Way Back When 2 – Kawasaki Z1 Chopper Fail

Way Back When 2 –  Kawasaki Z1 Chopper Fail. Six inch over forks do not turn a Z1 into a chopper, even in 1977.

Way Back When – Kawasaki Z1

The only redeeming feature of this story is that I wasn’t personally responsible for the mods rendered upon this Kawasaki Z1. I bought it like that, (honest!) the unknown modifier having had the beast repossessed from his easy ridin’ hands.

Bought as a replacement for a stolen brand new Z1000 – uninsured – it was luckily on-swapped for a damaged near new Z1000 shortly after.

When this picture was taken in 1977, this kind of look on a Japanese 4 wasn’t uncommon. Extended forks and 16″ “hog” wheels found their way onto Z’s and 750-4 Hondas in large numbers in the mid 70’s.

This beauty handled as well as it looks like it would, with cut down shocks and extended forks. Clubman bars turned upside down gave it that “Z” bar look. The beautiful twin pod instruments had been ditched for some kind of miniature English speedo, unreadable at almost any speed.

On the upside, it was fitted with state of the art Dunlop TT100 tyres, and the flamed paint job doesn’t look too bad 33 years on. A 4 into 2 exhaust, finned engine covers and an H4 headlight complete the picture.

If you have a picture of a bike you loved -or hated – that you owned before this century, we’d love to see it!