Amazing how intelligent Craig is and how much dedication he has for motorcycles. Love watching him work and listen to the amount of information he has.

The most important thing I learned from you is that Craig, as a mechanic, it is always best to install good factory parts. You followed the tech manual, and the culprit was faulty fake parts. Thank you for sticking with it and realizing that real genuine parts are what's recommended. Good video, Bearded mechanic and TY again for teaching us the right way.

I owned that bike, bought it new in 1986 in NY. Still to this day the best all around motorcycle I ever had. Great to hear it again. Ps.. The Ninja 900 was the Tom Cruise Top Gun bike, not the 1000R you're working on.

Those green coils are aftermarket ones. Probably why they both read same resistance, but higher than what the manual manual says, They probably were working fine. The pickup coils were the culprit, especially as they were reading almost open circuit instead of a few hundred ohms. I've owned a GPZ900R for 34 years (basically the same bike as this one) and done a lot of work on it. Nice to see some trouble shooting being done.

It's so nice to see a real mechanic at work not just a glorified parts changer. So many shops now don't do any diagnostic procedures to find the real issues. Great work Craig!

moral of the story? check for continuity and resistance even with new parts. saves a lot of diagnosis & installation frustration. strong work!

The fairings alone drive mechanics insane. Moto mechanics fear that the amount of time put into fixing the problem will prohibitively increase the repair price so much that the customer will not pay because they won’t believe how much effort went into resolving the issue, so it becomes a cost benefit analysis decision. Glad you showed how difficult diagnosing and repairing a problem on an older bike can be.

I really appreciate the fact that you let us know how many time this repair took, people use to think that their vehicles can just get in the shop and 30 minutes later it's ready to

I think a lot of places don't want to touch these older bikes because they can't plug their computer into it and have it tell them what's wrong. The diagnostic skills like this are dying.

Everytime Craig gets an old bike running his beard grows one new gray hair... - The Beard of Knowledge 😂😂😂

As a former service manager for a Honda motorcycle dealership, 89' till 93' I must say I commend you on how you took care of this customers Ninja. Much respect to you.

I got scammed when I was younger and buying a scooter to commute. It looked like new and was sold as "rebuild", but the seller did only cleaned it up and made a fresh paintshop. This thing was running fine on the long testride but it was in horrible conditions and had tons of random problems which made it super unreliable. As I had no money to get something else and had to use it on a daily base I was forced to fix this thing myself with cheap scrapyard and aftermarket parts. This whole situation was miserable and I hated it to the roots as I had no experience with all this stuff, but I have learned so much at the journey and the satisfaction when this thing finally was rebuild was immeasurable. The scooter was sold a few years back, but the memory and experience still remains. Watching Craig fix these unfixable bikes will always bring me back these feelings of joy from the day when I finally finished a project that I never wanted to start in the first place.

Fantastic job done by Craig, when nobody else would touch it. No greater gut punch than making a bikes issue worse when 'fixing it', but Craig stuck with it and pulled it off! Well done Craig and Dan!

It’s nice to see someone take the time to make old classics work again!

Craig and Dan you guys are killing it on the views and content! Very happy you continued and created your own channel!

Your a shining example of a dedicated and excited mechanic. You rock Craig, and Dan your an awesome cameraman love how your involved in the videos too

The service advisor in me knows how legit Craig is when he says "replicate the issue" I should get that tattooed somewhere

good to see "old school" mechanics still exist, here in my little part of the world it is hard to find a mechanic that will work on anything older than 10 years because all they want to do is have a computer diagnose the problem and then just replace the part. keep up the awesome work Craig. 👍👍

This one of the best videos that i have seen on Motorcycle repair ! This guy knows his stuff and explains everything step by step ! great job i hope you do a ton more videos !!!

Nice to be let in on the diagnostics process. These older 4 Cylinder bikes are becoming ever more difficult to get mechanics to work on, and their value is also becoming a factor in how much an owner is willing to invest. The solution is do it yourself and with videos such as this there is help at hand. Thank you for sharing and helping owner/amateur mechanics such as myself. Richard 1995 ZX7 L3 owner in Brazil.

Long time bike n beards / srkcycles watcher here, i love this channel, as a mechanic theres so much channels out there, but they are all either too simple and trying to be cool, or they are way too long and unenjoyable to watch, Craig is just an amazing presenter with tons of knowledge and you manage to cut it into an interesting episode!! Please keep going Craig and co! Greetings from Europe!

