No one told me the KZ 1000 was so fast!

I rode my KZ1000 (1015cc) for the first time today...Holy jesus, I had a 95 Kawasaki Vulcan a few years ago, it was a 500cc or so and I thought it was way fast...not comparable. I got on the Kawi WITH carb tuning issues (bogging and such) and I was blown away when it caught up with it self! I am 135 pounds It throws me around like a rag doll if I don't pay attention haha. These bikes are powerful. I was in 4th gear going 30mph up a hill, I assumed I was to down shift but I had a second thought and just gave it a tad more throttle...it accelerated like I wasn't even on it.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTorque! :woohoo:

:laugh: Awesome! the newly initaited to the world of real usable power.

I took a bike class on 125's learned on the CSR I just bought off my brother. Then bought my 600 katana and a few years later my 1200 bandit and any bike with 80 or better ft-lbs of torque is just awesome. and I weight 225-240. i cant imagine being smaller and trying to hold that bike on the planet. strip down and build a KZ and they just go. yeah cruisers arent schit and most loud harleys i see are just that, loud. I laugh when i see em get on it. of course they will attract the ladies so they have there place. All that said....my buddy wanted me to take his yamaha R1 out and show him how to do wheelies.....holy crap! he can keep it. I like my low end power wheelies i dont need to pull the front end up at 40 and set it down doing 90+! yikes! :blink: :laugh:

cadmonkey wrote: :laugh: Awesome! the newly initaited to the world of real usable power.

I took a bike class on 125's learned on the CSR I just bought off my brother. Then bought my 600 katana and a few years later my 1200 bandit and any bike with 80 or better ft-lbs of torque is just awesome. and I weight 225-240. i cant imagine being smaller and trying to hold that bike on the planet. strip down and build a KZ and they just go. yeah cruisers arent schit and most loud harleys i see are just that, loud. I laugh when i see em get on it. of course they will attract the ladies so they have there place. All that said....my buddy wanted me to take his yamaha R1 out and show him how to do wheelies.....holy crap! he can keep it. I like my low end power wheelies i dont need to pull the front end up at 40 and set it down doing 90+! yikes! :blink: :laugh:

Very usable low end tourque and power! I thought riding this old bike would have me wondering in traffic about speed changes and starting from lights, since it took a bit of riding the clutch to get it going. I now worry about it throwing me off and leaving me on the side of the road to carry about her business without me haha. I couldn't be happier with how this think rides. I had a bit of back wheel spin going from a stop sign on dry concrete doing not too much throttle wise. A scary thing in seattle where it rains a lot. Ill have to learn how to tame those pony's haha

the best part about these bikes is the 35-55 mph real world road speeds...they just torque along and make tailgaters and empty spots ahead easy to manage.....a country road and no where to be in a hurry on a nice day and these old kz's are really good ride in any era...smile factor of ten

I have been known to end up near the front(top 5 or so) of a crowd of modern sportbikes. Think it goes without saying these bikes were poorly ridin, but when you go out for a bonsai run with thirty guys, and your bike is the oldest by thirty years, EVERYONE that you passed wants to get a better look when you stop. I'm not saying your gonna beat em straight line, but its ussually not to hard to smoke the pimple riddled teen that bags your groceries while telling you how awesome his new r6 is in the backcountry.

The Old 4 Cylinder Dinosaur

Many of you, who are owners of older bigger 4 cylinder Kawasaki’s, may have noticed when out for a ride for a snack or a “Cold One” how a crowd will gather next to your bike.

Statements will be made about how they had one, or their Fathers, Brothers or Uncles owned one and how fast it was, and how for the most part, the newer, faster, sports bikes on the street tend to be ignored when you drive up on your “Dinosaur”.

Sure, the older bikes cannot compete with today’s motorcycles in handling and acceleration, but they can sure turn heads when they rumble down the streets exhausting through a nice 4 into 1 collector.

If the owner of a new sport bike wonders why the interest in your bike, ask him/her in 20-30 years will his/her bike attract as much notice as your’s does today? Our older bikes are like the “Muscle Cars” of the 70’s.

Mtbspeedfreak wrote:
I cannot believe the number of compliments I get on my bike! Random guys (mostly ) who roll down a window at a stoplight, guys at the muffler shop, hanging out at the motorcycle shops around town.

Heard quite a few stories- "I wanted one but my GF said no, glad I listened because I married her" and the occasional "a friend of mine was killed on one..." Pull up to bike night and the Harley guys will come over, the occasional crotch rocket riding squid will mumble a compliment under his breath, and sure I get a lot of "why do you ride THAT old bike?!?" Truth is, I quite honestly wouldn't trade it for nearly anything!

