Just come back from Phuket Kawasaki dealer, he says ZX10R no longer available, Z1000 now available at approx 500,000bht.

Wiring harness is PITA, but not impossible. I (actually my mechanic) had to replace the entire wiring harness on my CBR1000RR when it was being rebuilt (bought crashed from impound yard). It took a few hours but my mechanic didn't think it was too bad.

Wiring harness is PITA, but not impossible. I (actually my mechanic) had to replace the entire wiring harness on my CBR1000RR when it was being rebuilt (bought crashed from impound yard). It took a few hours but my mechanic didn't think it was too bad.

Yes, a good mechanic should have no problem stripping and replacing a wiring harness, BUT, the mechanics at Kawasaki, Thailand were never trained to do such a thing. I watched them as they fumbled with Dunder's partially de-restricted ZX10R. They are good mechanics, but were never trained to do anything more than basic service on the ZX10R. Furthermore, their service manual doesn't have any instructions on how to de-restrict the ZX10R that they sold in Thailand, so again, it was a lot of trial and error and ultimately a bike that never ran quite right... :/

Ah...it was dunder's bike that this happened to. I remember. That is a problem in Thailand. Like in the States, the mechanics really have experience on tearing apart big bikes. It's probably a novelty in LOS. A U.S. spec wiring diagram from a U.S. manual would probably have solved the problem.

Ah...it was dunder's bike that this happened to. I remember. That is a problem in Thailand. Like in the States, the mechanics really have experience on tearing apart big bikes. It's probably a novelty in LOS. A U.S. spec wiring diagram from a U.S. manual would probably have solved the problem.

The problem was, he chose NOT to replace the wiring harness, but instead to try a different ECU that Kawasaki sourced for him. I was never really clear on where that ECU came from or what spec it was. He replaced the stock exhaust and I think, but am not 100% sure that he replaced the throttle bodies. The end result- he got rid of the rev limiter and got a lot more power out of the bike, but it idled like crap and had partial throttle surging problems that they took months trying to sort out. I have no idea what happened in the end as I've lost track of Dunder, but I do hope he got his Ninja sorted out.

Had a look at the bike

Green book says

Page 18, Build from scrap, in other words from imported parts. Uncertain modelyear

1st and 4th owner Th men, last since 2553

2nd and 3rd foreigners

Phuket plate, and inspected by DLT Phuket on several occasions, so either someone connected or clean papers

Its not been someones baby. Many parts corroded, sloppy installed stickers, the most funny one "Lio Vince" while it actually has IXIL cans. No maintance record.

Mezler tyres from 2008 cant simply have been used this long. Milage 22k km uncertain

Took it for a spin, smooth gear, responsive engine, FI warning light remained on, last time I experienced that was major gasoholdamage but can be anything

Not my cup of tea at 300k baht

Had a look at the bike

Green book says

Page 18, Build from scrap, in other words from imported parts. Uncertain modelyear

1st and 4th owner Th men, last since 2553

2nd and 3rd foreigners

Phuket plate, and inspected by DLT Phuket on several occasions, so either someone connected or clean papers

Its not been someones baby. Many parts corroded, sloppy installed stickers, the most funny one "Lio Vince" while it actually has IXIL cans. No maintance record.

Mezler tyres from 2008 cant simply have been used this long. Milage 22k km uncertain

Took it for a spin, smooth gear, responsive engine, FI warning light remained on, last time I experienced that was major gasoholdamage but can be anything

Not my cup of tea at 300k baht

Thanks for checking it out for us- yeah, given it's a chop-shop import and in shoddy condition, I'd say 200k would be a more reasonable asking price.

With so many new and newish 100% legal bikes available in Thailand now the price for these chop-shop imports are falling fast.

Ride On!

Tony

...

I'll pass.

You've got a point there- if, for example, it's the ZX10R that belongs to a certain BIRA regular, then indeed, it's been ridden HARD, though, to my knowledge, never seriously binned.

But, even if it has spent most of its 22,500 kilometers at the track, a properly maintained ZX10R should be able to survive that many km without any serious problems. If the clutch is burned up, replace it. ZX10R engines and transmissions are bulletproof. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a compression check just to see what kind of shape it's in.

As I said before, IF it's in good nick, AND has a legal book AND suspension upgrades (which I'll assume means upgraded shock and forks), then 300k Baht is a very fair price.

you might be right, especially since there are no tracks in Thailand where one can properly stretch out a litrebike, and if it was bought new in LOS. As for engines, agreed. Trannies on some versions of the ZedTen have a reputation for being fragile. Looked at one recently, and did the Zed Forums research to know what to look for. If youre looking at a ZX10r, theyre solid generally, but as always, Google is definitely yer friend.