Used Bike Guide's review archive - KAWASAKI

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KAWASAKI Z900
There's a new boy with a Big Zed: Guy Robertson

I was ripe for an affair. I am in my early forties, balding and have a little difficulty seeing my belt. OK, I'll get another bike as a stable mate for my Hinckley Triumph Thunderbird instead.

RWHS delivered a shiny diamond dark green 1976 Z900 A4 to leafy Lingfield. Almost totally original, absolutely gorgeous and finally mine. Sounds fantastic, loud, but fantastic. Fortunately my neighbour is also a petrolhead. First impressions of riding were, well. impressive.

Quite how best to describe the handling? That complex mixture of frame dynamics, steering geometry and suspension ho-hum? The concise description would be: scary. 'Oh my God, what have I bought?' I have spotted a body snatcher and invited him in for tea.

To begin with, the Z900 rides like a dog, a rabid dog. The low speed handling is simply appalling and you can feel the chassis bend and wriggle without provocation. I've made a bad choice of shopping trolley. You know, the ones that have to be pushed at an angle to go in a straight line. I am going to tame this beast.

When on high quality macadam the story is altogether happier. It feels stable and secure and exceeding fast. I am enjoying myself, I think. A visit to my local string of roundabouts linked by dual carriageway is big fun. Burning off your road rivals on the straights is effortless but the roundabouts are effortful and those cars just love to catch up. You cannot flick a Zed through a roundabout. It might just flick you into the geraniums. Such a session is tiring but it will be a good kind of tired. I always return with that inane biker grin and I will always have forgotten workaday cares.

Plenty of revs are needed to pull away and first gear feels like it is good for oh, at least five miles an hour. The bike seems to dislike first and second gears and is much happier once third is achieved. Third, fourth and fifth are infinitely more flexible. Down changes can be smoothed out by a smart flick of the right wrist.

Stopping a Z900 is not all that difficult. The front brakes are pretty good, with plenty of feel and reasonable stopping power. The Z900 has twin front disks unlike the Z1. The rear brake is kak, pudding, blancmange, but it helps a wee bitty.

For some inexplicable reason the available performance drops by a factor of ten at night. In fact, it is not at all difficult to explain. The headlight is feeble, like a guttering candle. Wee Willy Winkie had more light. The indicators on a Z900 are embarrassing and I recommend that you use them for the shortest possible time. They work perfectly well but are accompanied by a noise like a parrot with laryngitis. Earlier models are mercifully free of this auditory anomaly. There is a choice of kick-start or electric. I always use the kick because it is infinitely cooler. The mirrors are purely decorative.

A Z900 can smell fear. When treated aggressively it learns better manners. When you greet one you do not walk up to it and say 'Hello old girl, how is it going?' Just walk up and punch it on the nose before it has a chance to say a word. If you ride it tentatively it behaves badly. Just try cornering in too high a gear and you will reduce the council's hedge clipping expenditure. At low speeds the bike follows any rut in the road, irrespective of which way you steer. Avoid joins in the tarmac at all costs unless you fancy riding a two-wheeled tram.

These bikes are said to have more horsepower than sense and their handling has been described as 'wayward' and 'bounding'. Obviously I did not get the message, I got the bike. It's also been written that 'a Zed One at full bore through the bends can be expected to flex.' Well pardon me, but it flexes at half bore on the straight unless that straight is billiard ball smooth. Try riding a twisty hill with adverse camber and full of drain covers, surrounded by bad tarmac repairs. Certainly a test for any bike, but on a Z900 you had better have a strong will to live. I am glad that it was dry!

With all the criticisms you may have the impression that I dislike the bike. That impression would be wrong. The Z900 is idiosyncratic. You would not accept this handling from a modern machine. The fact is that it may be crotchety and it demands respect but if you are on your mettle, this metal is immensely rewarding to ride. At this stage of our relationship, I am still in lust with my Z900. I shall probably grow to love it. If I keep punching it on the nose it will probably chuck me off and I will end up as Robertson's best strawberry jam. Have I joined the cult? You don't need to ask.

If life is getting dull or too comfortable why not treat yourself to the Z1/Z900 experience? If it is really dull, ride it into central London during the rush hour. Your dearly beloved would probably prefer you to have an affair.

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