and don’t ride them again. This was good advice, which I failed to put into place, taking my long wanted RZ500 for a blast from the past when I finally found one in 2007, it scared the shit out of me, and not in a good way! By today’s standards and what we have become accustomed to, it is, well…. crap. So now I just look at them and admire.
The Replica
When Eddie Lawson won the superbike world championship on that gorgeous KZ1000S1, which led to the birth of the Z1000R ‘replica’, that was ‘my period’. I wanted one so badly back then, but it was out of my reach on apprentice wages, then life got in the way. It’s a common story.
Fortunately, Kawasaki knew there was a bunch of diehard tragics like myself that missed out in their youth and so released the ZRX in 1997. Undoubtedly, a better bike in every way to the Z1000R of 1982, or even (dare I say), the exotic, rare, and highly valuable Superbike Championship winning KZ1000S1 it replicated, a fact that even a tragic like myself can’t argue. Anyway, circumstances had me waiting for the upgraded ZRX1200R and this particular bike is my 2001 model (with a twist), which I bought new in 2002. You see, in Australia, we had a different
