Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ '" '" 0N r- We all know that it's the fastest, but beio'nd that trick styling and asphalt-wrinkler image the ultimate supe.rbike holds surprises of another sort. '" o C"l >- :;; '" ~ w 2 w ...J U > U I t looks mean and w ill act the part if asked, but it also makes a very friendl y tra veling partner. For one th ing. that seat is very comfortable. IIv Art Fried ma n Wh at kind ' o f im age d o yo u come u p w ith wh en vou thi nk o f a Kaw asaki 750? Dr ag racing? Whee lics? . Sm o kin g rear tire s? Roa d racing, maybe? The word is superbike, Yo u asso ciate the M a ch IV with acc eleration, pe rf o rm ance , an d sp eed. Do yo u think of to uri n g? Nah, y ou th in s of bl itzin g, min d b o ggling per forman ce. Maybe I mean mo nsterbike, T ha t is the way th at I felt , too. I an ticipated a hairy handful : fun to ride on ce . just to experience the pe rf o rma nce, but after th a t I figure d th at I'd w an t so me th ing m o re co m for ta b le and pl easant t o ride . I was surprised . My ap prehe nsio n was in creased wh en , as I left to p ic k it up , I was to ld to be care fu l. " Road teste rs fo r th ree o th er p u b lica tio ns have crashed th ose th in gs. One gu y ran it into a garb age truck . Let 's make sure it isn't fo ur." It isn't a bi ke th at th e n ovice rider sh ould co nsid er. We al l know th at it's fas t. Cy cle News doesn 't make a road test o ut of perf ormanc e figu res. If you want to know wh at a machin e will d o righ t d own ' to the last m illisecon d th ere are plenty of p laces tol o ok .One writer like s to take lest hi kes ou t and cook the m down the quarte r ump teen times o n end, if you wan t q ua rte r m ile figure s. An o th e r, b rave r, fe llow takes th em o u t to a road race course where you can sec lo ts of pictures of hi m every m on th all heeled over in the corne rs. The re you can find comparative lap tim es. T he Kawasaki 750 is as fas t as yo u will eve r need a bike to be. It is the stronges t. T h at 's all. Do you know what I d id with i t? I to o k it touring. Yeah . An d you kn o w wh at ? It 's a good tourin g bi ke. 1':0, a great to uri ng bike. Bu t it isn 't th at kin d of bike, y ou say . Wron g. I t just has the wro n g kind o f image. The m onsterbike im age affec ted us . Every st af f me m b er wh o rode it, cl imbed o n th e Mac h IV an tic ipa ting th e ultimat e supcrb ike, A ll o f us ex pec ted a we wo uld fin d mach ine tha t ent ertainin g fo r an af ternoon. Eve ry body wanted to experience that in cre d ible performan ce ju st o nc e , but it wasn't a ma ch ine th at we ex pec ted to th rill of lik e mu ch p ast the p er fo rm an ce . We expected it to be un com fortabl e and tri cky t o ride - bu t mi n d -b e nd in g. Sure, everybody cornm en ted o n the perform ance, but wh at was mo st imp ressive was th e o the r side of th e ma ch ine. " T ha t is a sw eet mach in e ," said o ne staffer. A rip -sn ortin g, asp halt-wrin kling, man iacal su perb ike doesn 't evoke that kind of comme nt. Instead o f trying it on ce and losin g interes t, we fo und that th e bi ggest thin g w rong w ith it was th at we had to take it back, The H-2' s image see ms to st ate , an d peop le tend to assu me , that it is an eve n hairier versio n of Kawasaki's three cylinder 500. Desp ite wh at th e ads impl y , the ma chines h ave much diff eren t perso nalit ies. The 750 is mu ch more co nfi den ce insp iring and flex ible. It is a mu ch better all-aro u nd mo torcy cle. T he rid e, seating , su spe nsi on , engine flexibility, and co n trois are mu ch mo re comforta ble and civilize d o n th e 750 . T hey d id'l' t design