GoldToothGarage
XS650 Addict
what is all this crazy suzuki talk?
i have a 81' kz550 im about to kick out of the garage... any takers?
i have a 81' kz550 im about to kick out of the garage... any takers?
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Suzuki 650 twin from early 80's
- Thread starter Purplezinger
- Start date
The '75s were green. I owned one. Fastest bike on top end I've ever ridden. Faster than my CB750s, faster than my Hogs. I can't say for certain how accurate the speedometer was but the tach would turn 15K and the Speedo 140 MPH. A friend of mine rode a 900 BMW and never once managed to out top end me.
In this day and age I know there are a lot faster but in 1975, not many. The only bike that ever got me on top end was a Gold Wing.
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
Bill, not to start a argument, but a CB550 would not do a legit 140 mph if it went over a cliff with a 2 mile drop off. I raced many CB550's years ago with my "little" KH400 Kawi. Wasn't close in drags or topend. You must have had dogs for CB750's. Maybe different strokes for different folks?
Here's a link to a fella doing a Susie Tempter Tracker:
http://www.flattrack.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&view=topic&catid=3&id=139608&Itemid=0
Here's a link to a fella doing a Susie Tempter Tracker:
http://www.flattrack.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&view=topic&catid=3&id=139608&Itemid=0
Maybe the CB550s you raced against were dogs?
Those little Kawi triples were hell off the bottom, couldn't hold a candle to them in the drags. RD350 would eat me alive in the quarter but at the end of a mile it was a whole different story. 2 miles, 3 miles... that's where I ruled. Can't find that much open road 35 years later.
I've no doubt the speedo wasn't accurate but I owned CB750s and raced against CB750s and on top end my 550 was always faster. We weren't pros, it was street racing, who knows but that's the way it went. As for the Gold Wing. He got me on take off and I never got close to him again. Took my money. Later he let me ride it and I was scared to look at the speedometer but not as scared as I was years later on some of these more modern bikes. Some of these new liter bikes shouldn't even be allowed on the highway!!!
These days, I like my XS. With the taller gears it has no problem topping 100 but it spends most of its time on backroads at 50-55 just keeping me company.
Those little Kawi triples were hell off the bottom, couldn't hold a candle to them in the drags. RD350 would eat me alive in the quarter but at the end of a mile it was a whole different story. 2 miles, 3 miles... that's where I ruled. Can't find that much open road 35 years later.
I've no doubt the speedo wasn't accurate but I owned CB750s and raced against CB750s and on top end my 550 was always faster. We weren't pros, it was street racing, who knows but that's the way it went. As for the Gold Wing. He got me on take off and I never got close to him again. Took my money. Later he let me ride it and I was scared to look at the speedometer but not as scared as I was years later on some of these more modern bikes. Some of these new liter bikes shouldn't even be allowed on the highway!!!
These days, I like my XS. With the taller gears it has no problem topping 100 but it spends most of its time on backroads at 50-55 just keeping me company.
Just a saw one of the early kwak 650s on craigslist, I never knew it existed, had to google it to know it was real. guy wanted 3500 and it needed some love. I think I'll stay with the XS...
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
Gary, you mean the original 60's Meguro based Kawi650? I'd like to see that link if you have it.
Here you go
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/mcy/3233893524.html
Kawasaki 1967 VERY RARE!! - $3200 (Racine Wi)
Date: 2012-08-27, 8:22PM CDT
Very Rare... 1967 Kawasaki 650 cc /PERFECT rat rod bike project!! The motor and carb are rebuilt, only 50 miles on them. Great condition and runs fantastic! Have clean title in hand.
ANY QUESTIONS CALL BOB @ 262-308-6940/ Please leave message with phone number if no answer.
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/mcy/3233893524.html
Kawasaki 1967 VERY RARE!! - $3200 (Racine Wi)
Date: 2012-08-27, 8:22PM CDT
Very Rare... 1967 Kawasaki 650 cc /PERFECT rat rod bike project!! The motor and carb are rebuilt, only 50 miles on them. Great condition and runs fantastic! Have clean title in hand.
ANY QUESTIONS CALL BOB @ 262-308-6940/ Please leave message with phone number if no answer.
The tempters are not rare around here, there are 4 on the Milwaukee craigslist right now.
Here you go
http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/mcy/3233893524.html
Kawasaki 1967 VERY RARE!! - $3200 (Racine Wi)
Date: 2012-08-27, 8:22PM CDT
Very Rare... 1967 Kawasaki 650 cc /PERFECT rat rod bike project!! The motor and carb are rebuilt, only 50 miles on them. Great condition and runs fantastic! Have clean title in hand.
ANY QUESTIONS CALL BOB @ 262-308-6940/ Please leave message with phone number if no answer.
I never saw a 4 stroke Kaw until the KZs came out in the 70s. I can't imaging doing anything other than a full restoration with a bike that rare.
FLEA
XS650 Guru
had a w1 back in the mid 70s,the qld police used them for a while as traffic bikes for a short time but most probably found the same thing as mine ,even the trumpies blew them away.was told once they had one of the longest production runs in the world,mainly in japan.it seems bsa took them to court and won so they were banned for export but were used in japan for a num of years
Looks like rare might depend on where you are.
1974jh5
Curmudgeon.
The CB 750 was the first of the 'superbikes' that the average guy could hope to own. Before it, the only road going 4 cylinder 750 was made by MV Agusta, most folks over here had never heard of MV Agusta let alone could aspire to own one.
