what made you buy your kz

It was 1978...
Me: 1972 CB 750
Other guy: 1975 Z1

Handed my ass to me, need I say more.... :blush: :laugh:

Blind, dumb, stinkin' doodah luck.

been ridin since I was about 8 yrs old on dirt bikes.first street bike was my dads Honda 400-4 about 1978 I was working out side town and as I was coming back home I drove right by the Kawasaki shop and I saw what was a z1r thinking that be a good bike with the visor on it I could ride and not get stung by honey bees (allergic) plus it was a cool looking bike.
its gone now and I regrate letting it go but I have another one now along with a kz1000 and kz900 and will never sell any AGAIN

Whats up, my name Q and i am new to the forum. First off I wanna say Wowwwww to all of the nice KZ's in the pic gallerys as well as the info I've seen just in the comments. Now to be back on topic Im a 80s baby that grew up in INDY watching old bikes ride up and down 38th st. The first bike i rode was a 77 KZ1000 11 years ago when i was 16, and been hook ever since.I told my wife i was gonna wait until I turn 30 to buy another bike, but i happen to work with a guy who has a bike shop and had a 77kz1000 for sale 1,500 i bought it 2mths ago and havent been off since, i love it. The crazy thing is i didnt care if i was over paying.

Dad got me a 90 cc kaw dirt bike when I was a kid, been a kaw guy ever since. Bought an SR650 off a fellow coworker bout 25 yrs ago, then another, then another, you know the routine. Got divorced, lost some and sold the rest. FF, Kids grown, disposable income up and can't take the pressure. I'm up to 7 of them again and fabbing like crazy again for the cause.
kzrider77, I'm about 50 miles west of indy off 74. Done a lot of riding over there, their is some bad fast kaws over there. I know of 1 Z1R running low 8's, no bar on street tire.
Les Holt

Bought a 78 KZ 650 in 79 after looking at all other brands. When the owner started it, I knew it was mine. Later in the summer a good friend got a new LTD 1000 and let me take it for a ride. Told me to be sure to hold on around 6500 rpm's in second gear, I laughed and took off. When the front wheel came off the ground, I knew what he meant. The look, the way it fit (I'm 5'7"), the deep throaty sound and the power, I fell in love. He sold it to another very good friend who owned it until 4 years ago and I finally got the bike I fell in love with. Many hours of scrubbing, buffing, some rechroming and tuning and it is back full force. I'm amazed at how many people love this bike a much as I do. Tooooo Much Fun.

P.S. I'm now 55 and don't crank it past 7000 very often. More than I need.

In 1976 I was riding an H1 and was pretty disappointed with it's cooling ability's on summer days. Any hundred miler would end up with me wondering if some part of the crank had come apart and was miraculously thrashing about without locking up anything else. One day I rode the mountains (hills) of Virginia, got back home, ate dinner and went back out resolved to find out where the problem lay. Hold it the H1 rode like a seamless, ultra sewing machine. It was the cooling! The next week I was looking for a new bike. The upside choices were a 750 Hilda or a KZ900. One ride, even the first twist of the wrist settled it. I ride away from Miller Hilda with a Kawasaki KZ900 for $2,700.00.

I've still got it!


That's my story as well as I remember it.

Bill

When I was a kid there were two bikes that got my attention. One was a Norton 850 Commando one of my dads frand the other was a Z1. just the sound of that Kawi blew my mind when I'd hearthat it coming down the street. A few years later when I was in the Air Force I decided to buy my first bike. Just off the base there was a Suzuki dealership that was owned buy a retired 2 Star. He gave me the choice between a GS450 S and a Kz 1000. I took the GS. Mainly because for some reason I figured that the Kz would be too much bike for me. Considering how I rode that little GS I had made the wise choice. I had always had my heart set on having the Law of my dreams but could never find what I was after. I was actually riding a 250 Ninja as a commuter when a co worker told me that he had a friend that was selling a kz1000. I went to take a look and the I liked what I saw even though the battery was shot it fired on the first kick. I loaded it up and have been riding it ever since.

