I like adventure bikes. In Greece it's what I ride because
roads are sometimes treacherous but always interesting. But at home I have an
antique for my ride. It's a bike I dreamed about when I was much younger and
finally acquired it later in life.
In 1979 Kawasaki engineers produced a bike they'd been
working on for several years. It was to be their first foray into 6 cylinder
motorcycles. Honda stole some of their thunder with the introduction of the CBX
the previous year. The 1978 CBX 1000 was a sport bike with an air cooled 6
cylinder engine that produced over 100 hp and it received rave reviews.
The 1970s were a time of a major energy crises caused by
petroleum shortages. The Middle East oil producers slowed exports and there was
a revolution in Iran. To conserve petroleum the U.S.actually reduced interstate
highway speed limits to 55 mph.
So into this world was born a behemoth of a motorcycle with
a displacement of 1300 cc and 120 hp. It had liquid cooling and a shaft drive
like a car. It also would break the interstate speed limit in first gear. The
motorcycle was heavy at over 700 lbs. It didn't get rave reviews. But it did
raise eyebrows and create a sensation for its complexity and sheer overkill for
the time. One bike magazine dubbed it the
Hulk, another named it King Kong.
At the time I'd just bought a 1978 KZ1000 and quite liked
it. But the 1300 was a bike I drooled over just because of the size of the
thing.
I used to read all the cycle mags of the time and I remember
coming across an article about a Finnish guy who'd set a world record for
wheelies. He'd gone 65 miles on a California interstate on his back wheel. He
was riding a KZ1300. He was a stunt rider and his name was Arto Nyquist. I
really craved that bike.
Then someone stole my KZ1000. It wasn't insured for theft
because theft insurance was expensive. I was then paying off a loan for a bike
I didn't have any more. Then I got married. Then I had kids. Afterwards, there
was never enough money for that bike of my dreams.
But in October, 2005 I found it. I came across a 1981 KZ1300
in a customer's backyard and bought it for $1000. It had a fairing and hard
bags and an ugly paint job, but it was a KZ1300. It also needed work to get
running. It was a project I dove into that winter. I tore off the touring junk
to put it back to how it looked originally. I had a friend who owned a bike
shop so I took it to him to tune up the engine and carbs.
One of my favorite memories is going to pick it up at the
bike shop when it was ready. When I walked into his office there was a low
rumbling sound coming from the back of the shop and my friend asked me if I
liked the sound of my bike. It was the very first time I’d ever heard that
engine running and I fell in love with that sound. The throaty exhaust sound
reminded me of a buddy's TR6 Triumph sports car. My bike actually had more horsepower
than that Triumph.
Then I had it painted black.
The thing rides like a train. And it's so smooth. There's no
tingle through the grips like every other bike I've owned. Just smooth power
through the gears right up to a theoretical 148 mph. I've cruised along at 100
mph but would never test my luck to find out the real top end. It's a 35 year
old bike but it's an every day rider for me.
The last long ride I had on it was to the Cabot Trail in
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was July and the weather was excellent.
That place was meant to be seen by motorcycle, with the highest mountains in
eastern Canada. Rugged terrain and ocean, that’s what I like.