When the CB750 took off it was a surprise even to Honda, that's why the first ~14 months of production is called 'sandcast' because that's how Honda was making the cases, at the time that was a fairly slow process and casting production struggled to keep up with demand. They had to scramble like crazy to get the casting dies built for the later engines.
1/4 mile times ruled the advertising of the times and the CB750 delivered. 13.5 seconds was pretty damn quick for the times. http://www.sohc4.net/index.php/hondacb750f2cb750k7-cyclefeature-1977/ Minor modifications could make it competitive with the 12.8 second Kawasakis: http://www.dragtimes.com/Honda-CB-Timeslip-20723.html
Kawasaki was caught with their pants down and scrambled like mad to design and produce the 900cc Z1 and reclaim the 1/4 mile throne. Yamaha and Suzuki both saw the handwriting on the wall and started their own big HP programs. That led to the decline of the XS650, although Yamaha produced it into the '80's it was no longer considered their flagship 1/4 mile beast. That was eventually the job of the Seca 750, which was stupid quick for the time: first bone stock production 750 to break the 12 second barrier.
Handling definitely suffered in the search for the 1/4 mile glory. My Seca was a scary sumbitch to ride hard in the twisties; if you heeled it over and rolled on the throttle, the rear of the bike would come up as the pinion gear tried to climb the ring gear. It scared the shit out of me, since then gimme a chain drive bike any time. It worked great for drag racing, though; it would force the tire into contact with the ground, you had to be ready to shove your weight forward as the bike tried to rise on acceleration.
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I had a '69 K-1 750 Honda Four bored to 836cc with weber cam and carbs, tt pipes and a 21" over stock springer and a 15" car radial on the rear that was pure hell in the quarter mile. Even stock KZ 1000s couldn't do anything with it but it top ended in the quarter mile. Never actually put it on the drag strip so I never knew the numbers. It was really hard to handle. Hard to control. Traded it for a used pick-up and bought a new Hog. Quit racing, started profiling. Got more girls. Regretted some of the girls.
They had rules at the drag strip and put us in classes we didn't always run well in. Street racing we could pick our class. Not that I'm recommending street racing, it's just that we were young. Besides, if you won big at the drag strip everyone knew what you had and no one would race you after that. Or you had to spend more money and move up a class.
In those days we didn't yet know about extended swing arms, we were still building choppers. But hey, they followed straight lines really well even if it was hard to keep the front wheel on the ground. And corners? Who turned corners?
They had rules at the drag strip and put us in classes we didn't always run well in. Street racing we could pick our class. Not that I'm recommending street racing, it's just that we were young. Besides, if you won big at the drag strip everyone knew what you had and no one would race you after that. Or you had to spend more money and move up a class.
In those days we didn't yet know about extended swing arms, we were still building choppers. But hey, they followed straight lines really well even if it was hard to keep the front wheel on the ground. And corners? Who turned corners?
1974jh5
Curmudgeon.
I grew up around drag racing, but the $/seat time ratio was just too damn high. I was used to paying $15 to enter an MX race, then have 3 heats and a main, roughly 45 minutes of racing. $10 to go drag racing and spend maybe 5 minutes racing (with an enormous expenditure to do anything past bracket racing) only in a straight line just didn't trip my trigger. A couple of friends got badly injured street racing and a whole lot more either lost their licenses or had gigantic insurance premiums, so I stayed away from that for the most part.
I quit MXing to chase girls, with mixed success. I hooked a few, but threw back a whole lot more than I kept.
I quit MXing to chase girls, with mixed success. I hooked a few, but threw back a whole lot more than I kept.
This is another vertical twin engine motorcycle, it's a 1979 Kawasaki KZ750 that I owned back in the day. It was heavy, didn't handle well, the carbs were junk and the mufflers rusted out in three years. I wish I had it back !!
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I grew up around drag racing, but the $/seat time ratio was just too damn high. I was used to paying $15 to enter an MX race, then have 3 heats and a main, roughly 45 minutes of racing. $10 to go drag racing and spend maybe 5 minutes racing (with an enormous expenditure to do anything past bracket racing) only in a straight line just didn't trip my trigger. A couple of friends got badly injured street racing and a whole lot more either lost their licenses or had gigantic insurance premiums, so I stayed away from that for the most part.
I quit MXing to chase girls, with mixed success. I hooked a few, but threw back a whole lot more than I kept.
I was really into top end racing and in the mid 70s there were lots of new Interstates and 4 lane US highways 'round here with no traffic on them but that quickly changed as every interchange got built up and people moved south in droves. I wish I had a salt flat nearby.
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
PeeWee could make a Turtle turn a fast 1320
gruff54
XS650 Enthusiast
You do, the old airstrip in Maxton. Been meaning to get out there and watch 'em run.
http://www.ecta-lsr.com/
Mike
1974jh5
Curmudgeon.
PeeWee could make a Turtle turn a fast 1320
Yep, that's why Yamaha hired him to do quarter mile passes till he broke 12 seconds. He also weighed about as much as a feather pillow.
racerdave
^ Gone not forgotten ^
What year was that? I'm pretty sure in 1980 when MotorCyclist tested the Kawi,Honda,and Suzy 750's, the Kawi KZ750-4 was the faster 1/4miler. Maybe the Yammie 750trip was included. I owned the Kawi
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