Kawasaki Z1 1972-1976

At the age of ten, motorcycles were noisy but impressive things that drove me to distraction every time I heard one. And the first time I saw Kawasaki’s Z1 parked no more than 10-feet from the other side of our garden gate that was it – I was hooked on big capacity, inline four-stroke bikes. Nothing could eclipse the memory of that day.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, this was the founder of large Japanese bikes. The first real sports bike over 750cc. But now I can see – and feel – why that name and reputation has stuck over the years. Hellfire, it’s heavy! And big. No wonder the bike didn’t come with a fairing. The motor is so wide each side casing effectively protects feet from road crud.

The 241kg weight – and that’s a claimed dry weight without 17 litres of fuel sloshing around in the tank – isn’t as big a problem as I first thought it would be. Shoulders and forearms get a workout lifting the bike off its stand, but once the bike is rolling it’s a simple exercise of keeping balance by transferring body weight on to one bum cheek and then the other.

Keeping the several hundred kilos of steel and alloy from grinding bones to pulp if I drop it is the worryingly skinny, old hat 19in front tyre. Even though the long forks, tall wheel and wide bars give the bike a spindly, extremely receptive feel, the bike has a huge chunk of forward momentum. With so much mass under-bum this 1974 Z900A4 version just wants to keep going straight on into the sunset.

Kawasaki fitted dual-disc front brakes and a rear drum. Back then in platform shoe days they must have been the best available. But mogging along at 100 miles an hour they struggle to do what they were designed for.

20 minutes of riding time later and I reckon I’ve got them sussed; if I think I’m going to need to brake then I don’t think too hard – just do it. Squeeze the very long brake lever for all you’re worth and stamp on the rear pedal.

The Z1 delivers a claimed 82bhp to the back wheel. OK, so modern and smaller capacity 600s make 20 or so more ponies. I’ll tell you what though – if one was ever transported back in time they’d have banned it as dangerous before it even saw a road. Why is that? Because even with 82bhp the Z1 doesn’t instil the rider with much confidence. Tramp on through a flat stick sweeper and hit a bump or dip and what quality of ride there is soon turns to shit.

No wonder the Yanks took a shine to the Z1. If this example is anything to go by bucking broncos with thistles up their suppository chutes would be calmer. They wouldn’t weave and flap as much, that’s a fact. I’ve still got a smile on my face, though, as I wait for the bike to settle down and carry on in a straight line. They must have used pencils for the swingarm and wheel spindles, and shampoo for suspension fluid.

The bike was marketed originally as a supersports-tourer (to keep our cruiser loving and fashion conscious American cousins happy). The Z1’s seat is a Slumberland special in comparison to today’s thinly padded horse saddles. Plush – real plush – and lobbed together with the low-positioned pegs and high bars the bike is a very comfortable steed. Well, up to the ton at least – the point at which windblast tries to push your head onto the pillion perch.

Given that the Z1 spurred on the other Japanese manufacturers to come up with something as bold and more powerful, it wasn’t long before Kawasaki were forced to turn the 903cc Z1 into the improved 1015cc Z1000. And from there on to 1100cc – and all the while retaining the mantle of ” most powerful bike. ”

Hence the expression ” classic ” – because that is exactly what the Z1 is.