Kawasaki superbike-1966 style

15 years ago or so I bought a lifetime collection of W1 parts and a complete very nice original bike from a coworker. I rode the bike a little, polished it up a bit and took it to a couple shows. An opportunity came up to sell the bike for a nice profit, so it now lives in England and I was left with a pile of parts. This spring with a little extra time on my hands I decided to try to make a running, but not pretty motorcycle out of the pile. I had a complete single carb engine that turned over, valves opened and closed and didn't appear to be too full of crap when I removed the very small oilpan.(dry sump). After installing it in the frame along with the transmission and installing the clutch and primary chain I kicked it over and was pleasantly surprised to discover it had compression! Original rebuilt carb, original points/coils and once I discovered the "tickler" the damn thing starts on the first kick. Been a fun project, sorry I didn't take pictures along the way.

Mike

Very nice! I never get tired of looking at them.

Cool bikes! How hard is it sourcing parts?

More than slightly similar to the BSA. Ed

If you look closely at krazee's photos you can see that the foot brake and shifter are on opposite sides from what we think is normal today.

The W1 was the beginning of the big bike explosion out of Japan. Lots of technical features not possessed by its British cousins.

Fine scratch build there krazee1! We're pretty fond of survivors too!

There was a pristine W1 at the VJMC National last month. Blue if memory serves.

Have fun with the scratch build!

EDIT: Almost forgot - I had a Triumph Trident before I traded it toward my beloved '74 Z1-A. Ticklers on three Amal carbs guaranteed the index fingertips of both hands perpetually smelled of gasoline.

Good Ridin'
slmjik& Z1BEBE

Nice job .Ill take a running bike rather then a pile of parts any day

By 650ed: More than slightly similar to the BSA.

Meguro had a licensing agreement with BSA to make what became the W1 after Kawasaki acquired Meguro. I don't recall what the Meguro moniker was.

martin_csr wrote: By 650ed: More than slightly similar to the BSA.

Meguro had a licensing agreement with BSA to make what became the W1 after Kawasaki acquired Meguro. I don't recall what the Meguro moniker was.

Here's a picture that shows the ties between Meguro and Kawasaki. Interesting. Ed

Kidkawie wrote: Cool bikes! How hard is it sourcing parts?

Parts are somewhat difficult to source given that the W1/W2s never gained a lot of popularity in the U.S. and no one is making reproduction parts. People ask stupid money for used and N.O.S. parts on Ebay. The only parts I had to buy were the tailight lens and used front brake cable, which was worth the $40 I paid for it because the front brake lever seems way easier for me to find than the rear brake lever on the left side of the bike! I still need a speedo cable, but can't quite stomach the $200 for N.O.S.. I have a complete W2 engine and close to enough parts to assemble another bike, anyone can feel free to PM me if interested. As I said I made a profit selling the pretty bike so I basically have nothing in the blue bike and pile of parts I have left over, will be priced accordingly!

Mike

Yes, the left brake/right shift is a bit of a challenge for an old dog to learn! Also the shift pattern is 4 down. My riding so far has been limited to my pasture to try to hone my skills so I can possibly take it to a Bike Night in downtown Lincoln or the Antique Motorcycle Picnic in August.

Mike

That's kind of funny in a way regarding the foot controls. When I started riding my first bike was a '66 Triumph 650 twin carb. Rear brake on left, shifter on right. Within a year or two it was mandated all bikes had to be the same in foot controls. They went rear brake on right, shifter on left. My '74 Sportster was the old way, but my '75 Z1B was the new way. I also had a '67 Sportster that was old style. So every time I took something out for a ride it took a bit to remember what foot did what action. I recall locking up the rear brake a few times by accident or shifting when I didn't want to. It was hilarious watching Harley try to convert their Sportsters to left side shift because they made up a Rube Goldberg shifter out of the rear brake pedal! What fun back then.

Rick H.