360°... with balance shafts
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That other twin.
- Thread starter MacMcMacmac
- Start date
Yes, very similar. Cam(s) driven from the center of the crank on both, plain bearings, twin balance shafts... 2 valves per cylinder. 360° crank. Kissin' cousins you might say.
KZ was mildly more successful but plain. TX was prettier but doomed. Kind of like comparing the girl next door who opened her own day care and the head cheerleader who liked to cut herself and died of an overdose.
At any rate, both were anachronisms by the mid 70s. Just like we like them. The Yamaha had the excuse of coming to market when such a design was still considered a viable bike with mass market appeal. Kawasaki itself had largely rendered the vertical twin obsolete with the Z1, so it is kind of baffling why they brought it out in 1976.
Then there was the Tempter....that other "other" twin. Not much old-school about that one though.
At any rate, both were anachronisms by the mid 70s. Just like we like them. The Yamaha had the excuse of coming to market when such a design was still considered a viable bike with mass market appeal. Kawasaki itself had largely rendered the vertical twin obsolete with the Z1, so it is kind of baffling why they brought it out in 1976.
Then there was the Tempter....that other "other" twin. Not much old-school about that one though.
Short comments
I was at the dealer negotiating a deal on the Suzuki -- New -- cash no trade I want the helmet and leather.
Price is there on the Price tag ..he said Not a cent down.. I went home and never back.
I remember 1972 or 73 when the first XS 650 came to Town New the a bit older Guys Gave the buyer a scolding
Everyone on Brit bikes More or less called him insane .
Came 1975 after that I never heard of anyone buying Brit bikes New ..
Kawasaki 900 and Honda 750. and later Suzuki GS
So the buyers then being Young ..wanted faster and more power At least to beginning 80 ies when to many crashed on
wobbling bikes with tubular frames . People could slam the credit card at the counter never been on a Motorcycle before getting around 100
hp . To many accidents .
So where i Lived 74 -76 the twin was obsolete and I don't remember even seeing the Yamaha twin 750
The parallel twin is a sound design So there will always be those interested But back then Not the younger crowd
And perhaps not now either . But things change
I am not sure twin over 650 cc is a good idea .I don't know . But Kawasaki have had it for sale for many years and that is an indication to that there are customers and sales.
I have read good reviews of the Royal Enfield so someone Buys twins
I was at the dealer negotiating a deal on the Suzuki -- New -- cash no trade I want the helmet and leather.
Price is there on the Price tag ..he said Not a cent down.. I went home and never back.
I remember 1972 or 73 when the first XS 650 came to Town New the a bit older Guys Gave the buyer a scolding
Everyone on Brit bikes More or less called him insane .
Came 1975 after that I never heard of anyone buying Brit bikes New ..
Kawasaki 900 and Honda 750. and later Suzuki GS
So the buyers then being Young ..wanted faster and more power At least to beginning 80 ies when to many crashed on
wobbling bikes with tubular frames . People could slam the credit card at the counter never been on a Motorcycle before getting around 100
hp . To many accidents .
So where i Lived 74 -76 the twin was obsolete and I don't remember even seeing the Yamaha twin 750
The parallel twin is a sound design So there will always be those interested But back then Not the younger crowd
And perhaps not now either . But things change
I am not sure twin over 650 cc is a good idea .I don't know . But Kawasaki have had it for sale for many years and that is an indication to that there are customers and sales.
I have read good reviews of the Royal Enfield so someone Buys twins
Yes, but that's more of a heartstring puller, and in no way represents a "modern" alternative like the KZ did. Put it this way, when the KZ came out, the horsepower wars were just getting underway. Within 10 years of the first KZ twin we had Ninjas doing 160mph, and the older bikes may as well have been from another planet. Power was king and there was no way a P-twin 750 was going to be anything other than an afterthought by 1976. Fast forward to 2021 and we have all been there, done that, and the allure of ever more useless performance has dimmed for a lot of riders. The whole hipster thing has fed into it as well, as the search for.....authenticity.....has created a desire for simpler, more human scale machines. Kawasaki and others saw a market for bikes like this one and are mining a fairly rich vein by selling relatively cheap to make machines at a decent markup. Cue the RE Interceptor, Bonnevilles, R-Nine T, V9 Roamer/Bobber, Ducati Desert Sled etc. All I'm saying is that it was a design that had been played out and was definitely seen as inferior in light of the newer 3 and 4 (and six) cylinder bikes coming out each year. The failure of the Tempter in 83 was a sign that the market had very little interest in a big aircooled p-twin.
