House of Fun - 750cc Sports bikes

So there I was, a week before this test and smugly relaxing in my chair knowing that everything was sorted. I had a full brace of riders, a photographer who knew one end of a camera from the other and a racetrack all ready to roll. I even had the rare bikes in the bag too.

A mint R7 was coming along with owner, farming magnate and fine fellow Jamie Rule, and the MV was waiting for collection at D&K Motorcycles 'oop North. The GSX-R750 was a no-brainer because we were using my boxfresh long-termer, which meant the only missing piece of the puzzle was the ZX-7R and let's face it, how tricky could one of those be to get hold of?

Erm, incredibly actually. Obviously Kawasaki UK didn't have one, it being a deleted model and all, but as I trawled my contact book's worth of friendly dealers across the country, I found the same story everywhere. "Can't get 'em for love or money right now" or even a burst of laughter followed by a blunt "you've got three hopes, mate..."

So when a friend turned up a mint green example the day before this test was due to begin, not only was I on the verge of kissing him, but I viewed the Kawasaki with new eyes as it was rolled out of the van that night.

See, I've always given the ZX a hard time. As a new superbike it just wasn't doing the 'do'. At 203kgs it's more into cruiser territory than anything else, and with 110bhp you've got a power-to-weight ratio the latest 600s would be ashamed of. All the Kawasaki ever needed was a better rear shock, ten more brake horse, good rubber and a couple of Slimfast shakes, but despite years of road testers everywhere saying this, nothing ever changed for the big Kwak.

Every year saw a new paintjob but no more before the poor ZX was dispatched once more to the front for the annual 750s group test in ever-more-sophisticated company to collect yet another wooden spoon.

But that was then. With the slide of the 750 class as a whole we can take a more indulgent look at the ZX, taking it on face value for what it is, rather than assassinating it for what it's not and never will be now its development has been officially halted.