360°... with balance shafts
So pretty much a DOHC TX750 then?360°... with balance shafts
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.So pretty much a DOHC TX750 then?
Kawasaki hasn't given up on the vertical twin. The W800 is still in production.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.
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.Kawasaki hasn't given up on the vertical twin. The W800 is still in production.
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