New Life For Old Kawasakis
NEW LIFE FOR OLD KAWASAKIS
DO YOU JUST HAPPEN TO have a much loved but considerably frayed old Kawasaki Z-bike stuck away in the back of your garage? Would you get it out and ride it if it just wasn’t so, well, shabby? If your answer to these questions is yes, a British firm called Specials has good news for you.
Specials (Unit 2, 142 Strathcona Drive, Anniesland, Glasgow G13 1JQ, United Kingdom; phone 011-41959-2122) is offering an upgrade kit based around an aluminum frame and swingarm designed to accept stock parts, including tank, seat and suspension. Built for Specials by Spondon Engineering, the firm responsible for the chassis of Norton’s new F2 sportbike and for various other pieces of high-performance, high-visibility hardware, this new frame is considerably lighter than the Kawasaki original and offers much more radical steering geometry to give the completed project a more modern feel.
Unfortunately, the kit is not inexpensive. It’s priced at £2200, the equivalent of about $3388 at presstime. Still, if you’re committed to the notion of longevity for a favorite old Kawasaki, this is one way to obtain it. -Roland Brown
