Kawasaki Z1

[latexeses]

What on earth makes the Kawasaki Z1 such a sought after bike?

I was poking around e-bay and they are getting crazy prices for mid 70's bikes.

While I am at it, what was the biggest 2-cycle built by them?

I remember when I was starting to drive that was the talk. How quick the Kawasaki 2-strokes were.

Rodger

[Geezer]

What on earth makes the Kawasaki Z1 such a sought after bike?

I was poking around e-bay and they are getting crazy prices for mid 70's bikes.

While I am at it, what was the biggest 2-cycle built by them?

I remember when I was starting to drive that was the talk. How quick the Kawasaki 2-strokes were.

Rodger

The Z1 was the first of it's kind assuming you leave out the Ariel square four.... The biggest Kawie 2 stroke was the H2 750 triple...

Geezer

[FJ111200]

The Z1 was the first of it's kind assuming you leave out the Ariel square four....

Geezer

WTF are you on about? Rubbish.

[psycoreefer]

I think it has to do with "personal" history. From what I understand there were a lot of them made, and back in the day most folks either wanted one, or had one, so nostalgia plays a big part I think.

[latexeses]

When I got interested in motorcycles was 1978 and guess what was happening then?
When I saw the XS1100's there wasn't any other bike being built.

From what I've seen by looking at some of those bikes is that they really had a big jump and Yamaha sat on it's behind and got behind, as per Bob Jones' comments in XS11 Heaven.

This might sting some people here but it looks like Yamaha only really had the shaft drive and motor developments. Looks they just got in on the last of the "first" superbike money.

[Geezer]

Take everything Bob Jones said with a grain of salt. Yamaha copied the MV Asusta when building the XS11. I hand it to them for copying a great bike but the XS11 wasn't the all original design the Mr Jones claimed it to be...

Geezer

[latexeses]

What I meant to get across was that everyone but Yamaha seemed to be on the inovation curve. Yamaha was content to sell the same old stuff. Meaning dirt bikes and smaller street bikes.

Yea, you can see a bit of bias in Bobs writing. When I first got an itch for Yamaha is when I first saw the XS11. The first Midnight I saw was an XS850.

That was when the hook was set.

[Geezer]

What I meant to get across was that everyone but Yamaha seemed to be on the inovation curve. Yamaha was content to sell the same old stuff. Meaning dirt bikes and smaller street bikes.

Yea, you can see a bit of bias in Bobs writing. When I first got an itch for Yamaha is when I first saw the XS11. The first Midnight I saw was an XS850.

That was when the hook was set.

The TX and later XS500 was innovative but they never got all the bugs out of the design. When the XS11 was announced, I was hoping the XS11 was going to be a punched out doubled up XS500...

Geezer

[latexeses]

Geezer,

Someone up your way rides a black 500. Arborist if I remember the discussion right. If I remember it is a fast mover isn't it?

[fredintoon]

WTF are you on about? Rubbish.

Hi FJ,
perhaps it's that the Ariel Square Four is also a 4-cylinder machine of just under a litre engine capacity, was also the machine to beat in it's day and is also appreciating in value?

[Geezer]

The Z1 was the first big 4 cylinder bike on the US market since the square 4 some 40 years earlier. Unlike the Ariel, the Kawasaki became popular. Before the Z1, the biggest Japanese bike was a 750...

Geezer

[Montreux_Blue]

It has been described as the world's first superbike, but that term is probably more accurately applied to the BSA Rocket 3. The Z1, along with Honda's CB750, introduced the four-cylinder, across the frame, disc-braked layout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHpsB5ll9DI

[Geezer]

I always considered the Vincent Black Shadow to be the first superbike...

Tony

[XSBell]

The above bikes are all nice rides and I would be thrilled to take any of them out for a cruz. But, right off the showroom floor the Z900 then the KZ1000 didn't just catch your eye, they would launch you thru the 1/4 mile under 12 seconds and you could get into the tens without many mods. They were quite nimble and could be set up to road race if that was your thing. Nothing really challenged them until the Suzuki 1100E came along with four valves per cylinder rather then two. When the KZ650 came out in 1976 it gave most 750's a run for their money.

[Montreux_Blue]

But, right off the showroom floor the Z900 then the KZ1000 didn't just catch your eye, they would launch you thru the 1/4 mile under 12 seconds and you could get into the tens without many mods.

My XS must do an 8 second quarter then!!!