I attended the initial press introduction for Kawasaki's new ZX-9R back in December of '97, and then took part in testing the bike for the print magazine that I once worked for, so I looked forward with great anticipation to riding the bike again for an updated riding impression for 2wf. And I was not let down. In fact, it's better than I had remembered it.

As you well know, the '99 Kawasaki ZX-9R is light years ahead of the bike that this version of the model first replaced in '98. In the past I'd never personally been a fan of full-bore sportbikes because of the tradeoff in weight over smaller bikes but with the newest ZX-9R there's no tradeoff; it's all bonus.

Since the ZX-9R is little changed from last year we'll skip all of the redundant technical gibberish and just cover some of the changes. Those changes to the latest version of the ZX-9R are simply refinements, as it should be.

The damping rates of the suspension were softened a bit for '99 because, on the street, some riders found the '98 bike to be a bit too stiff for sharp bumps. Whether or not this change was really needed is possibly debatable. As one suspension guy I know would say, "If it feels too stiff you're just not riding fast enough." That's easy for him to say. In real life, though, a street bike needs to be ridden at legal limits much of the time and living with a full race setup doesn't make great sense. The changes to the damping rates were primarily to the parts that the adjustment screws don't affect. Racers tend to rebuild their bike's suspension so it didn't matter that much to those guys.

What was most interesting about the damping of the individual ZX-9R that we tested is that the guys at Kawasaki took the trouble to write down all of the settings of the suspension before we picked up the bike. Not only that, but the settings were actually very close to where we finally ended up after turning all of the knobs and screws just to see what the changes

The new ZX-9R lost much of its first year's punch in the marketplace for a couple of unrelated reasons. It blew the doors off most of its competition and posted the fastest production bike dragstrip times in the history of motorcycling yet that wasn't enough. It should have been enough, but it wasn't. The first reason the ZX-9R didn't have an impact that should have stunned the motorcycling world is, of course, because Yamaha released its all-new R-1 at the same time. For potential buyers it was sort of like having the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin playing in town on the same night.

It's also possible that since the ZX-9R was only available in Kawasaki corporate green it might not have appealed to first-time Kawasaki buyers. And in addition to that, although the business parts of the ZX-9R were pushing the edge of performance, the bike just didn't look the

part. The ZX-9R is consistent with Kawasaki's sportbike lineage but maybe it needed to step beyond that to create more visual excitement. Now that it's available in blue it's got the looks. And it's a nice clean blue with no graphics.

Of all the manufacturer's open-class sportbikes the ZX-9R has the most forgiving chassis. Its two competitors are wheelie prone yet, even though the ZX-9R has a nice, short, lightweight frame, it manages to keep the bike planted to the pavement the best. Of course the thing will do wheelies with little effort but it also takes little effort not to do wheelies, which is much nicer than having to fight to keep the front on the ground.

The ZX-9R is always a surprise because from the seat it seems much bigger than it actually is. This illusion plays itself out once the machine is pitched into a turn and it arches through as tightly and as confidently as last year's 600s. On exiting a turn, though, the ZX-9R shows very well that it isn't a 600.

I have mentioned at various times that when riding a bike like the ZX-9R down twisty roads that the rider can just leave it in third gear and whack on and off the throttle between turns. Now that I've been testing bikes in different locations around the States I've woken up to the silliness of reporting a wide powerband in such a way. Most parts of America don't have roads anywhere near as tight as those in the hills around Los Angeles, nor with anywhere near the number of turns. Where I am today in Western New York curves are a rare feature of the local highways. When a motorcyclist finds one here it gets named and returned to often.

Although the ZX-9R has a broad power band that's a great thrill for tight roads, it also has the most comfortable riding position of the bikes in its class and it offers the rider the most wind protection. On longer trips the ZX-9R is a reasonably comfortable mount for the rider if not so much for the passenger. But even in that consideration the passenger pad is less of an afterthought than on the other bikes in its class. This may or may not concern you.

The braking on the ZX-9R is taken care of by dual six piston calipers and their feel and performance are thankfully, for some reason, much better than those on its little brother ZX-6R. It's always nicest when bikes that go fast also have the ability to stop fast.

The aluminum frame and chassis of the ZX-9R allows for great feedback and the bike is predictable in every situation. Mid-turn braking doesn't tend to make the bike want to stand up, and the spinning mass of the big-bore engine is basically unnoticeable when the bike is hustled through tight turns. As I mentioned after I first rode this bike, the ZX-9R has the kind of performance that can make you laugh out loud while riding it.

The ZX-9R's instruments and controls have two features that are well appreciated. Maybe it's a sign of my age but having a clock on the dash is a very welcome detail. I was still always late when I rode the ZX-9R but I knew just exactly how late. For some reason that was important to me. The other neat feature can only so far be found on Kawasakis and BMWs. The ZX-9R has emergency flashers that are controlled by a switch on the left clip-on. I never had a real reason to use them but I found them handy for indicating to others when I was going too fast.

If you didn't like the green of last year's ZX-9R you've got no excuse now. There's simply nothing not to like about the ZX-9R. This is a bike that I could live with for a long, long time and be very happy.

When looking for a few words that would best sum up the character of the ZX-9R, I found them in Kawasaki's own naming of the bike's new color: "Candy Lightning Blue". This bike is candy, it is lightning, and it is blue. I couldn't have said it better.