Sheldon bourgeoi wrote:
I must admit, it is a pretty good feeling when you park your bike at the local stop, and people come up to it to have a look. It's even better when your getting gas, and some middle aged guy comes up to you "reminiscing" about how he had the same bike back in high school. Then, as he walks away to leave, he hands you his name and phone number on a piece of paper, then tells you to call him if you ever decide to sell it. That's happened to me more than once!
Steel Panther wrote:
The old inline fours are cool. They are my favorite bikes. The ol' Z1R with a good exhaust, made music, not noise. The vertical twins are pretty cool too. Every once in a while I'll stumble across a gem someone has preserved or restored. They always draw my attention. Cool thread, brings back memories.

roy-b-boy-b wrote:
Amen Brother. It happens to me all the time. A guy was checking out my bike real good yesterday. He had owned the Kawasaki dealership in town when the Mach II tripples came out.

Househunter wrote:
I bought my '78 KZ1000 in 1983 "BC" (Before Children) Had not been licensed since '94 until last summer. Since July '10, I put over 10K miles on her. I too have been amazed at the number of people commenting or passing on the highway and giving a "thumbs up" as they go buy. The wife wanted me to sell it many times but I just had to keep her (and the wife too). So glad I did!!!!

Z1Ron Wrote:
Soon after I had restored my Z1 in 1986 ......

I was in an auto parts store and a young kid, with a helmet under his arm, came up to me and asked if that was my Kawasaki outside. I replied yes. He said that he had one just like it. Since I hadn't seen too many in stock form, I was skeptical. However, to my surprise, there was an identical Z1 parked beside mine. Couldn't believe it. As it worked out, I had run into the fella a few months later and he asked if I wanted to buy what was left of his Z1 (there was a fire involved, but that's another story). Since now it was a basket case and missing a few things, I built a modified "Z1000R" using a GPz750 donor.

Medina wrote:
Yup, 81KZ1100 and I've owned a few bikes, this is the only one I've had strangers (four so far) say something when I was out. I'm talking total strangers, out of the blue saying something.

All my pals, neighbors, you lugs like it granted. But I'm talking the sort of thing where I'm turning left in the middle lane, a guy at the + intersection who is also turning left- hits his horn, rolls down the window and yells "HEY", then when I make eye contact trying to figure out wtf is going on, I get a thumbsup? THATS never ever happened. I'm just enough of a narcissist to really get off on that (over 50+ crowd here too) .
Interestingly enough, there is a 79 or 80 KZP still in the white I've seen, and an 82? (that red color twin to mine) that pulled up behind me tooling around town. I didn't notice the 82 till I'd made a left turn and looked back at traffic. I'm wondering if he's an inmate here?


I was told I could never sneak up on anyone on my bike.
Nothing can quite compare to the sound of a big, 4 cylinder Kawasaki, getting it’s act together, and moving on down the road…

There is not a single badge on mine that lets anyone know what it is and I still get people walking up and complimenting on it saying they knew what it was when they heard it. The older generation knows it as the baddest things on two wheels, the newer generation knows it as the baddest thing of the past that still can be a threat!

Les

Well said MFolks. Some of those stories hit home solid.
I get that all the time when I ride my KZee1000. I've had people walk around groups of riders in a lot to get to my lone KZ just to admire it and talk my ears off about how whoever had one back in the day had the fastest bike in town...
Guys, (and gals) young and old talk to me nearly every time I'm out on it about how nice it looks. Some think it is a brand new bike. When I tell them it is 34 years old their jaw drops and they just shake their heads in wonderment.
Yup, this was the best part, and true to the fact, "Nothing can quite compare to the sound of a big, 4 cylinder Kawasaki, getting it’s act together, and moving on down the road…"

Yea, they are the best style bikes ever and people are always interested in them, but fast? They were fast for 1978 when 12 second quarter miles were fast, but by todays standards they are not all that fast. Truck driver I know raves about how fast his KZ400 is. Yes I guess next to a 82,000LB semi it's fast All a relative thing. The KZ1000J came out in 81 was really the first "fast" KZ1000 and even that is not all that fast if you compare to any modern bike of 600cc. My KZ1000 I always considered pretty lame even 30 years ago in the fast department, but it will go over the road where I want to go and did that in style.

i am very happy with my old 2002 P21 that hauls azz

it is always a blast to ride and the best thing is it puts a smile on my face like good sex.

stick a set of smoothbores and coils and pipe on a good running kz1000 and let a modern sportbike rider take it for a ride and see what they think, slow, that wont be the words they use...

then keep on about how these are slow now and were slow back then....

unreal.....these are, and were, some of the fastest bikes around and have a run for decades setting more records in more classes than any bike ever made...think not?


engine tech has zoomed along sure.....lets see how these engines of today are doing 30 years from now after 10 owners and 40 k on the clock...let alone the rest of the bike...heck the 90's bikes are almost all trash already...