Tell me I did good!

Not to mention you are also prone to 'shaft-jacking' with a shaft drive.

BUT the two nicest and smoothest running old bikes I've had (my 77 goldwing and 82 gs1000) were shaft drives. Foincidence? No clue, the two worst riding bikes I've had were shafts too (650 yamaha maxim and 750 virago)

Ed is right on the money, here is a picture from Motorcycle Mechanics in 1979. About 100 hp at the rear wheel, but in 1979 a 100 real honest ponies in a bike right off the showroom floor was impressive. Note the lack of a true power band and the nearly linear hp curve, Kawasaki did that on purpose to make it fun to drive.




Funny how you read the articles from back when these bikes first came out, and no one could imagine riding such a massive machines with so much power... and now a days the 1300 isn't so heavy, big, or powerful...

Infract the term Hyperbike was actually coined in an issue of Cycle Guide to describe the 1300. Kawasaki was commonly referred to as "insane" for even trying to build the big 6.

I'm told the practical redline for the 1300 is around 9000 rpm in top gear, you can do the math but that's not exactly slow. Someday soon I may get to find out for myself,

Melvis care to do some scientific testing for us

Older and wiser me says it would be fun to try but not worth the risk.............THAT is why my friend wouldn't sell me a 1300 20 years ago! Quick math says:

138 MPH / 8,000 RPM = 0.01725 MPH per RPM
0.0175 MPH per RPM X 9,000 RPM = 155 MPH

Previous owner worked lots of big races when he first bought his 1979 KZ1300 "BATTLESTAR" and had the opportunity to get it out on Daytona Speedway once. In turn 4 he had to drop to 4th gear to stay up on the banked turn and the wind cracked the windshield. I was not there but have never caught him lying about anything else so I believe it.

Well, it's been a while, hire about a quick update. The best has sat since fall of 2015. My life took major drastic changes but I'm motivated again. Now that it's not sized up anymore it's getting close to being on the road. I think another good carb cleaning and mounting the headlight should have it there. Fingers crossed!

Good to see you back at it Melvis.

That thing is huge.