Old and New - 2019 Kawasaki Z900RS and 1972 Kawasaki Z1 

Kawasaki 750 H2 MACH IV, the original one... Had one too. Greetings from Brazil.

i agree, and the music is way too loud and not that good. but thanks for an interesting vid!

Yep. That radiator looks out of place.

The old bike always looking better. One. Thats because they made so many of the realy gold bike. Take 750cb. That come in 69 and thats the jear fore Honda first. All off the English and other been gone.finish. That because Honda was the new super bike. That have everything bake in 69. Then come Kawa with his Z1.900cc. yes that was did a good engine and they have good timing too slep it to the people. And then. You know the historic,so i didnt tell more,but wee have already slepet so many good bikes before Vee can say. Thats Kawa or Honda or other bike is so good and have all the characteristic like all the bike they have built before is like nearly nonn like that wee have hear today. That they i think it never becomes. That because off many thing but one moment is that wee have made some wery wery good oldtimer before like Cb750 or Kawa Z1 with his 900cc engine and thats eksplain a lot fore they some have one or simply know a little more about the bike and have a old great bike already self. Too have a cb750 or a Kawa Z1 with his 900cc engine in it and off wee are so lucky off they have been saved from the many things like they can do too keep it faster o.l wee are great some already have a lott off bike around in the hole planet with some Honda 750four with a blue orig color and it sleepts in the holy ear 1969. That wee only shall remember Honda CB 750 four.know its over 50jers from they slept they to today. And det still running like a canon and make the historic voise too soo many people in the hole planet. And too the last not forget the Kava Z1 with his 900cc engine. Lets remember the hole bike. Kawasaki Z1 900cc. Goes like a Fast Japanese Train. They goes like a ... Thats because wee vill have a lott off problems with 1newone in carbon and plastic. So good bless the Honda CB 750cc and b.l.a. Kava Z1 with hees 900cc engine. And lets all thinking off formel 1 sound from a CBX 1000cc. It take fore hees self that lady my gentlemen. That are a few bike off many too,so i see. They have already make some realy bike a long time ago. It was also a time sins we been in moon.

Haha, thank you! It was a fun shoot and a fun bike, the Z900RS makes it easy to wheelie!

Interesting point ,and I like the air/ oil cooled look of the Honda, , I have the z900rs, I wouldn't swap it!

agree.

I'm sure it would overheat without it.

hey brother man put me in your will as the next lucky bastard to own a Z1 pretty please 😂❤ jokes aside would love a vid of the beauty on your channel

Bad thing about the old one was the poor handling at high speed compared to the new one.

Haha, sounds like you did him quite the favor!

I’ve got the Z900RS, but I’ve also got a 1991 1200 Sportster that I bought near new, it hardly gets ridden now! The vibration is terrible and the Kawasaki is smooth like a turbine. No comparison in power, brakes, handling, comfort.

My Big Wheel could beat a 70's era Sportster.

What a beautiful bike! Back in the early 1970's the Japanese manufacturers were being all polite by not competing directly with Harley Davidson. The Z900 was a direct displacement competitor for the 883 Sportster, and performance wise for the 74 cubic inch (1200cc) big twin FLH (etc.). That "no compete" taboo was broken for all time.

@@camgere Wrong, the Z900 only competitor was the CB750. Kawasaki had a 750 almost in production but Honda beat them to the punch. Kawasaki went back to the drawing board and came out with the Z900. Harley Davidson was nowhere in Kawasaki's R&D department.

The music was making me nauseous. Nice video otherwise, though, I thought.

@@OgamiItto70 They should have used the 'outro' tune throughout instead of that iPad made in 2 minutes no talent nausea.

Totally fair, and good feedback for us in upcoming videos. We just had very limited time with our recording, but we will definitely keep that in mind for the future. Thanks for watching!

Yea, I was especially waiting to hear the old girl.

I second your comment, lose the music and hear the bike.

@@Bikeurious I always find the music available online for video's to be distracting. I always rather hear the music of the engine than digital music. Good video by the way, I subscribed.

Music was good

I would install a 4 into 4 exhaust system made by Doremi on the RS 900 to make it look like the original Z1

@@winkeemanley1820 yea that should look good on this bike.

