Most riders under 50 years of age have no idea that Kawasaki ever built a six-cylinder road bike. It was a true behemoth, weighing in at somewhere north of 320 kg, but was unusual for its day in that it was liquid-cooled. NOT unique, but unusual. The UK’s Motorcycle News readers unkindly but patriotically voted the Triumph Bonneville in as their Bike of the Year for 1979, describing the 1300 Kawasaki as an “Autobahn Stormer … a superb example of technology by anybody’s standards” that had “gone overboard in many people’s minds.” The BOTY award didn’t do Triumph much good though – the original company folded in 1983 and the Meriden factory was demolished a year later. Motorcycle News was right on all counts with the Z1300, but people who liked owning the biggest bike in the world loved it, despite its evil handling. To keep the engine as narrow as possible, Kawasaki opted for a small bore and long stroke, which limited revs and pushed the weight even higher up in the frame. The shaft-driven bike put out 120 hp while other manufacturers were messing about with 95 hp (Yamaha XS1100) and 105 hp ((Honda CBX 1000 six-cylinder). The bike was very smooth, but simply too big, too heavy, too expensive and too thirsty to ever do well, even if you could accept the iffy handling.
The French were so indignant about this excessive power that they slapped a 100 hp limit on all motorcycles that soon spread across Europe, so detuned versions were sold in the affected countries. The bike was discontinued in 1989, having sold almost 25 000 covering several variants in that time. The 1979 model was tested over the standing quarter mile in 11,93 seconds and reached a top speed of about 185 km/h. The 0-100 km/h dash was dispensed with in just over four seconds, which was reasonably brisk for the time.
The Kawasaki was one of three six-cylinder motorcycles around at the time, the other two being the Benelli 750 Sei – a crib of the Honda 500-4 with two extra cylinders tacked on – and the 1050cc Honda 6. Motorcycle Classics did a sort of shootout between the three a couple of years ago, and while the big Kawasaki impressed hugely with its straight-line speed, it was just too much motorcycle. See HERE
Before all you aging ex-Z13 owners get your knickers in a knot and started banging us abusive e-mails, have a read of a fellow called Simon Bowen’s entertaining shootout between the Z13 and the CBX in Visordown. See HERE
The King may have been a trifle obese but he had a heart of gold. Long live the King!
by Gavin Foster.