Hubba Hubba

[Lozza]

I'm in love

http://rmdmotors.com/1972-kawasaki-f9r/

Hate to see the numbers Rick isn't known for clearence sales

[firko]

Nice thing Lozza. It reminds me of my friend Paul Basticks F9 powered Yamaha TZ that he built about 15 years ago. The bike was an immaculate work of art that looked like a factory racer. It didn't make very many race appearances but it was damn fast, easily as quick ast the TZ350's it raced against.  When Paul first built it shimmied and shook all over the place so Paul balanced the crank to about 60% balance factor which worked appreciably but not perfectly. He then fabricated a simple alloy head stay and the bike became as smooth as a Singer sewing machine. It just goes to show that little things make big differences.

How different is the F9R engine to the F9 trailie besides what is obvious on the outside? Kawasaki had big plans for this engine, they figured it was a good basis for a motocrosser, a trail bike, a flat tracker and the road racer. They made a factory kit to convert the Bighorn trailbike into a flat tracker which included a factory engine race kit (maybe the same as this bike?) and templates to modify the frame. Only a few kits were produced and I know of one that made it to Oz which I've posted photos of it on here before.

[JC]

I have a magazine article on those F9 powered R-R bikes, from back in the day, if anyone's interested.

[Lozza]

Can you email them to me please John?

This looks to be some factory kit with the magnesium dry clutch and ignition covers. I never seen or heard of the road race kit until you mentioned it. I pinched the link from a site where someone had a road race kit and was asking for info.
I wonder what the frame is KH400 LOok at the size of the drum on the rear.

Seeing the big K dropped all the disc valves from the line up after 74-75( JC) I'm assuming a corporate decision stopped all the fun. Only the KR250 84-85 appeared with disc valves after this, could be wrong though