1979-1989 Kawasaki KZ1300 6-Cylinder Review - Sound, Specs, Riding Impressions! 

You must be a well built big man because you made that bike look small.... Absolute beast of a bike

This was one of the bikes among all the bikes my uncle owned. He had the full dressed black version. The last time I rode with him. We toured Wyoming and South Dakota. I was on one of his KZ900s. We put on 900 miles. I got to ride the 1300 for a while on the trip. Luckily I have dozens of pictures of the trip. He's no longer with us. He crashed in his plane. That yr he was supposed to come home. At the time I owned a 1999 Honda Valkyrie Interstate. He never got to ride it. So the trip was/is very important to me. He loved his 1300 Kawasaki.

Great video! I've owned a CBX in the past and, certainly here in South Africa, there was always rivalry between Kawasaki and Honda fans. My bikes better than yours type thing. Being older and wiser now I really appreciate both. Glad we live in a world with these great 6's.

I am 60 and I have owned in excess of 30 motorcycles. Number 5 in my bike-ography (it followed a Yamaha FS1-e; Kawasaki KH125; Kawasaki Z250, and a Honda CX500) was a stunning black 1979 Kawasaki Z1300. It was, quite simply, a beast. Oh god do I miss that bike more than any other I ever owned. Massive character, best ever sounding exhaust in standard form, and it pulled like a train on tyres more akin to a pushbike these days.

It was 1980 and my 21 year old self had moved to Dallas TX. My neighbor was an ex Hells Angels chapter leader from Chicago. He was riding the full touring version and doing wheelies up and down the parking lot with his "old lady" on the back. Bill, if you're out there, you're still my hero.

The 1982 KZ1300 I owned was one of my favorite bikes of all time. I always wanted to get a carburetor version and install a fuel injected engine from a voyager. I love the smoothness and the sound of the 6 cylinder engine.

I bought Mt 80 kz1300 with 823 miles, have 29000 now, and I'm bringing her back to life now, after 23 years of hibernation.

The bike shop 55 miles away, in the 70's and 80's was a Kawasaki dealer. Now it is just a shop and used bike dealer. He still has a brand new , never cranked, never sold KZ1300. Enjoyed the video Jon and RIDE SAFE OUT THERE.

Great review Jon! Always wanted one. It does not yet get the love the CBX has lately gotten, but it is a truly unique piece of motorcycle history. Love it !

Dad had the VETTER fairing and bags kit ! They were the best money could buy back in the day !

Oh yeah, now this is a bike I have always wanted and I'd still love one!

Being an apprentice for a guy who owned a Suzuki shop and a Kawasaki shop, I've had a bit to do with the 1300. Actually helped the mechanic pull out the engine and replace the main bearings of an early bike. One later bike had a weepy diff plug, which the owner whinged about continually. The dealership threw resources at it, but three different mechanics couldn't fix it. It was really a non issue anyway. A few of us at the dealership were weedy little guys but rode the 1300 without a problem. I could put them on the centrestand easily. They just demanded respect until they were moving. For a small guy they are just too heavy to be a daily rider. I think Jons review is 100% spot on with everything. I think that if you owned one, it would fall over eventually. Supremely comfortable and plenty powerful, smooth etc. Hard on tyres, however there's no chain and sprocket costs. Brakes were pretty good from memory. Pretty wide so Jons dads cornering experience is no surprise really. Great Japanese quality. A very niche bike. I like them but they're huge. I just thought about tiny Japanese test riders and workers assembling these things. 😂 They must have big balls. No wonder they were hard to defeat in WW2. 😂 The Z1000J remains my favourite big air cooled four.

A couple of more things that came to mind: My brother had a fully equipped touring Z1300. It once started to go when he attempted to lift it onto the center stand on a not-so-level surface, and the bike began to fall over, but he managed to catch it by the handlebars. To his bewilderment, the bike continued to drop slowly on its side, while my brother held the bars steady. Turned out my brother was strong enough and the bike heavy enough to bend the handlebars. After removing the fairing and bags, he also loved to slide the bike out of 90-degree city corners, spinning the rear tire in first gear under control. What I remember best about my own, a later 1984 DFI naked, was that it never ran quite right at lower revs, and that it vibrated badly enough at 4000 rpm to put my hands to sleep within a mile. It didn't blur the mirrors or anything, but the very fine, high frequency vibes got to me. At any other rpm, it was not a problem.

i remember when they debuted.i thought they were huge in physical size.didnt see many on the streets at the time though.perhaps for size & cost reasons.nice review jon.

Great review as always Jon. I hear other RU-vid's say you don't need a Liter Bike... I disagree. Buy what you love and enjoy it for as long as you have them. Ride safe. Cheers

great vid Jon , brought back a lot of great memories . Thx for sharing

Your dad looks very proud in his photo.

I have a '79 that I found in an abandoned house. All original with only 1200 miles on it. I need to finally get around to restoring it, such a fascinating bike, and you're definitely not joking about dropping the thing just trying to move it around...

I remember buying a Z200 with Dad when I was 15 years old. The Z1300 next to it was just frightening to look at - more so because I was a small teen getting a start on road bikes.

Good morning Jon ☕️. I've always been intrigued by the inline 6 cylinder, but have never ridden one. Great video! Your narration is easy to listen to and I appreciate the editing. Enjoy your weekend. Eric in NC

My ultimate bike.... I would love to own one... They are the best that kawasaki have to offer even nowadays

My first bike was a Z250 Scorpion and I always remember seeing the Z13 in green sitting in the shop when I went to pick up my bike this was back in the early 80s now I have the K1600GTL you can't beat the sound on an inline especially when it has 6 pots, good memories.