Craig you may benefit from an IV holder for your hanging fuel tank. Wheel it around where you need it and adjust for height.

Wow! I appreciate your thought process in diagnosing the problem. Had an 85 -900R ,loved it. Wanted this very bike but got a girl friend, later wife. New bike became new car (for her) and soon no bike at all.... Why does that happen.... Glad I stumbled upon this video-just to hear the engine sound was refreshing. I'm closing in on 63 and thanks for giving me a nice memory!! Keep it up! Thanks for sharing, Steve

Craig, this is all gold to the owner of an older bike. I love the logical approach and explanations! Keep it on repeat ;)

I love watching you work on these old bikes and it impresses me on how much knowledge you have on fixing bikes. Great job and another great video, keep up the good work.

Well done Craig , hope the customer paid you well, you did far more than any of the others were prepared to do 10/10

Absolutely superb to watch as someone returning to motorcycling after 18 years . As a UK 🇬🇧 engineer I was somewhat confused at first until I realised that the terminology you guys use for the coil types is different here in uk 🇬🇧 . A really entertaining and thoroughly educational video and of course I look forward to following you again . ☀️😎👍

Very cool seeing this ole feller. I had a 600 Ninja (black w/red), bought it new when they 1st came out in '85. Sold it, then ended up buying another, except it was red w/white, and it was set up for track racing in Utah. Traded that in and bought a used '89 ZX-10 from the Newgate mall dealership in Ogden in '91, when a guy traded up for a '91 ZX1100. I ended up meeting him, and eventually buying that '91 from him as well. The bike haven't been ridden in more years than I want to admit, so seeing one of the brothers running/rolling around and loving, here really bring me great joy and memories. Thanks a ton!! Great fix-it vid.

Fantastic! Another "Thumbs Up" for Craig. Craig, I'm enjoying your new content far more than the old stuff. You've gone from silly entertainment (B&B), to being an educator, while still being fun to watch and learn. Doing it all on a budget! You're proof that you don't have to spend big bucks to make good content about motorcycles. Thank you very much!

Would have been nice to see Craig test the new coils and pickups in the same manner to see the difference.

Nothing more satisfying putting on your gear to test all your hard work. Recently got my cylinders honed, installed new piston rings, and lapped the valves on my 130k mile Ninja 500. Test ride went good so I took it to VIR and ripped it around the track. Doesn't get better than that.

Thanks for the memories!! Purchased this exact bike after watching Top Gun while on a 6 month cruise on board the USS Nimitz. Took leave in San Diego and flew home to Wisconsin. Purchased it new and drove back down to NAS Jacksonville FL. Had the overheating issue while going through construction in ATL... I MISS my bike!!

Please add more footage of riding the finished product to your videos! The best parts are when it finally runs and when you get it going, would just love more of that.

I had one do exactly the same thing. It was a coil that would break down once hot! I am 62 and do miss working on machines. I drag raced Mopar's and Bikes all of my life! I lost two brothers to motorcycle accidents and promised my mother that I would never buy another bike. I kept the promise for 20 years and eventually had to ride again. I had a very good friend who passed away last November. He was once of the best bike mechanics that I ever knew. He ate and slept motorcycle! Rest in peace Rodney Allen Jett!

thank for showing the frustration moments as the success one. Will think on this next time I hit a wall working on my bike, good lesson to learn, new parts can be the source of the problem, too. really happy to see your channel going up, keep it up!.

Awesome. Nice seeing people work on older bikes. I had one of these back in the day. Mine was black with red pin stripes. Great bike.

This man deserves all the successes. Force the beards to reunite!

Craig, you just earned another subscriber. I rode my first motorcycle while my dad was stationed in Germany in the Army, in 1962. It was a friend's 1953 BMW 500 twin, in an apple orchard near Ludwigsburg, Germany. There has been a long line of them over the years since then. Your logical, common sense troubleshooting technique is far too rare these days. I knew an old guy that had a small BMW shop in a nearby town but it dried up around him during the covid crap and there's no one locally that can come close to his skills. As I mentioned, guys with your skills are becoming seriously rare... maybe you have a third cousin that's planning to move out to the west coast... no? Oh well. 😂 I'll be enjoying your videos for a long while... maybe I can even learn a thing or three along the way. Thanks for all the work that goes into these videos. It's appreciated!

I still have my GPZ 900r I bought in 1984. In my tool kit I carried a 800ohm resistor because if one of the trigger coils fails the igniter box shuts down which on mine could happen often. Buy placing the resistor across the trigger coil that's failed it completes the circuit and I ride home on 2 cylinders. Good work guys, I love my bike.

