Kawasaki Z 1300

With bikes like the H1 500, the K2 750 and the Z900, Kawasaki earned a reputation for making the fastest and the most fearsome roadsters available. As the 1970s wore on, although the 900 grew into a 1000, the opposition began to catch up, overtake and zoom ahead with their own scorching road burners. Since 1973, however, Kawasaki Heavy Industries had been working on a new 'King' to wrest the laurels from its Oriental rivals. The brief was simple, the bike should be a 1200, have six cylinders and because of the company's expertise with such a layout, should have an in-line engine. Development continued slowly but surely on those lines until it was decided that, due to the bike's inevitable weight penalty, an even larger power unit was necessary. So when the new Kawasaki bike was announced to the press in late 1978, it was designated the Z1300 and featured a 1286cc engine.    The width of a six-cylinder power unit mounted across the frame presents the biggest problem for designers because it limits banking angles and thus impedes rapid cornering. Such a unit also presents a large frontal area to the wind and makes manoeuvring in traffic somewhat perilous.    Kawasaki's answer to the problem of making a compact six was to utilize water cooling. With water jackets around each cylinder, the gaps between can be narrower than if air is relied on for cooling. Although the Z1300 is rather large from crankcase end to crankcase end, the rest of the engine looks more the size of a big four. Of course, another advantage of water cooling is that it provides good sound insulation and this well-balanced six is notably quiet and smooth with few peers in this respect. 

Difficulty was found in accommodating the customary one carburetor for each cylinder, so the decision was made to use three twin-choke constant-vacuum carburettors. These were found to be more compact and fitted underneath the fuel tank without impeding the rider. The fuel mixture enters the combustion chambers by way of a single valve per cylinder, the company thinking that the expense of the four-valve-per-cylinder system was unjustifiable.  Power is transmitted through a five-speed gearbox to a shaft drive, mounted on the right-hand side of the bike. With a weight of 640 lb to propel, and all of 120bhp to transmit to the 17in diameter rear wheel, it was obvious that a chain would just not be up to the job. Braking is taken care of by triple discs using the Kawasaki system of sintered metal pads, (two front, one rear). Surprisingly, once under way the bike is quite easy to ride and does not feel at all like the heavyweight it is. The engine is smooth and powerful and urges the machine forward at an even and very rapid rate.

 There is no noticeable power band as such, just one turbine-like surge right up to the 8000 rpm mark. This corresponds to 135 mph in top gear, although a few more mph can be extracted if you risk running into the red sector of the rev-counter. Acceleration is certainly in the top bracket with a standing-start quarter-mile time which just reaches into the 'elevens'. There are one or two bikes which are faster but they are a fair bit lighter and not quite so comfortable. Another pleasant surprise is the machine's fuel consumption which is quite low and always on the good side of 40mpg.  The instrumentation and switchgear of the bike are just what you would expect of a Japanese bike for the 1980s, and they are just about perfect for the job. The Z1300 has a large comfortable saddle which makes long-distance touring very comfortable indeed.  It is hard to say just how big bikes will get before the trend to 'bigger and faster' stops, but critics should not dismiss the new Kawasaki as the ultimate unmanageable monster. It is in fact smooth, fast and easy to ride and an interesting step in the development of the powered cycle.