1980 KZ1300 - Hen's Teeth Do Exist

[Lucien Harpress]

It may. I don't know. I'll poke around my owner's manual and ask over at the kz1300 site. Not sure I like it draining the battery while everything else is off, but if it's a feature? Eh, I can live with it.

[Lucien Harpress]

Apparently, the fan running independent of the ignition switch(es) is a feature.

Not sure how I feel about it, but good to know it's not more shoddy wiring.

Off to the "wonderful" city of Ann Arbor tonight to get my blinkers powdercoated. Hopefully in a couple weeks I can get the headlight on, finish up the wiring, and focus on playing with the carbs/engine.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm FINALLY doing something about my primer GL1200 Standard...



I know what I'M doing this weekend...

[calif wingnut]

From my archives of the oem owner in 1980 discussing charging issues.

[Lucien Harpress]

Him... makes sense. Must be why they added a second stator in the later models....

[Lucien Harpress]

Played with it the Kiwi a bit tonight. I'm fairly certain that the left side is WAAAAY rich- less from the cloud of smoke out the left pipes (which I REALLY hope is too much fuel) and more from the fact it will start and warm up with no choke whatsoever. I've still got some parts to get for the full coil replacement (plug wires- think I'm getting a set in yellow), but once those get swapped out, I figure I can start tuning the carbs. We're close, I think. I just hope it's not too much of a PITA to get it 100%.

[Terry in Australia]

I remember when I saw my first Z1300, in the window of "Paul Worth Spares", (Sydney's biggest motorcycle wrecker back then) it had gone under a semi on the Newcastle Expressway at warp speed and the owner (on his first ride home from the Kawasaki dealer) had gone to God.

I almost bought one a few years ago, but the owner just couldn't part with it, even though it was a non-runner, and hadn't been ridden for many moons. Like Barney, I have to content myself with my '07 Triumph Rocket III that I've owned since new, if I want the speed without the bulk I ride my Yamaha FJ1200 with 130 BHP, and if I want the bulk without the speed, I love my '86 Interstate, it's the perfect cold weather comfort bike. Cheers, Terry.

[Lucien Harpress]

I haven't ridden it enough to get any real handling impressions, save that low-speed handling (especially with questionable carb settings) is CRAP. Steering is much heavier than any of my wings, and you can tell others is more weight up top than any of my other bikes. Still, like my wings it all goes away above 10 mph. I'm eager to get a more thorough road test in.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, any large in-line 6 is gonna be more top heavy than a boxer mate, although surprisingly I don't get that sensation with my 2300cc Triumph, probably due to it's low seat height. I'll be fascinated to read your ride impressions once you've got a few miles under your belt. Have fun synching your 6 carbs! Cheers, Terry.

[Barney T Weasel]

Power is way up on the Z1300 compared to the Wings and handling is far better than the Wings with more ground clearance. I rode my Z1300 for nearly 25 years before I found any bike that compared and the Triumph Rocket 3 was that bike, which sits in the shed with an FJ1200, a ZX1200R (now that outruns the lot) and a few others. (Terry, we have similar tastes!)

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I'd love your big Kawasaki Barney, but I don't have any room in my garage at the moment, I'm watching an Eddie Lawson replica here in Melbourne that's rough, but cheap (like me........) so who knows? Cheers, Terry.

[Lucien Harpress]

Have fun synching your 6 carbs! Cheers, Terry.

HA! I only got THREE on this beast!

Funny thing is, there's still three adjustment points, rather than just two (that you set to the "base" one). I think official Kawasaki doctrine is to actually set them all to a specific vac. pressure. We shall see.

I'm pretty sure they made the Honda mistake of needing an adapter port for the vacuum holes, though....I miss my Yamaha. Pop off the cap, pop on the measuring tube, pop cap back on when finished. [sigh]

[terry_208]

Although it might not be "right", doesn't Kiwi sound great when you crack the throttle? I loved the sound when the PO fired it before handing over your money. By the way, that was the best feeling, buying a bike with someone else's money!

[Lucien Harpress]

Not going to lie- when it spooled up for the first time, I may have giggled a little.

My GL120 is pretty sedate- it'll go, but not make too much of a fuss. My GL1000 starts quiet, but if you really give it the beans you get this nice snarl in the 5k-and-up range.

The KZ? it just sounds MEAN. It's pretty loud, even with the stock exhaust, and it just screams. It kills me when I see all these 1300s with a six into one exhaust. They all sound like crotch rockets. With the stock setup you get a bit of growl, a lot of sound, AND get it in stereo. It kinda sounds like a Ferrari.

[calif wingnut]

All fun back in the day of excess.

[Lucien Harpress]

None of my bikes really work at the moment, so in order to stave off the stir-crazy I decided to take the Kiwi up and down the road a bit. Apart from an engine kill switch that doesn't engage as positively as I would like (gonna need some contract cleaner in there), it actually ran really well, again, with no carb adjustment whatsoever. Off-idle is still dodgy, and I'm getting a strange hanging-idle (will stick at about 2500, then drop down to 1100), but once the mains kick in it accelerates nice and smooth.

Left side is way rich- plugs 1 and 2 are sooty. I couldn't get to 3, but I'd imagine the same. I'm also getting smoke out the left side on warmup- not sure if it's oil, coolant, or too much fuel, but it goes away after a few seconds. Something to keep an eye on.