As a new rider, you offer the most info. out of all other channels. I'm finally understanding the sound of the engine. Still a beginner though.

Great bike! Nice to see you get the bugs worked out... those dang electrical gremlins are the worst. Cool that a classic bike like that one gets another shot at life! Hope the customer has fun riding it! Safely of course :D

Australian here. In 1986, i got a GPZ900r, (they didn't have Ninja on the side, but were the same) blue/Silver. Absolutely fantastic bike.

You are a really good mechanic, when those replacement coils were "replaced" and you started it, it immediately sounded fixed.

Hey Craig great job! On your ohm check on the ignition coil secondary you had the plug wires in the circuit, which will add resistance. Just something to keep in mind. Keep up the great videos

Awesome work Craig! I've been down that road a few times with bikes. Always so rewarding when you get it right though. Also, love the sound of a old Kawi with a 4 to 1!🏍🏍🏍

Man - you're so damn clever, Bearded One, wish you lived near me! I'm knockin' on the door of being 75, had 29 bikes, live on the iconic Isle of Man where bikes are endemic. but I still can't get my head around much. Big respect to you.

Watching these videos reminds me of my dad’s motorcycle shop growing up. Him and one employee, took in every type of bike and brand, never had a diagnostic tool just could listen and shakedown and know what to fix.

You are acting as a true inspiration for my personal restoration journey with vintage motorcycles. thanks so much for these inspiring videos! Love it!

Enjoyed the methodical and thorough troubleshooting all wholesome and old school no swearing lol. Literally the James May of American Motorcycle channels.

Good job! 😀 Bought a 1985 900 Ninja brand new, absolutely loved that bike. Easy to work on, easy to change oil and adjust the valves. I went down at 130+ on that bike in 1992, bike was destroyed as well as a few body parts and skin of my own. About 2 months later I found the same model bike, transferred what HP goodies I could from the old pieces and rode that bike for a number of years. They were pretty much bullet proof as long as you stayed on top of maintenance and simply took care of the bike.

When Craig first started his own channel, I was kind of like meh. Now it’s one of my favourite channels. Well done sir.

New subscriber here and I just want to thank you for the videos, the work you guys put in to them and that you are teaching at the same time. Gotten a job at a shop and I have Zero prior knowledge or skills with cars/machines/bikes and pretty much every single day im just thankful and happy because I get to learn from great, kind people and my boss is just superb. Clean shop, everything in its place and always Good parts. :) Was to say the Least nervous my first weeks at the job but man, mechanics are just the best people :)

I remember my dad said there was a tsb for the 88 model, the ground that went to the frame right under the seat and the would put that ground directly to the battery. And it cool to watch him set the carburetors up with the set of mercury gauges. It's awsome to you fixing this awsome bike👍

Bearded Mechanic great job of diagnosis and course of action needed. Awesome.

Nice video Craig. Good to see your diagnosis process. That problem with bad new parts has hit me before now. Frustrating but looks like you got back to checking them pretty quickly - maybe in real time you had a few hours of pondering (and swearing) !

Good job properly diagnosing and correcting the problem. Its a shame that technicians who not only have the skills, but also have the diligence to find and fix problems are disappearing.

When I joined the military in 1985 my friend owned a 1000R Ninja, the bike your working was my introduction to biking. That was 39 years ago....now I ride a Goldwing. Great video, glad I found you

Im having a bad day, this is exactly what i need. You’re amazing craig ✌️

Nice one. You've always got to be wary of ebay stuff, sometimes it's knock off junk in oem packing! Another point, those Pod filters will cause carburation problems if the carbs haven't been re jetted to allow for the increased air flow.

Love your videos, all the details and the struggles you sometimes go through. Many thanks!

Well done for working that one out. I've had similar problems where I've fixed something simple and it's got worse. A horrible feeling. Excellent ending. 👌🏼

Craig, good job. You persevered, through frustration and deceit, but you did not give up and figured it out. I too have been bitten by the whole "it's new so it should work" problem. Some parts are just bad out of factory. Sucks. Would have loved to see you measure the new coils to determine how much out of spec they were. FleaBay can have some "interesting" items.

