[5] Developed in secret over six years, it was Kawasaki's and the world's first 16-valve liquid-cooled inline four-cylinder motorcycle engine.

[3] Six months after being unveiled to the press in December 1983, dealers entered three works GPZ900R bikes in the Isle of Man Production TT finishing in first and second places.

[3][5][9][10] Technical advances included water cooling and 16 valves, allowing additional power, and a frame that used the engine as a stressed member for improved handling and reduced weight,[1] as a result of testing that showed that the standard downtubes carried virtually no weight and could be eliminated.

[1] In spite of its performance, the GPZ900R was smooth and rideable in urban traffic,[3] owing to the new suspension and a crankshaft counter-balancer that nearly eliminated secondary vibration.

With the release of the ZZ-R1100 in 1990, the GPZ900R lost its status as Kawasaki's flagship model,[13][14] but continued, with some revisions of the fork, wheels, brakes and airbox, until 1993 in Europe, until 1986 in the US and until 2003 in Japan.