140MPH KZ650?? (eBay)

hannah1 wrote:

Some reference material . Check out some of the articles from the list on the top left of the page . www.kz650.info/

That's an awesome article. Great reading. It reminds me of a left-hand exit Denco pipe I had on my MKII. I really wish I hadn't traded it away. It ran the best with that Denco and sounded great too!

Denco was a big time company back in the day. The article makes hitting 141 sound pretty easy, but look how hard it was even for a trained team of professionals. They nearly didn't qualify. You also have to look at the length of the run, over 3 miles long on some of the flattest, smoothest terrain in the world. This is not a task easily accomplished by a back yard mechanic on your local highway.

Dang it! I get busy at work for a couple days and end up missing out on all the drama!!! AND it's over a KZ650!!!:ohmy:


...oh well...glad the rest of you were able to have fun...:blush: :lol: :lol: :lol:

i just read the specs on the denco bike that ran 141: pop up pistons,head cleaned up z1 style racing cams,29mm smoothbores with velocity stacks,cdi ignition and a really good breathing 4n1 header lighter wheels and a pro rider:P yeah thats stock! kinda like turning smokey yunick loose at daytona:woohoo:

Post edited by: PLUMMEN, at: 2008/02/14 16:49

That'll learn you skip out of here, BK! :lol:

It's my pennance. :laugh:

I don't think that bike will go 140 either, especially with those mirrors on. :blink:

"It seems as though you've had a chip on your shoulder since Day One"
In my country thats called "bloody rude".
My 2p.

Wow, going on 5 pages!, I'd still buy the bike if I had the money... Then I would get rid of that UGLY seat!!



Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2008/02/15 08:42

Post edited by: Bluemeanie, at: 2008/02/16 11:09

Hey Gang - Been MIA for the past few months. Too much work on my plate with my newspaper plus another venture I am working on. Gotta get my priorities straight again:)

I checked in to kzr tonight for the first time in a while and what do I see....? A little jousting on my favorite bike, the Kawasaki middleweight 650.

I have a little experience with the 650 platform, having completely rebuilt it after rescuing the old girl from the grave, first with a Wiseco 700 kit, then the big bore 810. My tweaked little toy barely cracks 110 mph on the few occasions I have let my uncontrolled testosterone overpower my brain. Granted, I have the gearing set up for acceleration squirts, not Bonneville attempts.

With my well-tuned, strong running 810 with all of the other goodies and bringing it up to redline on a nippy evening, I might get an honest 115 mph, maybe. The speedo will probably show 125 at that speed but these old guages aren't known for their indicated versus actual speed accuracy.

Additionally, the few times I have had some other big inch bikes (my CBX, a friend's Gpz110 and a snakey GSX-R) up in the upper stratosphere of speed years ago, I might have dared to take my eyes off the road ahead and glanced for a fraction of a second at the speedo. I probably thought I had the needle pinned higher than I actually did. It is funny how the adrenaline can warp reality and memory!

I would not doubt that Mark Wing has wound up his bike to the speeds he says. Mark is an experienced and knowledgeable veteran with this model. He has a pretty tricked out 650 and I seem to recall that Mark once mentioned to me (in an email) that Yoshimura used his bike for some of their product development back in the late seventies. Obviously Mark has a few more tricks buried inside his motor than the 650 being flogged on ebay.

When I was a kid I used to look at the speedo on the old muscle cars and thought that they must've been able to bury the needle, but I doubt the aerodynamics of a 340 Dodge Dart would truly make it up to 140 mph as the speedo showed. Perhaps this is the speculation that the seller meant given the speedo on the 650 shows 140 mph on the far right of the dial, at least on my bike it does.

But then again, one can possibly assume that the 140 mhp 650 on ebay might be running on a special, high-octane methane fuel...like bovine excrement vapors.

Cheers - Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Post edited by: reborn650, at: 2008/02/14 23:11

Post edited by: reborn650, at: 2008/02/15 08:42

I know that none of you guys really believe that this 650 can hit 140 ( for that matter, neither do I)but has anyone considered the possibility that this guy might have taken the Rollie Free approach to hitting that speed? "During the speed trials, Free was able to push the Vincent to an average of 148.6 mph. He decided to go for the 150 mph mark. Thinking that his racing leathers may be causing drag, Free decided to strip down to swimming shorts for the final run. He made the run lying flat, legs outstretched behind the Vincent, keeping his head low and guiding the bike by looking down and following a black stripe painted on the salt bed. The striptease act paid off for Free and he was able to cover the mile in 23.9 seconds, cracking the 150 mph barrier. On the return run, he went even faster, ending the day with an average speed of 150.313 mph. The mark broke an 11-year-old record (136.18 mph) held by Joe Petrali."

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/R...ee%2C_record_run.jpg

(Sorry, cant get the picture to load, please see attached link)

Maybe that is what the guy in my avatar was also trying to do:)

Cheers-Colin

Yea, what's the top speed on the HOG??:laugh: :laugh: