z1r history and information

jordan wrote:

Thanks alot for the help. $1350 for the whole bike was a steal in my mind. Almost all complete, stock exhaust, stock everything.

Gotta agree...I think that was a nice deal.

otakar wrote:

Everything that I found on the web states the 500 PC limited run. I doubt VERY VERY much that ATP got 500 of them. 100 Maybe. I know when I worked at the dealer in Honolulu at that time, he sold only 2 Z1Rs for 78 I also know that the one here in Burr Ridge sold only one. In Honolulu I bought one out of the two and here in Burr Ridge I bought the Only one. at that time there were only three Kawasaki dealers in the Chicago metro area, and South West Kawasaki was the second largest.

and if you gentlemen want a really rare Z1R...find a 1979 German Z1000-S Z1R

I just picked this up the other day. You guys could probably tell me just how many things you see that are not 1980 about this bike.

saxjonz, I would start with the critter parked on top. :laugh:

otakar wrote: at that time there were only three Kawasaki dealers in the Chicago metro area, and South West Kawasaki was the second largest.

---

You had more than three Kawasaki dealerships in the Chicagoland area back then. You had Nielsen Enterprises up north in Lake Villa. On Any Sunday in Mundelein. The dealership in Hoffman Estates. Don't remember the name but a guy named Tiny ran it. Mr. Norm's Kawasaki on Grand Ave. Yes the same Mr. Norm's that sold the Dodge muscle cars!!! Champion Cycle on 3625 North Western in Chicago. Midwest Triumph in Alsip. The Bike Shop in Calumet City. Wizzard Of Wheels at that time in Chicago Heights. Loomis Cycle Sales in Hammond, In. Only a mile from the Illinois/Indiana border. And thats only the ones I can remember!!

Good old Ron P. the first owner of Southwest Kawasaki. Ron would be selling a bike on the sales floor, working the parts counter, and answering the phones as his employees just stood there watching him!!! He was like Ricochet Rabbit running around in his store!!!

Ron was a real good guy. I know he had a 1976 900 LTD and a Z1R in a crate at his house back then. Didn't he sell Southwest Kawasaki to some guy that owned a bunch of pizza joints.

saxjonz wrote: I just picked this up the other day. You guys could probably tell me just how many things you see that are not 1980 about this bike. [/attachment]

Cool paint job! Are you really looking for a list of non-80 parts? I see plenty...

RonKZ650 wrote: As to the Z1R, I've got Micky Hess book "Z1 Kawasaki" here in my hand .... According to the book Z1R production in 1978 was "less than 17500"

I'm glad this thread has been revived. I've wanted to ask about Z1R production. I agree that there were plenty of '78 Z1Rs made, but I don't believe that 17,500 number.

I've spent waaaay more time than I care to admit watching ebay auctions for Z1Rs since about 2000. For all of the bikes which listed the frame or engine number, I've never seen a single '78 with a serial number above 10,000.

On the other hand, I think there is a pretty high frame number shown in the Tony Sculpher Z1R book, but I'll have to check on that. This would be an Australian bike (Australian author). It could be that Kawasaki sent the first half of production to the US, and the later half to other countries, which wouldn't show up in my ebay search. But did they really sell roughly the same number of bikes in other markets as they sold in the US? My impression is that the US was the primary market.

Maybe they had big plans for the '78 Z1R and set aside serial numbers up to 17,500, but cut production when they found they were not selling. Everyone says there were a ton of '78 models left over. Or maybe they just decided to start the '79 at a random number larger than the expected '78 production. Maybe they needed to start production of the MkII motor early?

Anyone out there have a '78 Z1R with a frame number over 10k? Over 15k? My three bikes are in the 2k, 4k, and 8k range.

If no one turns up a high-value frame number, maybe we could use this statistical technique to estimate total production based on ebay auction data...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem

saxjonz wrote: I just picked this up the other day. You guys could probably tell me just how many things you see that are not 1980 about this bike.

Attachment photo6.JPG not found

Motor,tank,seat,pipe,shocks,kid, etc.... :whistle:

Fender is missing those reinforcing pieces, smoothbores, Yeah, it's a hot mess. But at the rate these come up for sale and the high prices they fetch, I am really happy to have this. I really don't care too much about all original and all of the important pieces are here so, other than the seat which is a cover away from being back to normal, I will be glad that it's in my garage now and for a price that I can build up to making nice again.

Hola Amigos, aqui escribiendo desde Bogota, Colombia, here at home, in Bogota, I have a Kawasaki KZ1000-Z1R -D1, with Engine number KZTOODE-015843 and I know the other three Z1R - 78 with Engine numbers near mine.

and I also know two Z1R 80, one in Bogota and one in Medellin.

I share this picture of two KZ of my friends and mine, Picture in Medellin, Colombia