1986 Kawasaki Eliminator

[gunrunner]

I came across 1 of these on a site over here . As i like the old skool bikes the add stated it was one of Japans 1st muscle bikes . Has anyone come across 1 of these and what do they go like . :ummm:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=252404832

 

[PATMAX]

I have ridden the "E" and don't try comparing it to a Max. They do share the shaft effect though! Looks like this one has had some upkeep so that is a plus. I would not buy one unless I got cheap enough that I could resell it for what I paid for it. No doubt old bikes have their appeal like my 67 Triumph T120R but to me, the Eliminator is just a poor Max wannabe.

 

[RaWarrior]

It's got a crotch rocket motor, not a cruiser motor. You have to really rev them up to get any pull out of it. Even still, they don't compare to the Max.

Not saying it's a bad bike, but it was a pretty poor attempt to compete with the Max.

 

[88vmx12]

Gun Runner!

I will tell you about the Eliminator. I have a friend that has two of them.. However the Zl1000 that you are looking at is by far the least wanted out of the eliminators. The Zl900 is by far the most desirable because of it's looks . The 900 was made in 85 and 86. The 1000 was only made one year 87. Now from the collector aspect the 87 is more desirable, but on the otherhand some love them. I love the Zl900 myself. Plus they are so much fun to ride, the growl is crazy cool.

scooter

 

[gunrunner]

Gun Runner!

I will tell you about the Eliminator. I have a friend that has two of them.. However the Zl1000 that you are looking at is by far the least wanted out of the eliminators. The Zl900 is by far the most desirable because of it's looks . The 900 was made in 85 and 86. The 1000 was only made one year 87. Now from the collector aspect the 87 is more desirable, but on the otherhand some love them. I love the Zl900 myself. Plus they are so much fun to ride, the growl is crazy cool.

scooter

Yeah , i just come apon it while surfing the net . Cant say ive seen 1 before .
Dont like the gauges on it tho , must be a bitch to read as they are tiny .
But the add said they were aftermarket .
No replacement for the Max tho . unk:

 

[Nick.]

i know those gages, their from JC whitney and ARE small. Not a fan of them but i like the 900's better than the 1000 because they're lighter and much more grunty

 

[Bawls]

the kawi will hold it's own very well against the max and responds well to mods. In the game of building bikes the I-4 is king. There used to be an article floating around somewhere of the V-max vs. ZL900 and Max just barely eeked it out. Don't underestimate the Kawi!

 

[Dezeez]

I'm old enough to remember when the Max and the 900 Eliminator were released and I'm pretty sure that at least one magazine had the Eliminator beat the Max head to head in a 1/4 mile shootout. Never road one but it's a bike I wouldn't mind having in the garage as part of a collection.

 

[Elimax]

I had an '85 ZL900 for a few years. Good bike, not as good as the Max, plus it had a TINY gas tank (a measly 2.5 gallons). Try filling up every 50 miles. That SUCKED. Plus not a a lot of mods to do.

Elimax

 

[gunrunner]

I googled it and there seems that not many 1000cc ones were made . :confused2:

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

Take if from somebody who currently owns one, the ZL900 is a KICK ASS motorcycle! It launches better than my stock 90 VMAX, and is ahead until about the 8th mile, the VMAX WILL CATCH IT and beat it in the quarter mile, but it's a good race. Like was previously said, they also respond well to upgrades, although to be honest, I love it bone stock, just the way it is! I have a collection of 80's muscle bikes, several V65 Magnas, an 85 ZL900 Eliminator and an 87 ZL1000 Eliminator. The 900 Eliminator is the faster of the two but they are VERY close, a better rider on either could probably beat the other. Both are faster than the V65 Magna and VMAX in the 1/8 mile, both are slower in the quarter mile. The VMAX is quarter mile King in this class of 80's muscle bikes, always have been, always will be! A few weeks ago, I got into a SPIRITED debate on the zl-oa.com forum about how a V65 Magna was faster than the ZL900 in the quarter mile, and those guys about lost their minds!!! Since I currently own one of each, you'd think they'd listen to me, but they want to DRAG RACE to prove it! An 80's muscle bike shootout is supposed to be in the planning stage, the moderator over at zl-oa.com mentioned today that since he is unemployed, he may not be able to pull it off. I told him to contact Sean Morley over here to see if he could help set it up. Here is a copy of the thread I posted on the V65 Magna forum. I would LOVE to trailer all 4 of my bikes to a muscle bike shootout this summer, I think it would be an event of a lifetime, and like I said, all 4 of my bikes are bone stock and should give a pretty good comparison of all the bikes in question!!!

"OK, so just recently, I got into a spirited debate with some fella's over on the ZL forum, about which bike was faster, the ZL900 or V65. Having owned both, I KNOW FOR A FACT, the V65 is faster, maybe not in the 1/8, but definitely in the quarter mile. Now mind you, we are talking about bone stock bikes, but back in the day, there were a ton of muscle bike shootouts in the magazines, and I never saw ONE ZL900 time in the upper 10's, when I saw plenty of V65 times in the upper 10's, this to me PROVES which bike is dragstrip king. However, the ZL guys have gone as far as saying the Honda executives BRIBED the magazines to give them better times in the shootouts! Yes, I know, they are grasping at straws, but the bottom line is this. We've decided to end the speculation and have our own muscle bike event, located somewhere in the central US, that would give the opportunity to be "close enough" to everyone who wants to participate! I think it would be an epic event, and I would bring several of my bikes to run, and then I will spank the ZL guys and send them home with their tails between their legs! I'm also posting this up on the VMAX site and probably the GS Resources site, just want to gauge some interest here. The dragstrips mentioned so far are as follows:

http://www.brainerdraceway.com/

A centrally located track that comes to mind is Heartland Park in Topeka:
http://hpt.com/ which is approx 1200-1300mi from Pottsville PA and Phoenix AZ.