The styling of the older bikes appeal to me more than the present designs. I owned a 1970 Honda K0 and a 1978 Kawasaki Z1000. Regret selling them.

Not if you are an American. It does sound weird to hear zee if you are British but Americans doubtless find zed just as weird.

“Two nations divided by a common language”

Wow, that's awesome! Congratulations to you, that's very impressive.

Most riders back in the day rarely pushed them enough to provoke any wiggling, most were quite satisfied to keep them in their happy zone, handling wise, and enjoy that smooth and reliable ride it gave. I was a mechanic for a shop in Westchester County and test rode them many times, nothing at all twitchy, not necessary. Only handling problems we were challenged to address was the front F6 Dunlop ribbed tire allowing some snaking. I think we changed out a few to a later version which cured the problems. If we wanted an adrenaline rush from some nasty wobbles, we'd find them with the H1 500cc or the H2 750cc, the latter also getting a tire upgrade. The Z1 was comparatively simple compared to today's offerings and lent themselves to home maintenance, a big plus.

martin vaccaro I owned a 1975 Z1B 900 in 1992 and rode it every day to work for four years. It was in the UK so ridden on lots of twisty roads and fast sweeping A ‘ roads at speed. By the time of the Z1B they had improved a bit (handling wise) but with a set of Koni dial-a-ride shocks, Harris 4 into 1, (less weight than 4 pipes) and a pair of Pirelli Phantom tyres, it was a pretty decent handling bike And I was really caning it. Not perfect obviously and when the tyres wore ..it did a bit weaving over a ton but generally nowhere near the monster it’s portrayed as.

That sounds great - best of luck with the restoration!

@@Bikeurious Hey i live there

I was a service manager and mechanic with a Suzuki/Kawasaki shop north of N.Y.C. and got to service and road test them many times. Customers were so very satisfied with them and I quickly noticed how light the handling was at low speeds as well as it's overall good manners. Amazing there aren't more still in service, glad to see that a few good examples remain.

Good looking except that radiator.

Not many know that the orange 500cc two stroke H1s came with either electronic or contact breaker ignition systems, in the U.S. anyway. Dealership I worked at sold several of both types.

Actually the Kawasaki was only about 1 sec faster than the cb750. in the quarter mile. I still own both.

When you say 'only' 1 second faster in the 1/4 mile you make it sound like a minor difference? Consider my 1992 CBR900RR ? It's 'only' about 3 seconds faster than the CB750 yet has almost DOUBLE the horsepower and is 45 lbs lighter. At times I get all nostalgic about my Z1B, then I remember it didn't handle well, didn't brake well but like my CBR900RR it would wheelstand from throttle, but perhaps the Hooker 4 into one exhaust I fitted helped a bit there. 1969 Honda 750 --------- 1/4 mile: 13.5 @ 100.9 mph top speed: 123.2 mph capacity: 736cc sohc wet weight: 226kg / 499 lbs HP: 67 @ 8000 rpm torque: 60 Nm / 44 ft-lb @ 8500 rpm 1971 Kawasaki Z1B ------------ 1/4 mile: 12.61 @ 105mph top speed: 135 mph capacity: 903cc dohc wet weight: 247.6kg / 546 lbs HP: 82 @ 8500 rpm torque: 73.5 Nm / 54.3 lb-ft @ 7000 rpm 1994 Honda CBR900RR ------------------- 1/4 mile: 10.3 seconds @ 131.4 mph top speed: 164 mph capacity: 893 cc dohc, 4 valves per cyl wet weight: 206kg / 454 lb HP: 122 @ 10500 torque: 88 Nm / 64.9 lb-foot @ 10,000 rpm

still got my 79 KZ 1000 MKII, bought in brand new

@@peteg8187 thats a rare one now days

I agree, the new Z900RS is new bike with old looking tank, seat, tail (almost like a slightly changed Z900). It really looks odd with the radiator and no dual rear shocks.

Thanks for watching! The new Z900RS is definitely a lot of fun, congrats on the new bike!

That's a great pair, I like your taste in bikes!