Nice job. I forgot about the fuel injection models. What a sound!! Back then I was more interested in going around corners fast on my 1974 Norton Commando 850 with a Druin supercharger on it. I should have had that instead. Maybe I would still have it. It was hard to kill. The Norton was not. (and I did)

A side by side comparison between a KZ1300 and CBX (with both in mint condition) would be awesome .

If a couch and a motorcycle had a powerful baby together. It would grow up to be a Z1300.

Your pops had great taste in motorcycles!

Would love to heve one of these. I only had a KZ 1000 and a KZ 650. Both were rad dependable bikes. Great show. Awsome sound.I bet the price of these bikes are going up, and up?

Hola Jhon. Muy buena tu historia con el 1300.. Recuerdo cuando trabajaba en la agencia Kawasaki había un compañero que tenia un 1300 /81 (carter grande) el andar era hermoso pero tambien su "peso" !! La calidad de la moto era superior * me atrevo a decir que fue el punto mas alto que hizo Kawasaki)comparada con el CBX (mas sport)eran distintas , a pesar de tener las 2 un 6 cilindros en linea. Un gusto como siempre recibir tus videos. Saludos Ricardo

Hey Jon, thanks for posting, well done. I had the full touring package one summer, I remember it had a clumsy key/ security system, but it sure liked the interstate, I believe there was some issues with the cam chain tensioner mounting bolts stripping out.

Yes, that was a great story good to hear a personal history of ownership from back in the day, I had a pilion ride out UK on a maroon coloured one of these when I was about 13y am no 59y I never got over the tourque and became a biker to this day passed my test on kh250 at 17y and have had hundreds of different bikes but kawasaki holds a soft spot for me, my curent stable zx14 p.s, H2, busa gen2+3, cbr1100x6, bandit 1200n gen1😅

Guy on my drag race team had one ! We callec it the "BRUISER" !

That's the bike I most regret that I sold. Mine was a 1980 equipped with a Shoei touring fairing and bags that made it look almost like a Voyager.

Thanks! Sounds like you got the sound from the Z1300 racing around Spa ;)

One of kawasakis better ideas over the honda cbx was the three carbs instead of six.

Nice job I remember the 1300 back in 1979 but went with the 1000ltd. Still have it. But the 1300 I seen was a dresser. To much money. I did pick up a 1200 voyager in 1990. Its a 1997 still has carbs. Love it i ride it more then the 1979 ltd. Its my fishing bike I can put all my gear in it and take off and easy on gas. About 42 miles to the gal. But it comes in at over 900 pounds. But u can set flat footed on it. Unlike the Gold wing. Thanks for sharing.

Hellishly strong bike. But I was surprised that my friend's KZ1300 suffer bad valve recession, though at about 200,000 miles !!

Had an 86 voyager very big very heavy never got comfortable with the weight also had 79 kz1000 shaft drive that was a very nice ride thought it was pretty quick until i challage a vrod on the interstate at 55 found out quick i was on an antique

Going back in my memory, the original Gold Wing was meant to compete with the Z1/KZ900, but Honda created a touring legend instead. Think about it...the Harley Electra Glide's vibration and reliability are legendary, albeit for the wrong reasons. The BMWs, while relatively vibration free thanks to the boxer twin, were far more reliable than the Harleys. The Z1/KZ900 was seen as a dragster, not a good touring bike. The GL1000 changed everything. Far more powerful than anything else, and smooth thanks to the boxer four, it made Craig Vetter rich. What Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha didn't get at the time is that the boxer four was a better touring motor. Kawasaki created the liquid-cooled 1200 cc inline four for the Voyager, Suzuki created a 1400 cc V-four for the Cavalcade, and Yamaha created a 1200 cc V-four for the Venture. Honda said "I'll see your V-fours, and raise you two cylinders." They haven't been seriously challenged for the top touring spot in a generation. Still, that era saw a lot of unique motorcycles.

3 -2 Barrel Carbs is interesting and unusual i am guessing. The Race Track audio sounds like something from V-12 Ferrari, or something similar from the tracks of Europe ! I can relate to the story about the Weight, my Honda is 675+ and its plenty of weight to try and control, pushing it around in the garage.

Very cool bike thanks for sharing

beautiful beautiful bike😊

Beautiful

Nice bikes 👍😊

Doug Domokos (wheelie King) was a sight to behold on one of these. Not a pretty bike by any stretch and these days, is 1300 a mid weight? 😊

gd vid jon id have that old kaw.

Seems to me you had / have a great dad 👍

How did the Honda CBX compare to the ZK1300?

Are parts for the 1300 as prevalent as the 1000? I've got an opportunity to get one cheap that hasn't been ridden in 5 years.

I went and looked at the KZ 1000 shaft. How does the suzuki GS-1100e stack up against these 2 bikes?

I had the Dfi version from 1988. I sold it after only 8 months. Creamy smooth and quick on the straights but too fat for twisties. The front forķs were air assisted but hopelessly too soft and bottomed out on poor roads. It's too wide to filter in traffic (lane splitting) and even gentle riding gave poor MPG.

I remenber mine, mosltly good memories except the one where i have to do slalom between 30 cows on the hyway. Not the fastest responding motorbike.

I've had 2xVoyager 1300 touring bikes. I agree they are so heavy and ungainly when slow, but on the highway at speed they are glorious. I was surprised when I races a 1200 Gold wing and he left me behind. Always thought my Kawasaki would be faster as Kawasaki prides itself on fast, I'm a 100cc bigger than the Honda but slower. Bummer.

I'm 64 never owned one but have rode them. Slow heavy pigs.

Looks Kawasaki compared to a triumph Bonneville for the time

LOL you really need to abbreviate the name of the bike your focusing on in the video. YOU must have said KZ1300 500 times during this video and you do the same in every one of your videos.