The historically famous Kawasaki Z1 was the first model of a mass-produced motorcycle that was adopted the racer-providing DOHC engine and debuted in the fall of 1972. It completely surpassed rival Honda CB750 Four at that time, and recorded a hit of explosive popularity, and quickly got a position of the "world's fastest motorcycle". We looked back about Z1's history, specs, and riding impressions that is highly popular in the used motorcycle market as a legendary model with video..
# 1 History
Kawasaki had released W1 624cc that was the biggest engine displacement motorcycle in 1966, and Mach III 498cc that is the two-stroke model in 1969. And in 1972, Kawasaki had started selling "Z1" over the world. It had a high speed of over 200 km/h and had a high acceleration of 12 seconds 00 in 0-400m, and its performance has completely overwhelmed the Honda CB750 Four, which was called "Monster". The name is ""900 Super 4 "". It is a 900cc parallel 4-cylinder mass-produced model as it is.
The first production model of the parallel four-cylinder engine was the CB750 in 1969. The CB was, of course, a high-performance machine that surprised the world, but, the most surprised people was the Kawasaki technical team more than anyone else. Because Kawasaki was also developing DOHC parallel 4-cylinder engine at that time. The codename was "N600", and the displacement was the same 750cc as CB. However, they have made further perfection to completely defeat Honda and suddenly revised its development policy. It was given displacement of 903cc, taking into consideration the expansion to 1000 cc. As a result, although the release date was delayed from the original schedule, It was delivered in the United States and Europe from the fall of 1972 and recorded explosive hits.
# 2 Specification and Equipment
Z1 had been published to the people at the Tokyo Motor Show held in Harumi, Tokyo in the fall of 1972. The catchphrase was "4 x 4 x 4". This meaning was 4 cycles, 4 cylinders, 4 carburetors. and "900 Super 4 " debuted with another catchphrase "4 cycles of unparalleled perfection". The world's first mass-produced 4-cylinder machine equipped with a DOHC head was given the largest displacement of 903cc at that time as a domestic motorcycle and achieved overwhelming power, maximum speed, and acceleration performance. The image of the original concept "Zapper", had been beautifully embodied. Z1 was praised as "KING" from all over the world, It had achieved even more performance than the CB750 Four that had driven the British motorcycle out. It was the '70s, and it was also the moment when the domestic car battle for supremacy came to the top in the world.
# 3 Riding Impression
(Tester: Mr. Hiroshi Maruyama, who is familiar with Young Machine Magazine)
At first we checked from the riding position. The pipe handle was set high and wide, making it easy to control. The sheet was flat and in the same position as the height of the tank, but I did not care so much because both feet were firmly on the ground. However, it was still a pretty big body size as of that time.
This motorcycle is totally easy to ride and is suitable for touring. When I was riding on the winding road, I felt that the handle was a little closer, but it is the basic model of the current Naked model position.
Original Source[ Young Machine ] (*Japanese)
See KAWASAKI Moto Index Page
See HONDA Moto Index Page
See Accessories for KAWASAKI Z1 (900 Super Four)
See Accessories for HONDA CB750 Four (CB750K)
