Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

z900/zx9 wrote:Well while the zx9 is gettin fixed i decieded to drag the old z900 out gotta love old tecknology, turn key, first kick bang she fires up.No fuel pumps no radiators no side stand switch,and after an hour back on the old beast heaps of fun

We should go for a ride on Sunday and swap bikes so I can have a nostalgia trip again Mal!!! I lurved riding the Black Pearl.

z900/zx9 wrote:Well while the zx9 is gettin fixed i decieded to drag the old z900 out gotta love old tecknology, turn key, first kick bang she fires up.No fuel pumps no radiators no side stand switch,and after an hour back on the old beast heaps of fun

Ya Gotta Love the Nine !!! (The orginal and the best.)

Your not gonna tell me u got that lovely bike in your shed are you And while im on the suject of z900 do you have any close up pictures of the decal stripes for a 75/76 model the brown one with gold and orange stripes ?????? Oh and marty not sure if i will be goin out on the z900 this weekend,also if u did ride it and it fell over better go and see the bank manager those pipes are like diamonds and just as exspensive

Looks classic but then ya thnk about what you curently ride, twin ventialted front discs, disc brake rear and then you see single solid disc front and drum brake rear.. gotta wonder how people do it

Friend of mine that had an off and wrote her bike off I went to see how she was going and there's the bike, under a tarp in very sad nick, drum brake rear and rear tire skiiner than most 250's, dunno how she rode it so long..

mick_dundee wrote:Looks classic but then ya thnk about what you curently ride, twin ventialted front discs, disc brake rear and then you see single solid disc front and drum brake rear.. gotta wonder how people do it

The twin discs only matter for repeated hard braking, so if the bike never got ridden really hard the single solid disc would be OK.

Mick, it has been my experience that most ppl that have grown up on old dungers are half decent riders. Put them on something new and the actually USE it as opposed to poncing around... of course it just maybe that they are older and more experienced, whereas you are just OLD
Seriously but there is a LOT to be said for skinny tyred bikes. If your not putting out 180HP at the back wheel they dont really need fat tyres and I honestly beleive half of it is fashion and one up manship... look at the 240's etc. on some cruisers. Most ppl that have gone down a size (ie 200 to 190 or 190 to 180) actually reckon the bike handles WAY better and doesnt seem to spin up all that much more.
You can lock the front wheel on a well set up drum, so its not as if you need MORE stopping power. As mentioned disks is more about repeated (and wet weather) stops and that initial "grab" oh and consistency and .... OK youre right, how DID they stay up that long .

Mick i actually think that a drum rear brake is better for that initial stop in the wet And some people that seen me ride that old beast flat out around a sweeping corner see it wiggiling all over the place and think thats crazy,when its just the way they ride and like most things you just get used to it

z900/zx9 wrote:.... And some people that seen me ride that old beast flat out around a sweeping corner see it wiggiling all over the place and think thats crazy,when its just the way they ride and like most things you just get used to it

Mate we need to go out for a ride sometime, it would be pretty funny with 2 old Zedders pegging out past the ton, gettin' 'kinda squirrelly', as Schwantzy would say......

All 1970's Kawasaki 900's and 1000's came with a standard frame hinge.

Allow me to quote from an old aftermarket manual I have in the library.....

"There are several large-capacity Japanese motorcycles on the market today, that all handle well. The Kawasaki Z900 is not one of them......" (Actual manual has bold type as shown )

The Z1B I have in the shed is not as clean as the one in the photo , but it does have the same paint-scheme, and it is still the original paint job. I will have a look in a couple of my books for the paint scheme you are looking for.

Learning to ride on these old dungers has *really* made me appreciate how good the new bikes are. After almost 2 years of ownership, I am only now starting to ride the 12 with the same confidence that I can ride the Pearl......

mick_dundee wrote:Friend of mine that had an off and wrote her bike off I went to see how she was going and there's the bike, under a tarp in very sad nick, drum brake rear and rear tire skiiner than most 250's, dunno how she rode it so long..

Just found out it's a GPZ500S, 1990 vintage, was a good looking bike prior to accident.

As an aside yet semi related, shes now chasing another <>600cc bike with a bikini type fairing, any Kwaka recommendations?

I recommended the ER6F but she doesn't want the full fairing thing...