Since this is the first time we’ve set out to employ a long-term bike specifically as a tourer, the question of make and model stirred up considerable debate, as you might imagine. In the case of the KZ1000, we want to know how our bike will hold up through all those miles while carrying touring luggage, fairing and, as much as possible, two riders. When you’ve lived with a bike for a year, you know its strengths, weaknesses, versatility and character. Putting a year’s worth of mileage on a bike is a much more meaningful test of a machine’s capabilities, in our estimation, than the handful of performance indicators we accumulate during the course of one of our regular tests. Just how well it can perform this service is what we intend to find out during the months ahead.Īs noted in the introductory test of the Suzuki GS550 last month, we’re undertaking at least two long-term evaluations of pavement bikes this year. But with its broad powerband and plentiful torque, the rocket is also capable of playing pack horse. The KZ1000 can be made to go quickly, yes. We appreciated the KZlOOO’s sizzling performance the first time around, but we may have overlooked its versatility. Now it’s 20 horses light in the mightybike numbers game, and seven bhp short of the top of its own line (the supersleek Zl-R).īut 83 bhp is still enough to haul you from Kennebunkport to San Diego at extra-legal velocities without straining a cam follower. quarter-mile time gets you in the superbike drag derby is a finisher’s pin you're at least a half-second too slow to win.Ī year ago the KZlOOO’s 83 bhp was enough to get you from point A to point B quicker than anyone else on two wheels. That status lasted just as long as it took the Big Four to open their missile silos for this season’s barrage. at 107 mph, the hottest thing on the street. When we first tested the Kawasaki KZ1000 (December, 1976), it was the successor to the legendary Z1 and. It becomes a touring bike in this application, anyway. Yesterday's rocket is like Saturday's hero it grows up and goes on to a broader range of pursuits. Next time around it’s just another big displacement street honker. One season your machine is the absolute last word in pavement scorchers, The painted ponies we refer to here are motorcycles, and as Joni Mitchell implies in her ballad, nothing stays the same.
"The seasons they go round and round The painted ponies go up and down." -from "The Cycle Game"
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