As rare as the 250cc two-stroke sportbikes are on these shores, the Kawasaki KR1-S is the rarest of them all, limited edition models of bikes like the NSR250R SP aside. Considering Kawasaki made some of the hairiest two-stroke sportbikes of the 1970s, it’s surprising that Kawasaki seemed largely uncommitted to the class, making just enough…
During the wild years of the decade known as the 1980s, there was a lot going on. Legwarmers were hot. The brat pack were hot. And most importantly, Turbos were hot. Every major Japanese manufacturer played with the puffer configuration at least once (Honda tried it twice) before giving up on induction-enhanced motorcycles. Honda built…
This Featured Listing is for our friends at Iconic Motorbikes. Thanks as always for supporting the site guys! -dc This is not the bright-green, dual headlight monster most people call to mind when you say, “750cc Kawasaki Ninja.” Instead of the truly featherweight lairiness of the Kawasaki ZX-7R, the 1990 Kawasaki Ninja 750R delivers a…
The boxy, purposeful 1983 Kawasaki KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica is one of those machines that elicits reverent guttural grunts from the most jaded superbike fans, connected as it is to American roadracing history. Before Lawson flew the flag on the 500cc World Championship stage, he won back-to-back AMA Superbike titles in ’81 and ’82 aboard…
If you see the phrase “classic sportbike,” your head may suddenly be filled with John Player Nortons and bevel-drive Ducatis… But tempus fugit and disturbingly, bikes like this Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R are rapidly becoming “classics” in their own right. But owning an old Norton requires you recalibrate your brain in terms of handling and performance,…
Update 3.15.2019: Now relisted on eBay with a buy-it-now of $37,900. Good luck to buyers and seller! Links updated. -dc Before Honda and Suzuki engineered machines with turbocharged engines in the early part of the 1980s, Kawasaki pioneered the idea by using forced induction to make their musclebound Z1R a truly brawny street machine. By…
Update 7.26.2019: This bike has SOLD! Congratulations to buyer and seller! -dc By the time the 1978 Kawasaki Z1-R rolled around, the Z1000 platform on which it was based was getting a little dated, though it still enjoyed a solid reputation for being a hard bike to tangle with on a street or track. Others…
The entire class of 250cc two-stroke sportbikes has alwasy been forbidden fruit for US-based sportbike enthusiasts. The last real road-burning stroker was the RZ350, a bike that can certainly hang with much more modern machines and punch well above its weight, but the 18” wheels and bikini-fairing mark it out clearly as a bike from…