Kawasaki Kz650

KAWASAKI KZ650

10,000 Miles Pass Quickly When the Bike Gets Faster and Faster

Goes to show what faith will do. When Kawasaki introduced the KZ650 late in 1976, the smaller-but-sporting version of the ol' Z-1 was an instant success. The factory sold all they could make, a factory-sponsored team took home a flock of speed records and CYCLE WORLD proclaimed the KZ650 the best middleweight roadster on the market. As a check on all this instant enthusiasm we borrowed a stock 650, with the idea that we'd ride it on a daily basis and flog it in the interest of product evaluation and treat it just as we'd treat our own bike, that is, the usual mixture of over-indulgence and neglect. until the odometer read 10,000 miles. Then we'd see just how good the KZ650 is.

Verdict: Good is too weak a word. The KZ650 is great.

Inspect the log:

1175 mi. The engine is broken in, running well and is delivering 47 mpg, mostly on interstates, back and forth from home to office.

1502 mi. The tachometer cable has broken. No apparent reason. Replaced inner cable, $4.67 including tax. S&W fork springs and rear shocks/springs fitted. Progressive-rate springs give improved ride, more control at speed.

2050 mi. Oil is seeping from the cam covers and there’s a sputter off idle, just when you crack the throttle. Took half a quart of oil.

2479 mi. In for service. Cam chain tensione/ and cam plug seals replaced on warranty. Oil change, new spark plugs, oil filter. Valve clearances adjusted. Parts and labor, $55.61. Runs better but still not quite right oft' idle. Check shows 42 mpg.

2519 mi. Bike loaned to exhaust system maker, for collector pipes. They look good, sound good and slow the 650 down a bit. On way home from track the rear tire went flat. ACP sealer allowed control of escaping air but didn’t seal torn tube.

2629 mi. Neutral light has gone out. Probably a bulb and one of these days we should do something about it.

3030 mi. J&R exhaust system fitted. Cuts 12 lb. off the curb weight, does the quarter mile in 12.68 sec., passes our version of the state noise test and mpg is 50. Wow.

3336 mi. Crash. One of the staff has a lady friend who has a cousin who says he knows how7 to ride motorcycles. Against the rules, staff man lets cousin take bike around block. He goes half a block and drops bike. Wipes out left mirror and left turn signal, gouges side cover and scrapes off various other bits. Ed. delivers stern lecture.

Champion Motors (our neighborhood Kawasaki store) comes to the rescue. There’s a back order on body parts, so we are allowed to buy used stuff off a bike waiting for repair to its right side. We aren’t the only guys whose ladies have cousins. While they’re at it, the Champion wrenches replace the neutral light bulb, experiment with richer main jets and check the timing.

Disappointing. The engine now goes chokey at wide-open throttle. Chief Wrench Whitney tries one of the ideas used on his showroom stock racer KZ650, an advance curve from a KZ900. Bolts right in, cures that stumble off idle and the part no. is 21148-010. Total bill, including used parts, $136.

3813 mi. We’re told the. factory is replacing rubber blocks beneath the cam chain gear wheels, as a precaution. The 650 goes in for this, done under warranty. The carbs are returned to stock jetting. Battery checked, had one weak cell. Seems early for that problem.

4011 mi. Starter or starter button dead. Engine fires first kick. Will we be sorry w hen the kick start has gone the way of the hand crank?

4166 mi. Starter working again.

4330 mi. Oil changed, at our shop. Three quarts at 97C each. Random gas check shows 56 mpg. Thank you, J&R.

5215 mi. Installed Krauser cockpit fairing, using homemade brackets.

5395 mi. Main fuses are burning out. Starter working again, no link there. Trace shows wiring fault in fairing instruments. Angry Ed. rips out w'ires. Fuses quit burning out.

5720 mi. Starter not working again. What do you reckon this is? Battery dead, replaced, $27.95. Lightning trip to San Francisco, 1100 miles in a weekend, mpg drops into 30s and no wonder.

6982 mi. Oil change, at home, three quarts at 97C. Right signal wire unplugged inside headlight shell. Before that was discovered, the switch was disassembled. While that was being fixed, we find the starter glitch. The wires to and from the starter lock-out on the clutch lever pivot are crimped or something. Couple firm tweaks and the circuit is working again. We never do a proper job on this, because whenever the starter wron’t work, a tug on the offending connection is enough to bring the circuit back to life.

7250 mi. Rear tire was worn after flying trip. Replaced with Dunlop K81.

Reassuring note about that. When we removed the old tire, the inside of the casing was slosh-full of ACP tire sealer. Careful examination of the tread turned up no fewer than four small carpet tacks. At some time during the trip the tire picked up the tacks and the tacks punctured the tube so badly we threw7 it away. But. The sealer did so good a job that the rider didn’t know his tire was punctured. There was so little pressure loss he didn’t even check the tire pressure.

The K8l is a sporting tread. On the road it works at least as well in the dry as did the original tire, a K87 Dunlop, and the K8l feels more secure in the wet. It also is more disturbed by rain grooves, which surprised us: The usual thinking is that the front tire is more likely to nibble.

Followed a long period of just plain riding. Miles-per-gallon ranged from the low 40s, another of those flying weekend runs, to just nudging 50.