I was stationed in China Lake, California and riding a Honda 750A that always seemed to need some kind of work. Since the Honda dealer couldn't ever seem to fix it, I decided to let the local Kawasaki dealer have a go at it. He mentioned that they had just gotten in their first KZ1000 and asked if I wanted to try it out. I had a friend who rode a 900 and thought "why not?" even though I had no intention of buying a new bike. I pulled out of the dealership and started down the main drag, looked down and I was already doing 55 in 3rd! The bike was so responsive and smooth and I was immediately hooked. Turned around and went back to the dealership and told them not to let anyone else ride it as it was mine. He wasn't sure what kind of trade he could give me on the Honda, but I didn't care. I would've given him $100 to take the Honda just as long as I got the KZ. Rode it all over the deserts and mountains of California for two years and then sold it to my brother in law when I got stationed on Guam. I've always regretted selling my 71 Chevelle, but even more so the KZ. I talked about it for years and always thought that someday I'd buy an old one and restore it but never did. Finally my son decided that he'd had enough of my "gonna do this someday". He's stationed at Camp Lejeune and found an 80 KZ1000E2 on Craigs list in North Carolina, bought it, and brought it home on Thanksgiving of last year. I drove it up and down the street once, blew out both low and high beams, had the engine racing out of control several times, shut it down and began the rebuild process. Fast forward to a few days before Thanksgiving this year and she was started up again and acted a lot more civilized. There's still a few things left to do, but the initial runs up and down the road turned the clock back 30+ years. There just isn't anything that comes close to that sensation.

It all started with David Schloss,my 7th grade English teacher who rode a Triumph and looked like Billie in Easy Rider. His bike just lit up my adolescent imagination and when I was 17 I bought my first scoot from the mom & pop Kawaski dealer around the corner, a KZ 400. I was hooked. After a year of falling off the thing,I traded up. Little latter I bought a used KZ650 and aquired an old Bingham side car I mounted to it and rode all over the Mid Atlantic states. That remained my primary transport for many years. Fast forward to this year when I found a cherry '79KZ 1000 ST recently out of 30 years of storage. I always wanted one of these but could never afford it back in the day. Needless to say, I bought it. Makes me feel young again.
Motorcycles really aren't that practical. But joy,love and adventure aren't practical either, they transcend it.
ss^,Ken

it started for me in the 80s i bought a kz 650 rode it for 2 years and then came along my son.one morning i was riding the same rode i ride every day but it had rained that nite and washed gravel into a corner well you know the outcome of that, wife said i have a family now and the bike needs to go before she is a single parent.16 years later the boy pulls in the house with a kz 650 same color almost the same bike that took me back 15 years. within a 1 1/2 year 2 of his friends had kzs mind you these kids are all 16 - 20 year old, all the crotch rockets out there these kids are buying kzs within 3 years he would call his buddys to go riding they would meet at my house because they all live within 5 mile of each other and there would be 6 kzs in my drive and i hear them all start them and ride away i just could not take anymore i got one.now when he rides iam right beside him so i would say my son made me duy my kz

In 1980 I was ten years old and lived in a neighborhood but it was out in the country. One of my friends dad had a KZ 1000 that I now know was a MK II. It was blue and sounded fantastic. They also had dirt bikes and the first bike I rode was a KDX 80 after my friend was surprised with a KX 80 for Christmas. It was as if I had been given the present because now there was an extra bike for me to ride. We couldn't afford one of our own.

I remember sitting there staring at that blue KZ thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. I could hear that bike when my friends Dad was coming home from work and just fell in love with it. Six years later I was living in the city and had a friend that loaned me his little KZ 440, that's the first bike I rode on the street. I had a blast on that bike and it was a good bike to learn street riding on.

I had a couple of bikes through the years of my own, never could get the MK II. Finally, 28 years later I compromised and found a 1980 KZ 1000 shaft drive on Ebay, then a 1976 KZ 900, then a 1975 Z1-B. Don't know if I will ever get the MK II but I may try to turn the Shafty into my version of one. I bought a Harley in 2010 and put 16k on it that year. It can't replace the feeling and sound of the KZ's though.