ZX6R - How reliable are they?

[Jayy]

Hi Guys, new on here...

I'm after getting rid of my stupidly un-reliable RS 125 which I bought last year to get used to a sport bike before passing my test to get a bigger one.

I passed the module 1 test a few weeks ago (what a stupid idea that test is) and need to book my module 2 for this month.

I'm after kawazaki ZX6R 2000 / 2001 model to start off with. How reliable are these bikes?

Most I've seen have around 15,000+ miles on them. Are they good to go whatever the mileage on them?

Thanks,

Jay

[superstacker]

As a J1 owner,

Most should be reliable if they have been looked after...

For some reason the j1 suffers from carb icing in the winter months, and ideally go for one where the brakes are in decent order (the calipers should have been stripped and cleaned).

Mines on 35k and doing ok

[The Tot]

Pretty reliable. Things only start getting expensive after 30k miles. When I say expensive, I mean

Replacing worn shocks - £60 (revalve) OR £260 for a hagon unit
Brake disks - £200 for a pair - make sure your regularly keep on top of brake maintenance - clean them every 6 months or so to stop them from sticking
Headbearings - by about 30k miles, they're pretty much almost shot - £30

All of those are just cost in parts. Engines are generally strong, reliable and bullet-proof, although the one on my 6R-F let go because of a holed airbox!

Kawasaki's generally don't crash well so a set of good crash mushrooms are a must! The engine casings are made of cheese!

But, in terms of day to day use, very reliable, very strong and very comfortable. A good all-round sportsbike.

You won't go too far wrong. Don't get detracted by people saying about head gasket failure myths. If anything were to go wrong on a kwak, it would just be the aforementioned parts that will need replacing due to wear and tear. ZX6R's tend to go through head bearings every 20k miles depending on how they're ridden.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[DaveH]

Great choice of bike and echo all that is said above.

Got a '02 J2, not wishing to tempt fate but have put about 15K on it in the last year and a half, bringing the total to 25k, with no real problems.

6 pot tokico cailpers need stripped down and cleaned every so often, especially if bike used all year round; straightforward to do, reaplcing ALL the seals in them is expensive, but they may not need replaced, just the channels cleaned up.

Bike also suffers from carb icing when the filter in the carb heating pipes gets clogged up, clean this out and it will run fine. (Its the clear-ish plastic 'bulb' at the left hand side of the carbs)

Fantastic all round bike that does everything well; done 4 track days on mine, plus commuting and some touring, not too bad for pillions either.
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ZX7R & ER6F

[TheDonUK]

Quite reliable (touch wood) has always started first time or there abouts for me,

They like to go through bulbs and the exhaust seems a bit niggly but other than the 6 pots as mentioned not a bad bike
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Have a habit of dropping oil pressure (lots a Kawasaki engines do it) and then the mechanics/home mechanics leave it as is through negligence or ignorance to the fact. Drain a little oil out and see if any swarf drops out.

A lot more common than people think. All the other things people have mentioned are normal things to happen on most carbed bikes. So just keeping good maintenance means it should be fine.

Wanna buy mine?

[Jayy]

Thanks for the input fellas, it deffo hasn't put me off them. I really like the look of them and can't wait to get rid of this piece of s**t bike I got here that f**s up every 2 months or so.

Reuben, where you from mate?

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

Have a look here, based in SE London.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=175687

[Jayy]

I'm from Manchester pal, looking for something a liiiiitle bit closer mate haha

[DynaMight]

As long as it's been looked after and serviced correctly then the engine will most likely be good for 60,000miles.

Valve clearance check is every 8k miles on the G/J model ZX6R's so that could be costly, also my carbs would go out of sync atleast every 4k miles or so. So unless you have your mechanics hat on this could cost a little bit (hours labour to adjust the carbs and about 3hrs labour to check the valves plus more time if they need adjusting)


But as stated, once you get around the 30k mark other stuff needs replacing/rebuilding too.
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My bikes are at https://www.bikepics.com/members/dynamight/

[trevoriv]

Fine, mine gets raped, crashed and used all year round and its never let me down, dead easy to patch back up

Mine is on 25k miles and never had one mechanical problem, mine does seem a bit tyre hungry though.
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Past: '96 Thundercat, '02 ZX636R (A1P), '58 KTM 690 SM LC4 Current: '06 ZX636R (C6F)
Mudskipper wrote: Someone just has to sig that...

[scream aim fire]

i got the 02 a1 model (636) only thing thats gone wrong on mine so far is the undertray fell off although it stayed on until i got home so i was lucky
license plate also fell off due to a shitty ally bracket which i replaced with another cheap one from halfords which promtly broke after about an hours riding

engine has been fine though touch wood...having said that it has only done 7500 miles lol

don't think i'll ever venture away from the kwak, if i had decent credit rating i'd trade mine in and get a brand spankin new one
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CBT PASSED 18/01/09 THEORY PASSED 14/04/09 DAS PASSED 17/04/09 3 minors wet test.
Bikes: 2009 Aprilia RS125 (PX'D) - A1P ZX6R - Stolen -Triumph Daytona 600 -wrote off via BMW
Current bike: P7F ZX6R

[swiftb]

[Coxyzxr]

Bullet proof. The Engine will out live your granny.

As most have said the carbs, bearings and more importantly brakes are what need looking after.
Electrics rarely go on Kwaks.

Just keep an eye on the things mentioned and keep up with oil changes.
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**WAS FITTED "WRONG WAY ROUND" !** CANT ACCOUNT FOR THE STUPID !

[Jayy]

Worth investing in some wavey discs and decent brake pads then?

I'm not a mechanic but if I know what stuff to look out for I can keep an eye on it an book it in at the required intervals. Plus when I goto buy one in the next month, I will be asking these questions so thanks allot guys.

[the grim reaper]

I have known one that ate the head gasket twice in three months (despite getting the head properly checked) but I have no idea of the history of that one and it had over 30k miles on it.

Kwak brakes are notorious for seizing up and need regular maintenance, I would recommend doing a full caliper strip and clean every time you change the brake pads. Apart from that they're very good bikes and pretty well made.

One thing to be careful of is nutter owners, the ZX6R has a ride height adjuster, a mate of mine bought one off a wannabe racer and he had dropped the forks, raised the ride height and wound all the suspension settings to max, the thing rode like a wheel barrow. Pay attention to the owner and have a squint at the thread abover the top of the rear shock, if it is showing a lot of thread maybe be aware that you'll have to reset everything to standard.

Cheers

Grim
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