Celebrating 10 Years of Kawasaki ZX6R J1

The most beautiful Kawasaki ever built

First Ride: Year 2000 Kawasaki ZX-6R
motorcycle.com

"We took a new Ducati 748 along for as a reference bike and there was really no place on the street where the Kawasaki rider couldn't open the throttle and close in on the Ducati."



For the 2000 model year, only Kawasaki has tinkered with their 600 Supersport, giving the 6R a new engine, totally revised suspension and a completely new look. Kawasaki insists the Year 2000 ZX-6R is the bike to own in the 600 SS class



"The swing-arm is all-new with extruded aluminum beams and no rubber dampers inside, reducing the weight by nearly one pound."



While the exhaust exits out of a new 4-2-1 exhaust system, the air enters the engine through a new, twin ram-air system featuring larger ducts for more pressure and increasing high-speed power. Extended openings in the system help keep overall air inlet pressure high. A new alternator has higher-output, rare-earth neodymium magnets while being lighter and smaller for quick throttle response. Intake snouts adorn the front of the 6R to increase power at racetrack speeds and the new aerodynamic bodywork is "swoopier" to reduce the drag-coefficient.

Love the j series!! J2 is a little better tho

Mine's about to turn 50,000, I need to decide on a present

yes, they are a good bike..I like mine, it's solid.

2000 Kawasaki ZX-6R First Ride - Sport Rider
sportrider.com

The ZX-6R's 599cc four-cylinder mill was never a slouch horsepower-wise-consistently ranking at or near the top of the class. Kawasaki engineers weren't satisfied, however, and redesigned numerous engine parts with an evolutionary-rather than revolutionary-eye toward increased power and less weight. The powerplant's basic configuration and construction remains the same, but many key components received a thorough re-examination in pursuit of those goals.



Key changes center around the cylinder head and top-end. Capping the list is a new semi-hemispherical combustion chamber (based on Kawasaki's WSB racebike...from 1996!) that boosts the compression ratio to a stratospheric 12.8:1, requiring at least 90 octane pump fuel for proper combustion. In the interests of increased top-end power, the carburetor manifolds were shortened 7mm, reducing overall port length; while the ram-air ducts were reshaped to increase airbox pressure at higher speeds by a claimed 12.0 percent.



Steering feel and tire feedback during banzai corner entries on the track were much improved-with none of the slightly numb feeling we experienced on the Kawasaki's previous model. Turn-in was as crisp as ever, and line changes could be easily accomplished midcorner without much effort. And virtually none of these assets changed with a switch to race compound tires; several ZX-6Rs were equipped with Dunlop D207GP Star production race tires during the latter half of the racetrack testing (when we had to silence the arrogant Euro tire distributor), and were hammered mercilessly with no ill effects other than a slight loss of straight line stability.

The most beautiful Kawasaki ever built
............

nice post Andi

but how come no pics of red ones???

nice bikes the 00 zx6rs, look good almost as good as a zx7r