Looking like a neglected 10 year old beater, with the period plexi windshield, deteriorating King Queen seat and weeping head and valve cover gasket this bike is still a daily rider in the 'hood.
I never quite understood this bike. Kawasaki was making the fastest triples and fours and then suddenly came out with this apparent throwback: a 750 two cylinder! Were they desperate to acquire those last eight Triumph customers? Too many late night alcohol-fueled planning sessions? A government directed plan to employ a design by some powerful official's nephew? It just didn't make sense...
By the end of 1975, there were really only two large vertical twins on the market, the 750cc Triumph Bonneville and the 650cc Yamaha XS650.
Looked at from this light, Kawasaki’s move made sense. While the days of Rule Britannia were over, there was still a sizeable community of riders who wanted a big twin. For that group, the new fours were too much. They had two too many cylinders, too many camshafts, too many carburetors and too many spark plugs. For these riders, the best bike wasn’t defined by quarter-mile performance, it was defined by ease of maintenance and dependability. And on that score, the KZ750 delivered. And they cost less than the 4 cylinder.
Vector W has got it right. Is anybody else so unlucky as to remember Kawasaki's print ads from the period? So lame, so embarrassingly awful, that they made me want to hide or mutilate my bike magazines so an innocent bystander wouldn't think I was as dopey and gullible as Kawasaki evidently did.
Of K.'s "Let the Good Times Roll"-era print and radio ads, the ones for the KZ750 were the very worst. If you still don't remember those, I'm not gonna risk bringing your whole day down by adding clues to their gashly nature.
Oddly my only experience with the bike was an afternoon at a local drag strip with some fellow bracket racers. The owner was consistently running quarter miles a quarter second faster than the magazine tests. Why he chose that bike I never found out. At a certain point, he looked at his watch, said, “ Gotta go, I’m getting married in an hour.”
I never quite understood this bike. Kawasaki was making the fastest triples and fours and then suddenly came out with this apparent throwback: a 750 two cylinder! Were they desperate to acquire those last eight Triumph customers? Too many late night alcohol-fueled planning sessions? A government directed plan to employ a design by some powerful official's nephew? It just didn't make sense...
ReplyDeleteBy the end of 1975, there were really only two large vertical twins on the market, the 750cc Triumph Bonneville and the 650cc Yamaha XS650.
ReplyDeleteLooked at from this light, Kawasaki’s move made sense. While the days of Rule Britannia were over, there was still a sizeable community of riders who wanted a big twin. For that group, the new fours were too much. They had two too many cylinders, too many camshafts, too many carburetors and too many spark plugs. For these riders, the best bike wasn’t defined by quarter-mile performance, it was defined by ease of maintenance and dependability. And on that score, the KZ750 delivered. And they cost less than the 4 cylinder.
Vector W has got it right. Is anybody else so unlucky as to remember Kawasaki's print ads from the period? So lame, so embarrassingly awful, that they made me want to hide or mutilate my bike magazines so an innocent bystander wouldn't think I was as dopey and gullible as Kawasaki evidently did.
ReplyDeleteOf K.'s "Let the Good Times Roll"-era print and radio ads, the ones for the KZ750 were the very worst. If you still don't remember those, I'm not gonna risk bringing your whole day down by adding clues to their gashly nature.
Oddly my only experience with the bike was an afternoon at a local drag strip with some fellow bracket racers. The owner was consistently running quarter miles a quarter second faster than the magazine tests. Why he chose that bike I never found out. At a certain point, he looked at his watch, said, “ Gotta go, I’m getting married in an hour.”
ReplyDelete