Dude...its really mind bending how Craig just understands the problem right away by just watching and riding the bike😂... Craig is a motorcycle sorcerer.. He knows some kind of dark bike magic 💀(which he got from his experience on bikes around half of his life)

Coils are a never ending issue on my 5.4L ford. It has over 270k miles ant the coils only make about 90k. About 1 out 4 coils are bad out of the box. I use heat from the stove to replicate the heat ohming test. Works most of the time. Great job Craig. Thanks for the content.

Man I love your videos. I bought a Kawasaki VN 800 A last year with 10,000 miles on it. It’s a 2005 and all original. It’s cool seeing someone old school those bikes back to life. Keep em coming

that's actually so crazy to me that two other shops wouldn't test the stator coils, pickups, or ignition coils. Those are almost always the first things I'll go to for diagnosis after I've confirmed good fuel flow for carbies and good pumps for FI.

The reason most shops these days won’t fix older equipment like this is because the art of diagnosing something based off of the symptoms being exhibited is a dying art.. most techs these days go straight for the laptop/ipad to diagnose through the sensors on the vehicle .. and since it’s mostly new kids coming in to shops these days, they don’t even want to try looking at them

Same issue I had with my 89 ninja GPX ninja 600R. You are an amazing mechanic! Learn a lot from you!

That is very cool. I love these early Ninja 1000R's and the Zx11's. Nice work!

Excellent job trouble shooting the problem. I've got an old Kawasaki Concours 1000, same engine as the Ninja, and do all the work myself because very few mechanics want to touch it. Just a little history, we all knew about the Ninja's before Top Gun. I graduated in 86, and I remember the first of what I'd call the modern day rice rockets were the Honda Interceptors, then the Ninja's GPZ's came out and that was the hot bike until the Suzuki GSXR's made their debut in 86. The one Maverick had was a Ninja GPZ 900R, still a hot bike!

i remember these bikes fondly as well as the 1000 hurricanes. loved seeing the VANCE & HINES IGNITION ADVANCER. i think the reason they had the coils mounted JANKY like that is because they are DYNA brand coils which are designed differently (shape) and possibly the wrong ohm coils were purchased because ive used dyna and in my 32 years of riding never had one of their coils go bad.

Hi Craig snd Dan. Man, when I saw the Header, “ Can I fix this unfixable Bike” I thought, yeah Craig can fix it. Great Job on the Troubleshooting Craig. I was thinking it was some kind of Faulty Temp Relay or something related to that. I learned a Lot about Coils Today.Much appreciated Craig.👍👍❤️

I had similar issues with my '91 GPZ900R (Yes, I've 'Top Gun'd' it!) Ha ha. It was getting up to temp, then when the revs dropped to idle, it would cut out. Replace the coils and ht leads, but in the end I swapped out the coils for stick coils from a Zx636 and it's running great now! It was my first ever project and I'm just learning as I go, but it's channels like yours, and my guru buddy next door, that give me the confidence to give it a go! Great video, and Greetings from Not-So-Sunny Scotland! Cheers! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍

you sure can

I had a similar problem with my old Suzuki GSX400X. It turned out to be the ignition coil losing power when the engine is hot. It took some time to figure out. Now I haven't watched the video to the end, it will be interesting to see if it's the same problem (probably not)

Had a 1970 Ford F250 highboy with a 360 engine on the farm as a teenager, I was getting ready to do a tune up because it was running rough. Started pulling plug wires while it was running pulled 4 or 5 before I started to notice a difference in it running. At that time parts were cheap just thew all new ignition parts at it, cap, rotor, plugs etc.. Ran great after that

Dude you don't know the memories who have brought back to me, in 1986 I was a sophomore in high school, a classmate cousin and another guy rode up on a 1986 600R Ninja and the Ninja 1000R I was already wanting one, my dad tried to buy me a car and I said no, I want a motorcycle, so I rode the bus till I graduated 😂, after I got my B2000 euro Mazda, I purchased a brand new FZR1000, I did ride a 600R Ninja once for 30 minutes, but it came naturally. GSXR1100,s GSXR1000, DRZ400E hayabusa and a ZX14R now came after, ZL1/1LE and a pro touring chevelle twin turbo. Man you made me feel like a kid again ! Thank you !

Craig, the real TopGun 🤘🤘

Good to see that you managed to get the old barge running. When watching you take the cover off to inspect the "Trigger coils" I noticed that the bike has been fitted with a "Vance&Hines" ignition advancer plate, so that will affect the slow running a little bit, plus the ignition coils were a set of "Dyna" coils, again that will give slightly different reading. Anyhoo, glad it all ended up running, but those pod filters would go straight in the bin if it were my bike, 🤣.