t his o ne for th e same h igh p ow er-per -cube performan ce tha t th e Mach III is famo us fo r. In fact , per form an ce o riente d rid ers may be happier with th e 500. Th e engine in th e 75 0 is a much m ore usab le co n trap tio n t han th e 5 00's. It is very st ro ng without bein g p eak y . It has bags o f low end torque. You d on't d ial o n the th rottle and wai t for so me th ing to happen suddenl y when it reaches a certain rpm. The engine resp onds pretty directl y t o the throttle. Grabbin g a fistful will ev oke a stro ng resp onse ins tan tly even a t low Rs, Ex tern all y the engin e ap pears to b e qui te sim ilar to th e 500. Althou gh th er e are no co mmon parts the layo u t is mu ch th e sam e. Both are three-cylinder, pisto n-po rt, air-c o o led two stro kes. How ever, th e 750 h as mu ch mi ld er p or t tim in g, and th er efore a mu eh wider po wer band. It also reach es n1ax imum p ow er at a mu ch lo wer rpm level. The 750 puts o u t a claimed 74 bhp a t 6 ,8 0 0 wh ile th e 5 0 0 pe aks a t 7400. T ha t wide powe r band an d low en d grun t are wh at ma ke up o ne o f the maj or ch ar ac teristics of th e 750's personality , Yo u can le t the ta ch need le d ro p d ow n to 2000 rpm and it wo n' t co m p lain. T he owner's manual also cau tio ns you not to run bel ow three grand for p ro longed periods, bu t it was so com fo rtab le d own th ere th a t I co u ld n' t resist. T hey say that if yo u do it wil l foul pl u gs. I did an d it d id , b u t on ly thrice in 2400 miles. One time it cleared off. The o the r times I rin sed th em with gas which fixe d it. By the way, the middle cy linder alway s ran the cooles t co n trary ' to all th ose rumors abou t it over hea tin g and seiz ing . I sol ve th e p lu g problem with a cle an se t of a pl ugs and th e use of regular g- s which has less lead and is th e reco mmen ded fue l. I t runs fine on two cy lin de rs, th ough, if y ou d on't want to sto p . This brings t o mind a questi on. Why didn't Kawasaki use th ose tr ic k, ab so lu tely fou l-free surface gap pl ugs like th e ones in last ye ar ' s 5 0 0? This bike, like th e 500, uses capaci tive discharge ignition (C Ol) . "This kind of ignition sy ste m d oes no t allo w the use o f those plu gs," I wa s t o ld . Well, wh at is th e advan ta ge o f COl if it doesn't incorp ora te the fo u l-proo f plugs? First an d foremo st is th at there is nothin g t o wear in th e timin g adju st me n t, That is one large h assle out of th e wa y . When I'm to uring I don't wan t to have to st op and take th e t ime to check th e ti m ing every few thousan d miles . With this type of CD ign itio n sys te m I don 't have to . The o the r advan tag e o f CD is th at it pro d uc es a bi g moth ering sp ark of rela tively long duration. This me ans more burning an d less dep osits w hich in tu m me an s more p ower and lon ger plug life . Th is C D ign ition di ffe rs fro m th e types used in previo us K' s in th at it h as a sep ar a te syste m for eac h cy lin de r. T hi s has several advantages. First, it is easier to troubl e sh o o t. Second , if one sys tem fai ls you still have two to keep yo u movin g. On the o the r hand, surface gap p lugs would b e awfully nice fo r d riving ar ound town at speeds bel ow th ose recommended by the owner 's manual. With the CD ignit io n system period ic ma in terran ce is greatly simplified . T here is no real e ngine" main ten ance to worry abou t. The tw o m ost com p lex items to be a tten de d to are the carb ure tors an d baffl es. I neve r " fe lt th a t th e carb s need ed a ttentio n during o u r test so th at sho uld o n ly be an occasio nal matter. Th e baffl es were beginning