Cafe racers are back in fashion big time, and the robust 1970’s Kawasaki Z bikes are all the rage. Take a look at five of the tastiest.
FORTY three years ago Kawasaki Heavy Industries set the motorcycle world alight by unleashing a ferociously powerful superbike that made everything else on the market look slow. The Z1was developed for just one reason – to throw a giant shadow over Honda’s 750-Four that popped out of nowhere just as Kawasaki was about to launch their own 750cc four. Kawasaki immediately killed their 750 project and set out to create a monster machine that would be the undisputedly fastest production motorcycle money could buy – much like the supercharged H2 is today and the 750cc H2 two-stroke triple, GPZ900, ZX-10, ZX-11, ZX-12 and ZX-14 were in their eras.
Frank Melling has an article on the Motorcycle USA website on the history of Project New York Steak. You can read it HERE!
The 82 horsepower Z1 with its 220 km/h top speed wasn’t only blisteringly fast for its day – it was also bulletproof, with a massive roller crank that could take whatever was thrown its way. The production motor grew from 903 to 1015cc and both could be – and were – tuned, bored, stroked, supercharged, turbocharged, road raced, drag raced and boosted with nitrous oxide to extremes, but their motors never seemed to break. The soul of the mighty Z lives on today in Kawasaki’s current Z800 and Z1000 models, but the 40-year-old air-cooled bikes are undergoing something of a revival with the recent craze for building old-fashioned café racers. The BIKEEXIF website has an article online detailing five of the finest Z1 and Z1000 customs worldwide.
Take a look and drool!
Photograph: Some of the Kawasaki 900 and 1000cc machines immaculately built or restored by John Baker of Durban.
Pic by Gavin Foster