1985 Kawasaki GPZ900R, the top gun model I did own the same model you are working on. Brought back great memories but sold when I realized you can only go so fast for so long before the tix pile becomes insurmountable. Nice work and thanks for sharing your knowledge, as someone else mentioned a real mechanic on duty, which makes it look easy.

Great work, i get a kick out of taking a bike that is old broken and worthless and getting it up and running and looking good. Great feeling.

I wonder if one of the (probably) many previous owners changed out the factory coils for “performance” coils. Old high performance bikes like this had plenty of power, but for many owners there’s a whispered temptation to do things and add stuff to “make it faster”. The sketchy DIY-ish coil mounts would immediately make me suspicious, especially given that the coil resistance was so much higher than spec.

A classic example of “HOW MUCH?!? I got a buddy who can do it for WAY cheaper”

This was a great video. I have a 1983 GPZ 550, the is having problems, and I never thought to check the coils. So off to the garage to test.

Great, informative video. Your thorough approach to solving those electrical gremlins was superb. Nice to see this classic Ninja firing on all 4 cylinders again. I trust your customer gave you the go-ahead to replace those leaking fork seals😅. I look forward to your next project. Take care for now.

That airfilter setup will probebly set you back 20-30hp midrange, stock carbs needs the stock airbox to work correctly.

3:09 😅 anti-dive brakes!

I feel with you 100%!!!!! I had the same issue on my 390 FE Ford. Just died on me. Was running like crap. The Mallory coil measured out perfectly. I changed timing chain, plugs and even the heads cause I thought I had stucked valves. Nope the stupid coil just failed under load the spark got weak suddenly and the compression helped to just blow out the weak spark! It killed me!

I’m glad I get to watch you work on a bike that’s almost identical to mine. Gives me a ton of insight, and makes me feel much more confident about working on my own

Pls make a 1hr long video next time! or even more! 😁😁

I've never watched one of yours and enjoyed it. My 1st thought after just listening was the coils so it tickles me because I've not ridden or worked on one in a while. Had a 900 ninja years ago and I had a lot of good times with it. Was a year or two before that one. I know it would do 165 all day long and comfortable. Best bike I ever had. Thanks.

Nice fix! Great to see one of the old "classic" Ninjas alive and well.

I have 96 gpz900, had ign coils/wires be flakey. I have a Zx12r with spare electrical parts....I machined alum. coil spacers and popped in zx coils/ign subharness.....runs like a top no more intermittent issues part way thru a ride. A nice clean install too!!!

Nice to see someone actually spending the time to diagnose the problem and use old-school methods without hooking up to all sorts of computers.

My first dealer bought bike was a GPX750R. A beast. Got taken off the road by the police for doing 125mph in a 50 zone. They took the bike away from me but I got to keep my license. Got the bike back after a year. I went to the track afterwards when I needed my speed fix. Good memories in the end. Mom was less than pleased. Great video. Many thanks from the Netherlands

Craig I never fail to learn more valuable diagnoses tips watching you work on these old glory bikes from the past your a real Ninja mechanic.

Great job Craig. I love this bike, I couldn't get it in Poland in reasonable price, so I bought GPX600 which looks lot alike and believe me I had very similar issues. In my case some ingenious mechanic put spark plugs equipped with 5kOhm resistors under the wires with 5kOhm resistors,plus it had loose connections on battery, that altogether had damaged the ignition driver (CDI box). After buying new (used) CDI unit, replacing sparkplugs, doing valve adjustment and carb sync it runs like a breeze. Those sport bikes from 90' are so amazing.😊

OEM parts! They’re worth it! Super video thanks Craig!

I used to work on a lot of these old Kawasaki's. The ignition coils were one of their weak points, and as you discovered, they don't run well on cheaper after market coils. All of these old Kawasaki's were the same, the GT550 and 750, GPZ and GPX600s all suffered from coils issues. Also the pins on the ignition box CDI would rot and break off causing running issues too. At least you got there in the end, and hats off to your patience with the bike. As a mechanic myself, we've all been there, a ten minute diagnoses becomes a nightmare. I guess this is why other shops didn't want to take on the job. Personally I love the challenge, it makes you a better mechanic, and you never stop learning even though this is a simple machine with carburettors.

I learned decades ago to start at the power source and then follow the power to whatever piece of equipment you had. I am glad that was basically your tact on the repair. I can not imagine why a shop did not just say tune up with new plugs, plud wires, coils, and pick up coils.