8473 mi. Nippondenso’s Los Angeles representative sent two sets of the new Hot “U” plugs, just introduced for the Kawasaki Fours. The hot set was installed, for street running.

Can’t draw too Arm a conclusion here because the staff featherhand rode the KZ for most of this mileage period, but mpg was consistently in the low' 50s. Gives a comfortable feeling, riding until 180 or 190 miles on the main tank, switching to reserve and seeing more than 200 miles on the odo before stopping for less than four gallons.

And so it went.

10011 mi. Long-term, 10,000-mile test officially ends.

Impressive. Think of all the items that didn't get mentioned. The chain wras adjusted maybe once, except for the times it happened by accident for a tire repair or change. The chain is still in fine shape, as are the sprockets.

The front tire had enough tread left that we can’t predict when it will need to be replaced. Same for the brake pads and shoes. There was no discernible loss in damping, or sacking of the S&W springs and shocks.

Paint and chrome have done well. The paint is nearly perfect and takes a shine without much work, even on the frame tubes and such. The chrome gets maybe eight points out of ten. Salt air and road spray did some damage to bolt heads and such in places where the fairing blocked easy access with the polishing rag. Grips were swapped forZl-R units, which didn't get into the log for some reason. The seat is intact, albeit marred by odd scratches nobody can explain.

We never laid a finger on the clutch. The first Marchai halogen headlight bulb went out, was replaced and the second unit has shone for six months, although the cover rattles.

Gear change is a bit notchy, especially on the 1-2 shift but heck, it always was like that.

Operating costs. It's always tempting to finagle on this sort of thing because none of us really wants to know how’ much our hobby better make that transportationtakes from our wallets.

in the interests of consumerism, it must be done. Because various states have different taxes and registration fees and insurance bills depend on age, residence, etc., we'll leave those out.

Suggested retail price of a 1977 Kawasaki KZ650 was $1995. During the 10,000 miles and 11 months of the test, we spent $369.82 at the dealership, for service, tuning and parts replaced by them. This includes the $100 or so for used parts broken w hen the KZ was dropped.

Our own shop bill, for oil changes, the battery, the rear tire, minor bits like grips and the two halogen headlight bulbs came to $103.24.

Figure 50 mpg average for 10.000 miles equals 200 gal. of gas. At an average of 696 per gallon at the serve-yourself island, that’s $138 for fuel.

We’ll leave out the cost of the various options because we didn’t actually need them to ride the bike. For the record, the Krauser fairing would sell for $250, the S&W suspension pieces for $120 and the J&R exhaust for $145.

So. Price of new7 KZ650, $1995. Add service and parts and fuel and the total is $2605.05. Our dealer says that while book value of a year-old KZ650 in good condition is $1470, at trade-in time, he’d allow7 about $1200 for the old nail.

What we have, then, is depreciation proving itself to be the largest expense of buying a new machine and trading in an old one. If we include depreciation, we have a one-year cost of $1406.05, or roughly 146 per mile. True operating cost (we know, leaving out tag, tax and insurance) is $61 1.06, or 66 per mile, which is much the better figure to tell one’s better half.

Main thing is, the cost is reasonable and the KZ650 is worth it.

Three conclusions.

One, when the allotted mileage had been covered, the 650 went back to Champion Motors for a complete tune-up. The carbs were adjusted, the valve clearances were reset, the oil and filter were changed.

The agency owner and the chief mechanic race KZ650s in showroom stock and super production. They are constantly learning new things. When our 650 was in. they installed a K&N air filter (it fits inside the stock airbox), # 105 main jets and #559 needles. In the middle position, Whitney cautions. Move ’em off the middle and the engine will barely run.

When the bike was stock and brand new7, it turned the quarter mile in 13.18 sec. (ä 98.57 mph.

When the J&R pipes were installed, prior to the high-speed tours and all those hard miles, the bike did 12.68 sec. @ 100.89 mph.

At 10.251 miles, the 650 turned 13.12 sec. (a 100.78 mph.

The K81 rear tire has a bit less stick than did the K87 used in the first tw7o drag tests. Trap speed is still up. meaning the power is still there and that 10,000 hard miles haven’t hurt the engine.

Second conclusion: Next step for the bike was Keith Code's rider school, a roadracing course for thinkers. Before that took place, the Krauser cockpit fairing was removed, extra weight, see, and the front wheel got a K81 Dunlop, to match tire performance at both ends rather than for reasons of wear. And after school we have a couple more ideas for production evaluation and the 650 will be used as the mule in the project. The KZ650 is Hell for Stout.

We're sorry to see this project end. We never found time, down-time that is, to try some ideas. The front end always seemed a bit harsh. Had circumstance permitted, we would have tried some aftermarket seals, softer springs and air caps. Street suspension isn't moving ahead nearly as rapidly as ofl-road suspension is.

Third conclusion: Our compliments to the factory. The KZ650 is a new7 model. We already knew about the speed and power and handling. We added to that and came out with an agile roadster that gives both sub-13 sec. quarter miles and 50-plus miles-per-gallon. But our fathers always told us to beware the new model. Gotta give the makers time to get the bugs out, is the rule. We didn’t, and all that happened was a couple shorts in the wires and a battery that died before its time. In this case, our fathers are as wrong as the KZ650 is right.