Don't forget the modern, watercooled parallell twins, that mostly sell due to their performance/ price. Kawasaki 600/650, Yamaha 700, KTM and BMW 800/900, Honda Africa Twin, etc.
Well, you live and learn. I never knew about the Suzuki Tempter. Had to look it up - the Tempter name was applied in the USA but in Europe it was the GR650X. And it must have made such a splash that I 've never heard of it. Don't think they can have sold many.
MacMcMacmac has it right that the Z750 twin was an anachronism in the 70s, certainly looked very odd in the Kawasaki model line-up. But so did the Honda 500T. Then there was a mad push for more cylinders more power in the 80s, bikes got bigger and heavier. Then it was more power more lightness in the 90s, bikes got stupid fast. Where did the stimulus for this come from? How much is fashion responsible? The motorcycle press? Was it what bikers wanted or was it what they were told they wanted?
Were manufacturers trying to explore those questions when they brought out alternative offerings? Yamaha spent a lot of time and money bringing out alternatives to the UJM, such as triples, V-twins and big singles. The SR was a good bike but didn't sell in numbers, not in Britain anyway.
Collectively, we seem to have got past the sportsbike thing. Is the modern fashion more RTW credibility, more gadgets, more height? Everybody seems to be teetering around on big high 'venture bikes like GS, KTM, Triumph Tiger. Half the folk you see with them don't look comfortable pushing them around at the filling station. Let alone trying to climb aboard . . .
And don't even get me started on what modern bikers are wearing these days
MacMcMacmac has it right that the Z750 twin was an anachronism in the 70s, certainly looked very odd in the Kawasaki model line-up. But so did the Honda 500T. Then there was a mad push for more cylinders more power in the 80s, bikes got bigger and heavier. Then it was more power more lightness in the 90s, bikes got stupid fast. Where did the stimulus for this come from? How much is fashion responsible? The motorcycle press? Was it what bikers wanted or was it what they were told they wanted?
Were manufacturers trying to explore those questions when they brought out alternative offerings? Yamaha spent a lot of time and money bringing out alternatives to the UJM, such as triples, V-twins and big singles. The SR was a good bike but didn't sell in numbers, not in Britain anyway.
Collectively, we seem to have got past the sportsbike thing. Is the modern fashion more RTW credibility, more gadgets, more height? Everybody seems to be teetering around on big high 'venture bikes like GS, KTM, Triumph Tiger. Half the folk you see with them don't look comfortable pushing them around at the filling station. Let alone trying to climb aboard . . .
And don't even get me started on what modern bikers are wearing these days
P-twins are making a comeback due to the inherent economy of material needed to make them. Also, those high power shenanigans have paid off in that smaller, simpler bikes can still make very satisfying amounts of power. I don't think anyone was wowed by a 55hp 750, even in 1976, yet a coworker still rues the day he sold his Ninja 650 so he could carry a pillion in greater comfort. Is was definitively in the power/handling/size sweet spot for him. I'd never thought a p-twin Rebel 1100 would be a thing, yet I find myself very attracted to it. The p-twin is again seen as a front line product, and applying the usual tech like 4 valve heads, VVT, fuel injection, high compression, water cooling etc., has made them real performers. Heck, the EX500/Ninja 500 was all the proof we needed. We seem to have been stuck in a v-twin mindset for too many years. I guess manufacturing costs have reached a critical level.
There is also the unfortunate reality that our purchasing power is taking a beating, and if companies want to keep up sales, they definitely need a cheaper way to make a mainstream bike so that people can still afford them. Although a $20k+ Africa Twin is hardly a cheap proposition. There is always forced induction, which might still be cheaper than 2 extra cylinders to make big power, i.e., the Suzuki Recursion (another dumb name).
There is also the unfortunate reality that our purchasing power is taking a beating, and if companies want to keep up sales, they definitely need a cheaper way to make a mainstream bike so that people can still afford them. Although a $20k+ Africa Twin is hardly a cheap proposition. There is always forced induction, which might still be cheaper than 2 extra cylinders to make big power, i.e., the Suzuki Recursion (another dumb name).
Well, since we have a picture of all the others I figure the GR deserves it's due. An interesting bike, but it seems caught between two eras.
I think the Honda 500T was a case of Honda being nostalgic about a bike they had made their bones with in the 60's, and being reluctant to admit times had moved on.
I think the Honda 500T was a case of Honda being nostalgic about a bike they had made their bones with in the 60's, and being reluctant to admit times had moved on.
Much of the 70, 80, 90s was driven by production Superbike racing. But remember, in that period the curious offshoot, BoT(battle of twins). By the mid 70s, GS750, CB750, Z1s were all quit a bit heavier than the svelte ( 
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