t o need some a tte n tio n . That w ill take abou t 20 minutes every 2500 mile s. Cables, chain, air cleaner, and oil changes are all re la tively simple, quick, infrequent ite ms of main terran ce . This is so me thing th a t the touring rid er will ap p recia te . You cou ld go t ran s-con tin ental with one ch ain adj u stmen t, gas, an d two stro ke oi l. The two st rok e o il is carried in a tank on t he righ t. No gas-o il mi xin g. It smoked when cold b ut it ' j ust abou t disappeared o nce warmed up . The occasional plug-foulin g is one fact or th at limits th e Mach IV 's suit ab ility to arou nd-to wning. An oth er is th e su rgin g ph enomen on a t lo w engi ne sp eed wh en n o t under load. T his - d isappear ed at 45 or 5 0 and was an n oy ing a t worst. ' I stop pe d at Cali fo rn ia Kawasaki in San ta l\lonica an d r od e tw o of th eir b ike s as a comp ari son . Th eirs d id it less. Could b e th at ours had a differe nt ca rb se lling so me where . If you adjust to the su rging, wh ich is quite po ssible . the machine is very pleasan t arou nd , to wn . For one thing. the transmi ssion is great. I t is incredibly light and p ositive . It sh ifts like a hot kn ife th rough m ilk, First gear is lightly ta ll wh ich is as it shou ld be with all that powe r and torque, Ne ut ral is all the way at the bo ttom. a controversial arrangeme nt. I liked it because I n eve r had to fish for neu tral. JU SI sna p it all th e w ay d ow n . I d on ' t believe th at I ever missed a shift. T he clu tch is an in -to w n d ream. It is also very ligh t. It need ed a sligh t adjus tm en t a t the lever on ly o n ce. The p ow er can rare ly b e used co m p le tely around town , but its effor tlessness is nice for gunnin g your way o u t of tigh t situa tio ns. T h e 11 -2' s easy perfo rman ce wrtl l o ften pu t you a great de al further fro m th e speed limit than you re alize wit h o u t chec king the speedo . Wh acki ng th e throttle on hard in first or secon d will b ring th e front wh eel up . I amus ed m yself by lofting th e fron t wh eel ove r gu tte rs, bum p s, and traffic co un ting device s. J found some interest ing streets where v ou eould get airb o rne quite easily . It never quive red upon landing - j us t kep t goin g straigh t. Even wi th th is k ind of ab use th e rear spoke s, bi g, hefty n um b er s, never loosened up o r bro ke . T he Kaw asa ki weigh s less th an any 75 0 except th e No r to n. T his ligh tn ess (abo u t 4 30 poun ds) m ade it quite pleasant around tow n and aide d th e handling. T he two-st roke engi ne is short and low ers the ce n ter of gravity ma kin g it eas ier to toss aro und or flip th rough tigh t esses . T he susp en sio n and sea t d id an admirab le j ob of soaking up wh a tever jolts I en countered. The suspens ion tak es th e w o rst of it . It is soft with o ut being m ushy . Th e bump s th at usu ally sh orten my b ack a lit tl e bi t never m ade m u ch o f an im p re ssio n o n the big K. Desp ite bein g so com fo rta b le , th e suspen sio n also d oes a su pe rb job of ro ad h o lding. It will take an in cre d ib ly precise line . Just pi c k o u t an ap ex and p o int . it. T he ste er ing geo me try and wei ght distribu tion are sp o t on . At very high speeds th e rear shocks would pogo sligh tl y in ce rtain co m ers. On ce I reali z ed th a t it wasn't go ing to de gen era te in to a sp eed wo bble I learned to relax an d e njoy it. T he instruments have several function s. They w ill tell you how fast you r engine and fr ont wheel are turn ing. T hey wi ll also k eep th e w ind off of you at 75 mph (i nd icated). 1.;, ,I

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