“These were the absolute business. When I was 16/17 these were already out and
they were a far off dream.” It’s that road presence, which is mystical. When you see one on the road, they look so
good. And when you ride one, you feel like you’re
riding something special.” Kawasaki’s reputation was riding on the
Z1 being special. The name came from Z being the last letter
of the alphabet, the most extreme position. And the number was ichiban, number 1 – the
best in the world. It had to be top of the menu. The Japanese team developing the Z1 considered
a piece of New York striploin or sirloin the best thing on the menu in an American restaurant,
the absolute number 1. That’s why they codenamed the development
project New York Steak. Presentation is a big part of the recipe and
its designer, Norimasa Tada said that his design brief was a three-S styling concept:
Slim, Sleek and Sexy. You can see that in the distinctive, ducktail
rear end, which became a Kawasaki hallmark. Then there’s the almost organic, teardrop
shaped tank. Kawasaki weren’t the first to use a single
silencer for each cylinder, but way they did it gives the whole design a sense of purposeful
flow. The Z1’s design goes to show that even if
you’re cooking with many of the same ingredients as the others, how it all comes together really
matters. This was the era of the so-called UJM or Universal
Japanese Motorcycle. The term first appeared in Cycle magazine
in November 1976 and referred to how nearly all new Japanese bikes that came out in the
70s were air-cooled, four-cylinder engines with transverse crankshafts, overhead cams,
integral five-speed transmissions, horizontally split cases, and four individual carburetors. The Z1’s designers realised that how that
basic mechanical recipe was styled and presented made all the difference. But was it all show and no go? “What a beast. They weren’t short on power, they weren’t
short on torque. You could stick your girlfriend on the back
and barely notice they’re there. That was a revelation to us to have that amount
of power. The difference for most of us back in the
day is that we will have gotten off a two-stroke bike. They’re fun, they smell great and they sound
great and they’re good for blasting around but on these bikes you could actually go places. You could sit on it all day long and they
were refined and you could just cover the miles. Maybe they were a little lacking in the handling
and brake department. But to be honest, it’s what we were used
to. The brakes weren’t very good on anything
back then. Get on these bikes nowadays and the brakes
feel absolutely appalling. And the frames do actually feel like they
reputation suggests, that they’re made of rubber. But it’s OK, it’s not so bad.” The Z1 had 903 cc, dual overhead camshafts,
82 horsepower and a top speed of 130 mph, which actually made it the first production
bike since the Vincent Black Shadow that could top 125 mph straight out of the box. That was enough to mean that from the Z1’s
launch in 1972 onwards, the name "Kawasaki" would no longer be associated as much with
loud, smoky and wild two-stroke triples like the H1 and H2, but with big, powerful and
refined bikes. The Z1’s performance also meant it was faster
than the Honda CB750. That was important, since both companies were
working on a 750cc bike in the late 60s. Only Honda came to market just a few weeks
sooner, meaning that Kawasaki had to start all over again. With renewed focus, they dropped the gentleman’s
agreement that limited displacement to 750cc and made every effort to make a bigger, better,
faster bike. Imola-race winner Paul Smart rode pre-production
bikes coast-to-coast across America for development. These prototypes had big Honda stickers on
the tanks as a disguise. Kawasaki rented Talladega Superspeedway for
a whole month, where the bikes were run at full throttle until they ran out of fuel—and
then refilled and run again until empty. All this work meant the Z1 wasn’t just faster
than the Honda. It was just as reliable. And a special one-off Z1 tuned by Yoshimura
and ridden by Yvon Duhamel even managed to set a new record of 160 mph for one lap at
Daytona in 1972. “There were other big, four-cylinder bikes. Of course, there was the CB750. But the CB750 did everything pretty well – it
did everything very well as well – that was another refined, usable, smooth machine. But it didn’t quite have what this had. This had a bit of sparkle and a bit of magic. And it had something, which the CB750 didn’t
have and never has had. Back in the day, they used to refer to the
Kawasaki Z1 as the King. The King of Motorcycles. And I tend to agree with them. I think it is. This is the King of bikes.”