Thanks for the kind words! Agreed on the fueling - don't know if you have a chance to check out my First Ride Review: www.bike-urious.com/first-ride-2018-kawasaki-z900rs/ How did you end up fixing it?

I had a quick look at your review but I’ll read it in full tonight. I did a lot of research and bought a device called a Booster Plug which fools the ECU into thinking the outside temperature is cooler under certain conditions. It works very well and fixes the snatchy throttle almost 100%, ideally it needs a ECU reflash which I’ll get done when the bike is out of warranty in a couple of weeks. We get 2 years warranty. www.boosterplug.com/shop/frontpage.html

The Jaffa!!! 😎

I was a Kawasaki Z-1 fan. I still am. But, then Yamaha came out with the V-max.

I'm looking to tame the twitchy throttle of my z900rs as well with an ECU reflash in the next few weeks. I've heard good things about the booster plug but I consider it a bandaid, albeit a good one.

As a current owner of a 2018 Kawi z900rs, I disagree. I take my bike to impromptu car/bike shows in Long Island NY and I have to say, folks come up to me every single time wondering how my bike is in such pristine condition, and most times I have to tell them this is the new bike before they realize it themselves. Previous owners and fans of the original z900 told me that the exhaust was always the first thing to go on those bikes. Riders always went for the 4-to-1 pipes to make the bike lighter so they could go racing on drag strips. So, the new z900 actually does all that for you out the box. Let's not forget that if you really do want 4-to-4 pipes, you can always get it aftermarket. I agree that Honda's CB1100 is more nostalgic because it makes fewer compromises, it has the steel, the chrome, is heavy and is air-cooled. Where the z900rs has it beat is it's close enough in looks to the original z900 to fool previous owners and fans while being a completely modern bike that is lighter, and much faster than the CB1100.

I realize what you say is mostly true. Although I wouldn’t call the new Z “fast” as it only makes around 110 horsepower. My Dad had a ‘74 Z-1 in the green with yellow stripes. He kept the 4-4 pipes. Made it look badass imo. The new Z is nice but imo i think it could have been better. For example, my FZ-07 makes almost as much torque as that Z does, not sure if that’s a compliment to Yamaha or a slam to Kawi. I also own a Concours 14, it’s a locomotive and it truly is fast.

It depends on one's definition of "almost", I suppose. Looking at various dyno charts, it appears an FZ-07 has ~20 ft-lbs less torque and about 30 fewer ponies than the Z900RS.

Yep. Whoever designed the mount for that front fender must be the same guy that invented new coke in the 90s.

Lmao

This new bike looks just like every other bike brought out , and such a shame it was named after the best looking bike in history. I thought it was going to be a real tribute to the early version , but not even the four pipes. Such a shame after all the bluster before the launch. I had mine in 76, and two mates had the same model. They were real head turners and even the noise from the indicators were something to behold.

thats an easy fix i own a fleet of z1's and kz's and i do the same thing to all of them get rid of the crappy shocks, install decent tires and install needle bearings in the swingarm pivot and tapered bearings in the steering head problem solved

@@timryerson6733Looking to sell?

Great eye! It's hard to see but my shirt is actually a Z900RS shirt from Kawasaki, and as you say it's designed to look like it's from the 70s. (It also says "Let the Good Times Roll" on the back. I got it when I was at the US press launch for the bike, you can check out my review here: www.bike-urious.com/first-ride-2018-kawasaki-z900rs/ Thanks for watching!

Hey Lee - while the model year was 1973, the early bikes were built and sold in 1972 and some fans like to note that because there are differences between the earlier bikes and the rest of the '73 models. Approximately #101-1500 had more metal flake mixed into the paint so they look much lighter in sunlight. This bike is #265, so saying 1972 was a quick way to show that it was an early bike in the title of the post. Thanks for watching!

@@Bikeurious ok thanks i had a s2

Lee Turner... also the z900’ came out in 1976! The 73 -75 (72 US) bikes were the Z1’s

They absolutely could, but it was a cost/weight decision to omit the 4 pipes on the new bike.

Walt 303 ..erm....nope..the B’ is just the next letter in the model sequence ie; Z1, Z1A, Z1B...

Ha, but everyone would just do a fender delete anyway.

Thanks, Sarah!