Well, I have to admit I have a ‘thing’ for modified naked 1990s machinery so I was really pleased when reader Richard Gibbons offered us his ZRX1100R to test.
Rich has a reputation for building modified bikes and manages to do it on a tight budget, so this isn’t a cheque book special! The base bike for this project was taken in part exchange for his modified Yamaha TRX850 a couple of years back. The big Kawasaki was all original and untouched. However, it had been badly stored for a while so was suffering surface corrosion and pitting on various parts and a rotten radiator to boot.
Initially, plans for the bike simply saw a quick tidy-up and a new radiator; the bike lasted around two weeks in this form before Rich got bored with the looks and ride of the ZRX. When asked what was his inspiration for the bike, Rich said: “I wanted to build an old-school fun bike which would go and stop better than standard plus plenty of carbon fibre.” So, with this in mind, the bike was stripped down and the frame, swingarm, wheels and various other parts were sent to Mark Fernyhough at Rugeley Powder Coating. Going for a ‘stealth’ look, Rich went for satin black on the majority of the rolling chassis; the finish is
