Posted on 07/17/2014 8:00:45 AM PDT by rktman
Not very much HP for the price.
It’s a 1989 300 cid six cylinger Lariat 150 with a four speed floor shift lucky to hit 55 mph in under a minute LOL.
Both the 900 and 1000 kz Kows were animal. Then Honda came out with the CBX 6 cylinder. All a royal PITA to do valve adjustments on with their shim kits.
But these 70s super bikes were ANIMALS. I couldn’t afford one but I got to tune, then play with them. Stopped working on bikes around 1980 and lost interest after marriage and 3 kids.
Toward the end my favorite was the gold wings with the smooth quiet power. I did like the boxer 6 Valkyries when they first came out. But I never did go in that direction.
“0 to 60 in well.. never” Jermey clarkson.. ;)
The 2 cycle 3cyl 750 Kawasaki was an animal ,, the Honda CBX only made 105 hp... couldn’t lean/turn and cooked the middle cylinders ... The kz900/1000 was good ,, by then Japan Inc. had figured out that frame geometry and getting things EXACTLY on center was important ,, most super sports racers had to rework the frames to get the forks correctly in alignment with the engine cradle and rear... many were off by as much as 3/8” according to the GP motorcycle pro’s of the day...
I love the early Gold Wings when you run them naked and upgrade the suspension...
Those KH two strokes(500&750) handling wise were almost uncontrollable and the narrow power band endemic to two strokes make all that power limited to the high rpm it must be kept at to function.
Torque being equal to or more important than HP. I prefer a vehicle that can pull like a mule in any gear and not going ring a ding ding ding.
I did enjoy those Kowie 2 stroke engines a bit when installed in arctic cat snowmobiles as I wizzed across frozen lakes.
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