This track here might be better for us than Heartland Park Topeka.
http://www.srcadragstrip.com/

So, any of you V65 guys want to help me show up the big ZL guys? It would be a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

By the way, that yellow one that started this thread is WAY overpriced at 4200. The market is WAY down on these bikes right now, and you can pick up a very nice ZL900 in the 2000-3000 dollar range. In fact, my latest 87 ZL1000 that just needed a little work only set me back $1250, so that guys dreaming at that price. With these bikes, bone stock is best, any crazy mods or paint schemes DEFINITELY detracts from the value!!!!

 

[Shuriken]

I posted a related thread awhile back about the V-Max vs other muscle bikes of the era.... might be interesting to link it to this thread on the eliminator.

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=4300

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Take if from somebody who currently owns one, the ZL900 is a KICK ASS motorcycle! It launches better than my stock 90 VMAX, and is ahead until about the 8th mile, the VMAX WILL CATCH IT and beat it in the quarter mile, but it's a good race. Like was previously said, they also respond well to upgrades, although to be honest, I love it bone stock, just the way it is! I have a collection of 80's muscle bikes, several V65 Magnas, an 85 ZL900 Eliminator and an 87 ZL1000 Eliminator. The 900 Eliminator is the faster of the two but they are VERY close, a better rider on either could probably beat the other. Both are faster than the V65 Magna and VMAX in the 1/8 mile, both are slower in the quarter mile. The VMAX is quarter mile King in this class of 80's muscle bikes, always have been, always will be! A few weeks ago, I got into a SPIRITED debate on the zl-oa.com forum about how a V65 Magna was faster than the ZL900 in the quarter mile, and those guys about lost their minds!!! Since I currently own one of each, you'd think they'd listen to me, but they want to DRAG RACE to prove it! An 80's muscle bike shootout is supposed to be in the planning stage, the moderator over at zl-oa.com mentioned today that since he is unemployed, he may not be able to pull it off. I told him to contact Sean Morley over here to see if he could help set it up. Here is a copy of the thread I posted on the V65 Magna forum. I would LOVE to trailer all 4 of my bikes to a muscle bike shootout this summer, I think it would be an event of a lifetime, and like I said, all 4 of my bikes are bone stock and should give a pretty good comparison of all the bikes in question!!!

"OK, so just recently, I got into a spirited debate with some fella's over on the ZL forum, about which bike was faster, the ZL900 or V65. Having owned both, I KNOW FOR A FACT, the V65 is faster, maybe not in the 1/8, but definitely in the quarter mile. Now mind you, we are talking about bone stock bikes, but back in the day, there were a ton of muscle bike shootouts in the magazines, and I never saw ONE ZL900 time in the upper 10's, when I saw plenty of V65 times in the upper 10's, this to me PROVES which bike is dragstrip king. However, the ZL guys have gone as far as saying the Honda executives BRIBED the magazines to give them better times in the shootouts! Yes, I know, they are grasping at straws, but the bottom line is this. We've decided to end the speculation and have our own muscle bike event, located somewhere in the central US, that would give the opportunity to be "close enough" to everyone who wants to participate! I think it would be an epic event, and I would bring several of my bikes to run, and then I will spank the ZL guys and send them home with their tails between their legs! I'm also posting this up on the VMAX site and probably the GS Resources site, just want to gauge some interest here. The dragstrips mentioned so far are as follows:

http://www.brainerdraceway.com/

A centrally located track that comes to mind is Heartland Park in Topeka:
http://hpt.com/ which is approx 1200-1300mi from Pottsville PA and Phoenix AZ.

This track here might be better for us than Heartland Park Topeka.
http://www.srcadragstrip.com/

So, any of you V65 guys want to help me show up the big ZL guys? It would be a BLAST!!!!!!!!!!"

I've had 3 V65's, none now but wish I still did, very cool bike,

You live in Irving??

We meet up in Bandera twice a year, springs coing up, 11 cabins reserved already for spring and fall. Usually have a few dallas guys come down as well so you could catch the trip down with them.

They are not "Rally" weekends, we go to ride the three sisters, and drink alot of beer afterwards and tell lies....Rooms are cheap, I've got one held right now with two single beds available still (I'm taking the Queen)

Usually 17-25 bikes, about 3/4 Maxes and the rest a hodgepodge of whatever, but mostly whatever is sportbikes and sporttourers, mostly 30-50 year old folks...

Call me if your interested

Rusty 281-536-5067

 

[desert_max]

Take if from somebody who currently owns one, the ZL900 is a KICK ASS motorcycle! It launches better than my stock 90 VMAX, and is ahead until about the 8th mile, the VMAX WILL CATCH IT and beat it in the quarter mile, but it's a good race.

You know, I just had to revive this thread. In 1985, I had the first ZL900 Eliminator in Marion County (Ocala) Florida. Pissed my friend off enough that he bought one of the first Vmax's around. We terrorized Central Florida for several years together. We traded rides often. I always felt that the ZL held its own against the Max. True enough what's said here - the Eliminator almost always won the launch, no matter who was on board, but the Max would run it down in short order. We both ran out of balls on each mount at around 140. Sadly, I sold my Eliminator in '92. Went through a Suzuki phase, blah, blah. Kept my '71 Bonneville through it all. Had it since 1976.

Anyway, that was my intro to the Vmax. I only recently figured out that I needed to have another old school muscle bike. I'm glad I did. There's only so much you can do on an ST1100 . . .