RIDEFAST NOVEMBER 2021

You will read elsewhere in this month edition of our
little adventure around Redstar on an Africa Twin
at Adventure Academy’s and S.A.Biking Academy’s
cornering course. Well, at the track we happened to
notice a very tidy 1998 Kawasaki ZX7-R lurking in
the pits and made a few enquiries. It turns out Andy
performs magic on refurbishing customers older bikes
back to showroom specification.
His speciality is the KTM 950 and 990 Adventure
models however he admits to being smitten by the
‘90s superbikes that were cutting edge when he started
motorcycling in 1999. Andy was approached by the
owner of this neglected World Super Bike legend to
restore it back to something he could be proud of not
only riding occasionally but showing off to his mates
amongst his collection of other desirable machines.
What Andy received was a solid base bike which had
unfortunately been left to rot in a shed for 12 years before
the current owner found it, rescued it and set about
ensuring it felt the wind down its massive ram tubes once
again.
He had to strip and repair panels that were botched
together with Q-Bond, restart a motor that had rusted
spark plugs and refurbish a set of exhaust headers that
looked like they had been used as an anchor for 12 years.
All of those beautiful 3D decals had to be designed and
printed from scratch, applied to the freshly painted white
and green panels and then sealed over with a smooth layer of
lacquer to ensure a perfect finish that will last for longer than
the next 24 years. While he admits to not being a mechanic
and having no formal training, with his team of reliable and
talented serviced providers Andy took a few months over
lockdown to resurrect this mean green machine you see here
and we managed to squeeze in a session on the track on the
Ninja.
Firstly I can tell you that my fifty year old body hasn’t held up
as well as the ZX7-R and I am contemplating sending it in for
a refurb. The ZX7 is a lot smaller and more compact than I
remember, the same applies to my leathers.
The bike was in a very sad condition.
A
HO
Dem
Folding onto the Kawasaki suddenly had the leathers trying to
force my nuts into my brains and making me squeal in pain as
the world went a bright white around me and it was everything
I could do not to drop the newly refurbished Kawa on the deck.
Some judicious repositioning of said appendages and a couple
of more grunts as I got my legs folded up underneath me and
feet onto the pegs and I was underway. Taking a lap or two to
accustom myself to the bike, its power delivery, clutch feel and
brake bite, along with suspension and chassis handling dynamics.