Original Kruise King

ORIGINAL KRUISE KING

In some ways, power cruisers are still trying to catch up with Kawasaki's 900 LTD of 1976

HARD TO BELIEVE now, but at one time there was no such thing as a cruiser.

Streetbikes were simply that-hang a handlebar fairing and saddlebags on, you had a touring bike; mount low bars, a collector exhaust and a set of Pirelli Phantoms, you were going caferacing. Today, we’d call ’em standards. Back then, they were just motorcycles. Luxutourers, sport-tourers, repli-racers, cruisers et al were still to come.

Cruisers came first, even if that particular name had vet to agin popular usage. Inspired by hordes of choppers plying both coasts, Kawasaki stylists outfitted a basic Z-1 with stepped seat, cut-down tank, mag wheels, raised-white-letter Goodyears, long-reach forks and a set of Jardine 4-into-2 bellmouths to come up with the 1976 KZ900 LTD, first of the factory customs. (Fans of the 75 Norton HiRider, all three of ya, save your stamps...)

Cycle magazine called the finished product the “Kalifornia Kustom Kawasaki,” noting, “there is more than a hint of the crypto-chopper about the LTD’s looks.” Suggested retail was $3295. Dry weight was 541 pounds.

Much was made of the bike’s then-massive rear wheel, measuring all of 3 inches from flange to flange. When wrapped with its 16-inch Goodyear weenie, the combo looked “like something that should be propping up one corner of an automobile,” reckoned the editors.

Staffers wrestled with the form-versus-function question. The LTD’s stylish fuel tank, holding just 3.5 gallons, imparted a sparse 125-mile range. The two-tier saddle limited rider movement. And the buckhorn handlebar... well, here’s what they had to say: “Ride the LTD very far at highway speeds and you may wish you could drive the handlebar end through some stylist’s heart, like you’d use a wooden stake to terminate a vampire. The LTD’s sweptback handlebar may look right; it feels wrong, and the faster you go the wronger it becomes.”

At least the triple-disc brakes-at a time when most bikes were lucky to have one-came in for high praise. “There’s enough braking power built into the LTD to handle at least twice its gross weight,” claimed the testers.

But it was the 900’s powerplant that carried the day. “Like all of Kawasaki’s near-a-liter Fours, it won’t merely yank the headlights out of a good Corvette—it’s going to take the windshield wipers and door handles, as well,” enthused the editors.

Cranking out 75 horsepower, the LTD did in the quarter-mile with a 12.53-second showing, quicker than every modern V-Twin power cruiser we’ve tested with the exception of Honda’s twice-size VTX1800.

Apologies to the new Vulcan then, but Kawasaki had a meaner streaker a quarter-century ago.

David Edwards