I
n honor of its seemingly age-
less line of "Z" sport motorcycles
and the first Kawasaki Z1 that hit
the ground running 50 years ago,
Kawasaki recently introduced two
new models to its Z lineup—the
Z650RS and Z900RS, "retro-style,"
if you will. The classic-looking RSs
join the naked Z650 ABS and Z900
line while paying homage to their
Z ancestry, as do the '22 naked Z
versions that are painted similarly to
the original Z1 that first appeared in
1972. Look hard at the current Z650
and Z900 for a while, and you can
sorta/kinda see the semblance to
the original, paint-wise, at least. But
the RS models take the celebra-
tion a couple of steps further—not
only did the RSs get the retro paint
scheme like the nakeds did, but
they also got the Z1 retro styling. No
hard look is needed here; the RSs
have Z1 written all over them.
We recently got the chance
to spend an entire day riding the
Z650RS. Kawasaki invited a hand-
ful of media outlets to the heart
of Hollywood, where our journey
started and ended aboard the
Z650RS. In between, our ride was
filled with a little bit of everything,
including plenty of city, back can-
yon and freeway riding.
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 17 APRIL 26, 2022 P113
JUST LIKE
DAD'S Z
WE RIDE KAWASAKI'S NEW Z650RS
MODERN CLASSIC
BY KIT PALMER I PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN WING
