i have a'76 standard that has been sitting in my ratty barn for 20yrs, i had never ridden it. 3 day ago i pulled it out ( i drained the gas out decades back) after minor fiddling, points cleaning, new plugs and i heavy dose of Seafoam....i put 100miles on backroads in the last 2 days! she's all orig too
I'm working on a 77 KZ400 right now. It's the stripped down "special" model and a joy to work on except for the notorious top end oil seepage. Funny how this commerical featured the Honda CB350 - a popular bike which the KZ400 was designed to compete with.
100% Norton man now but I had new Z 400's in 77 and again in 78. Apart from rotting silencers they were really good machines. I had an oil weep from the gear change leaver on the new 78 model (Had to have the engine out under warranty) but otherwise oil tight. Brought back memories...
I had a 1975 KZ 400 in the mid 80’s. I was nice and drove in in Iowa ,Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Dependable for the most part except the charging system. It left me stranded twice. I also had a 1980 KZ 440 LTD belt drive and was a lot more dependable but very cold blooded.
My first bike was a KZ400 it was a great beginer bike with only 34hp and handling like a shwinn you could'nt go wrong. Two years later I upgraded to a 750 Honda but that's another story.
So amusing, it sure was a different world back then. I wonder why only the USA seems to have had a choice of versions there, as I recall in the UK anyway we got just the standard version.
My first bike back then. Put on many miles in Alaska and New Mexico. Never let me down. Hopefully, it's still out there somewhere giving its new owner even more fun.
"A comfortable reach-around leather seat for cruising as far as you want to go...." Now who ever said that advertisers didn't seek out the gay demographic?
