The Kawasaki 90-Cc G3ss
THE KAWASAKI 90-CC G3SS
A Fast, Well-Made Lightweight for a Bargain Price
FOR THE MAN who buys baseballsized gems for his wife(s), wedgies for his Llhasa Apso, Vichy water for his goldfish and Instant Breakfast for the ants in his garden, economic relief is coming. The 89-cc Kawasaki G3SS embodies all the Sybaritic features one could desire in a small bike. Spiffy styling, 10.5 bhp, automatic oil injection, five-speed gearbox, tube frame and a top speed near 70 mph, all for the suggested retail list price of $299.
The G3SS is the great-grandson of the Kawasaki 85-J1 which made its debut about four years back. Between the two, however, there is no more resemblance than name. To begin with, this lightweight (185-lb. curb weight) has an impressive frame. It is a tubular doublecradle arrangement with liberal gusseting, certainly a stout item and an example for the rest of the industry. The swinging arm follows suit; it is tubular rather than pressed and welded, and has a good feature of its own. Where conventional practice calls for flattening and drilling the swinging arm ends, Kawasaki has gone to the effort of leaving the ends rounded and welding the axle brackets to the ends. Very tidy.
The rear spring/damper units are handsome DeCarbon types with open springs. This variety of damper carries sealed-in nitrogen which is an inexpensive inert gas. Conventional shock absorbers are vented to the atmosphere, which contains oxygen, and therefore are susceptible to rust. Sealing nitrogen gas in the Kawasaki shocks makes oxidation impossible. Nor does nitrogen’s density vary so much with temperature changes, so the dampening rate stays constant and oil frothing is minimized. One might even predict that any rider trying to “defeat” the shocks by hard riding would himself froth before the oil showed any such weakness.
The performance of the bike is quite good. With less than 10 miles on its odometer, the CYCLE WORLD test bike tripped the quarter-mile at Orange County International Raceway in just 20.34 sec. For an 89-cc engine this is outstanding. Its 60-mph trap speed was equally outstanding. The five ratios in the gearbox are well spaced, although the shift lever is a tad short for guys wearing shoes larger than size 9 1/2. Keeping ahead of traffic is no problem at all. It’s surprising how quickly the G3SS carries a rider up to crusings speeds in the 53-58-mph range. The generous 19-mm Mikuni carburetor, feeding through a rotary valve, deserves much of the credit for this performance.
CYCLE WORLD IMPRESSION
The crankshaft assembly is supported by a ball bearing on each side, while the connecting rod has caged needle bearings at the big and small ends. The engine’s bore and stroke dimensions are slightly undersquare at 1.85 by 2.04 in.
The G3SS handles well. It can be flicked from vector to vector with hardly any conscious effort at all. The 18-in. wheels make this possible along with the machines’s stiffish suspension. For some riders the springing may be too taut, especially on the front end; nevertheless, it handles like a little racer.
